I got back to the road. The tarmac was littered with windshield glass fragments. Little shiny cubes catching the light, crunching under my boots. Miriam was crouched by the road looking at the wreckage of Father Bousquet’s white Volkswagen. I could see that she was shivering. Not from the cold, but from the adrenaline surge. She looked up at me as I came over the rise.

I said, “You found something, with the names?” Her teeth were chattering, she was trying to speak. I crouched down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s an adrenaline dump. Got to give it time. Close your eyes and concentrate on my voice.” I kept the physical contact and counted down from twenty, nice and slow, encouraging her to breathe as deep as she could. After that she was better.

She opened her eyes and engaged mine. “The girls’ names. I found them as soon as Father Bousquet gave me the list. I was organizing the database, that’s why he didn’t have them on his computer. He wasn’t good at that stuff.”

“Ok good. What about them?”

Nazari’s voice came up in an angry shout. “Help me!” She was trying to pull the priest’s body out of the wreckage. The corpse was headless and soaking with blood and gore. She was having a hard time getting the legs free from the wreckage. The front end had crumpled on impact with a big tree, no doubt Father Bousquet’s feet were trapped.

I yelled down at her, “Forget it. We don’t have time for that.” Miriam looked at me darkly. “We’ll be back for him later.”

She didn’t look happy. “You can’t leave him like that.”

I said, “He’s dead. Get over it.” I squeezed her shoulder. “About the girls. Keep going.”

Miriam blinked twice and looked away. “Remember what I told you, about the selection for the foundation.”

“I remember. They were selected?”

She shook her head. “No. They were not selected. What they had in common was not being selected.”

“They all appeared in front of the panel of foundation board members, but didn’t make it?”

Miriam said, “That’s right.”

I nodded. “And the mayor was on the panel each time.”

“Always.”

“And that’s how he made his special selection.”

Nazari came up to the road. “Did you get the shooter?”

“There was a boat with a driver. The shooter got away. But we’ll get him. No worries.”

“How do we do that?”

I said, “Come on up to the house. I’ll show you.”