“What I’m hearing is you pulling rank on me. Seeing as I’m merely a D-two and you’re brass.”

Weisvogel’s turn to smile. Tobacco teeth.

“I’m brass?” said Milo, as if he’d been diagnosed with a noxious disease.

“Sorry to drop it on you so suddenly,” said Weisvogel. “So am I getting this whole chain-of-command thing right?”

Still smiling.

Milo said, “Yeah, yeah. Someone bitches, it was all my idea.”

“Then I suppose I have no choice,” said Weisvogel, “Lieutenant.”

She joined her detectives in the cube and Milo told me, “Out to the car.”

“For what?”

“Tools.”

“Don’t have any.”

“You’ve got a crowbar. And I’ve got this.” Reaching into a jacket pocket, he brought out a small penlight and a ring of stainless-steel burglar picks.

“You carry those all the time?”

“Some of the time,” he said. “When I think important objects are gonna be left in plain sight.”

* * *

The house was tidy, just as it had been the first time, kitchen scrubbed, hallways vacuumed.

As we entered the master bedroom, I sighted down the hall at the windowless, converted laundry room where Rand had slept.

Milo went into the bedroom and I joined him. The desk sat to the left of the double bed. Plain and rickety, painted brown, a thrift-shop piece that barely managed to fit in Drew and Cherish Daney’s cramped sleeping chamber.

Milo gloved up and checked the closet.

“His duds are here, but hers aren’t. Looks like she packed up for the long haul.”

“And he didn’t.”

“Ain’t that thought-provoking.” He sidled over to the desk. The legs were wobbly and the top slanted downward. A jam glass held pens and pencils. The green blotter paper Cherish had used to frame her instructions was still there. One of its corners was held in place by the box.

Gunmetal safe-deposit box. Extra-large size, the kind banks offered preferred customers.

Milo examined the lock, lifted the box, and inspected the bottom.

“Columbia Savings stamp. They’ve been out of business for years.”

“Surplus, like the school lockers,” I said. “They’re parsimonious.”

He frowned. “All that county money and they’re living like this.”

“If Valerie’s right, there was a lot of conflict about money. Maybe because Drew was siphoning funds and stashing it away.”

“His secret cache. That coulda been bullshit he gave the kid to impress her.”

“I’d bet on reality. He had all the power right from the start with Valerie, didn’t need to prove himself.” I pointed to the box.

He set it down. Looked at the lock again. Examined his picks and selected one. Lifting the box, he hefted. “Kinda light. Maybe Cherish found the dough, took it, and split. The question is, Where’d he go with all his clothes still here?”

“He could’ve gotten to the money first. Picked up on Cherish’s suspicion, sensed the walls closing in and left.”