He shoved the seat back violently and stretched his legs. “Malley puts a hit on Turner a month into Turner’s sentence but waits eight years to take care of Rand?”

“That is problematic,” I said.

“Sure is.”

“I can offer an explanation but it would be broad conjecture.”

“As opposed to wild speculation?”

“Malley craved immediate vengeance for his daughter’s death. He saw Troy Turner as the primary killer so Troy paid quickly. After that satisfaction, Malley’s rage subsided. It’s possible he hadn’t even decided that Rand deserved the ultimate penalty. But the two of them got together and something went wrong.”

“Malley does own wife quickly but cuts Rand eight years of slack?”

“If he blamed Lara for Kristal’s death, that was a whole different level of rage.”

“You only kill the one you love? I don’t know, Alex. It’s a big jump.”

“Lara’s own mother’s still angry at her. There was a picture of Kristal in her house but none of Lara. Put yourself in Barnett’s place. All those years of infertility and she blows it big time.”

“I guess,” he said.

“There’d also be a practical reason not to hit Rand immediately after Troy. Both boys dying so close together would set off suspicions about revenge. Lara was different, there was no reason to assume her death was anything other than suicide.”

“Sue didn’t suspect. And she was a smart cop. Maybe . . .”

“If Malley did kill Lara and managed to fool the coroner and the cops, that implies cunning and planning. Which is consistent with an ability to delay gratification. So is Malley’s lifestyle— ascetic. Perhaps he mulled Rand’s fate for years, decided to check out the quality of Rand’s atonement.”

“You flunk you die,” he said. “Thirty-eight revolver. Cowboy gun . . . still, eight years is a helluva long time to wait.”

“Maybe the eight years were broken up by periodic contact— an extended testing period for Rand.”

“Malley visited Rand in prison? Spent face time with the punk who killed his kid?”

“Face time or letters or phone calls,” I said. “You’ve seen it, victims and offenders making contact after the disposition. The initiative could’ve come from Rand. He wanted to unload his guilt and made the first move.”

“You see Malley responding to that? We’re not talking Mr. Touchy-Feely.”

“Eight years changes people. And just because he hoards guns doesn’t mean he’s not hurting.”