“No, no, nothing like that. What I’m getting at is in my field you learn to observe. People, their reactions. Kind of like what you do, Doctor.”

I nodded.

“I’m a little uncomfortable getting into this,” said Daney. “It’s nothing I’d want to sign my name to, and I really wouldn’t be comfortable going on record as the source. But if you could confirm it independently . . .”

He broke off. Scratched his beard. Shook his head. “Sorry for waffling, but it’s . . .”

He slung his jaw, shook his head. “I don’t know, maybe it’s not a good idea.”

Milo said, “We’re in bad shape on this one, Reverend. Anything you can tell us would be helpful. And if it’s something I can confirm independently, I promise you I will.”

“Okay,” said Daney. “First, let me say that I never brought this up because the boys had clearly done the crime. That isn’t to say I didn’t think they deserved compassion. But everyone had suffered enough, there was simply no point.”

He reached for another doughnut. Chose blindly and extracted an apple turnover. Holding the pastry in one hand, he watched as flakes of dough snowed on the table.

“Eye color,” he said, barely audible. “Little Kristal had brown eyes. I’d never have noticed, but in the evidence packet were photos of that poor little girl. In life and in death. The postmortem shots I couldn’t bring myself to look at. The others were baby pictures, the prosecution was going to use them to build sympathy. Emphasizing how small and cute she’d been . . . that’s neither here nor there. The point is I saw those photos, but at that time the fact that Kristal’s eyes were brown didn’t mean much. Until I noticed that both Lara and Barnett had pale eyes. Hers were blue or green, I’m not sure. His are definitely blue. I’m no geneticist, but I’ve learned enough science to know that brown eyes are dominant and light-eyed parents usually can’t have dark-eyed kids. I had my suspicions, but like I say, there was no reason to open that can of worms, who would it help? But last night, after you called and asked me to give the case some serious thought, I went on the Internet to confirm and it’s highly unlikely— close to impossible— for two blue-eyed parents to produce a brown-eyed child.”

His speech had grown rapid and the last few words had tapered to whispers, inaudible. Gulping air, he exhaled and put the turnover down. “I’m not out to slander anyone but . . .”

“Kristal wasn’t Malley’s kid,” said Milo. “Whoa.”

“It’s the only logical conclusion, Lieutenant. And that could be the source of Mr. Malley’s rage.”

“Kristal was nearly two,” said Milo. “You’d think Malley would’ve figured it out.”