The blue-saried woman set a bowl down gently and swished off. My salad was half the size of Milo’s, which was still more than ample.

“Good, huh?” he said.

I hadn’t lifted my fork. He watched until I did, studied me as I ate.

“Delicious,” I said. Technically true, but tension had blocked the circuit from my taste buds to my brain and I might’ve been chewing a napkin. “What’s off about the suicide?”

“Cause of death was a single gunshot to the left temple, a thirty-eight. She was left-handed, so the coroner felt that supported a self-inflicted wound.”

“Through-and-through wound?”

“Yup, the bullet lodged in the passenger door. The gun was a Smith and Wesson Double-Action Perfected revolver registered to Barnett. He kept it loaded in his nightstand. His story was Lara musta taken it when he was at work, drove to a quiet spot in the Sepulveda recreational area and boom.”

“Did she leave a note?”

“If she did, it’s not in the coroner’s summary.”

“Was the gun returned to Malley?”

“No reason it wouldn’t be,” he said. “He was the legal owner and no foul play was indicated.”

He began shoveling fish and cubes of paneer cheese into his mouth. “Maybe my ambivalence about Malley was misguided. His life went to hell, but looks like he coped by getting rid of everyone he blamed for Kristal’s death. Starting with Lara, because she hadn’t kept her eye on the kid. Then the C.Y.A. system took care of Turner. That left Rand as the last messy detail.

“Why would he wait a full year after Kristal’s death to kill Lara?” I said.

“I was being imprecise. She died seven years and seven months ago. Just one month after Troy and Rand got sent away. What’s the obvious assumption?”

“Maternal grief.”

“Exactly. Great cover.” He pushed food around his plate. “Malley’s a weird one, Alex. The way he started pounding on that piano. I mean the smart thing to do, the cops come calling, is fake being cooperative. He does that, maybe I drop it.”

Unlikely, I thought. “ ‘Last Date’.”

“What?”

“The song he played.”

“You’re saying he was being symbolic? Rand had a last date with life?”

I shrugged.

He said, “Guy keeps his truck locked even though he lives out in the boonies and the damn thing’s sitting right in front of his cabin. Because he knows it’s hard to get rid of every speck of forensic evidence. Maybe he’s an old-fashioned eye-for-an-eye guy, doesn’t give a shit about original biblical context.”

“Other than the similarity to Rand, was there anything iffy about Lara’s suicide?”

“Nothing in Sue’s report.”

“Was she a good detective?”