“He struck me as an unsophisticated person. He worked rodeos or something like that.”

“Rodeos?”

“Riding, roping, or at least that’s what I heard,” said Daney. “From the defense.”

“Sounds like Ms. Weider did her background research.”

“You bet. She was extremely hardworking and thorough. I was glad when she got the case.”

“You were involved before she got the case?” I said. “I thought she brought you on as a support-person.”

“Just the opposite, actually,” said Daney. “I brought her on. Not officially, but I had a hand in it.”

“How so?”

“I knew Troy from working with him at 415 City. I also knew Ms. Weider from some other youth work I’d done. My seminary had a program, working with inner-city teens, trying to get them involved in summer activities. In the course of that, I developed some contacts with the Public Defender’s Office, because that’s where so many of our kids ended up. I knew several of the P.D.s, but thought Ms. Weider would be perfect for the boys. Because she was so thorough. I called her and asked if she could help out. She said there was a system in place but she’d see what she could do.”

“As a favor to you.”

“Partly,” said Daney. “To be honest, the case attracted her because it was high-profile. She was pretty ambitious.”

“And then she asked you to stay on for support,” said Milo.

“Exactly.”

“You ever tell her about the eye color thing?”

“No, like I said, I didn’t see the point.”

Milo exhaled. “Wow . . . that’s a bombshell, all right. Thank you, Rev.”

“I don’t like telling tales, but . . .”

“So you’re figuring Rand knew Kristal wasn’t Malley’s kid and mentioned it to Malley.”

“No, no,” said Daney. “I hadn’t taken it that far.”

“But it coulda happened that way.”

“No, I honestly don’t think so, Lieutenant. How would Rand know?”

“Same way you did. He noticed.”

Daney shook his head. “Rand just wasn’t that observant. But even if he did know, there’d be no reason to throw it in Malley’s face.”

“What, then?”

“What I’m getting at— and this is really out there— is maybe Barnett Malley wasn’t a total victim.”

Daney flinched, pushed the turnover away. “I feel like I’m . . . wading into something and I’m really not comfortable. Sorry.” Pushing up a corduroy sleeve, he peered at a black-faced sports watch. Milo placed a hand on his arm. Flashed that lupine smile. Daney stiffened for a second. Dropped his shoulders, shot us a look of misery.

“I’ve got that sinking feeling, guys, like when you’ve gone too far, you know?”

I said, “You’re saying Malley found out Lara had cheated on him, built up a whole lot of rage, and decided to act out against Kristal.”