“How?” Decker asked. “The mother is supposedly dead. Who knows what happened to the kid?” He rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “I suppose we should concentrate on finding Holt first.”

Marge said, “I sure hope we’re right about this…about Holt and Moke being the same person. If not, we’re gonna look awfully stupid.”

Oliver said, “These letters that you got from Karl. Are you sure they’re legit?”

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t be,” Decker said.

“Whole thing could be a setup,” Oliver said. “Maybe Karl did it and is framing Ruby Ranger.”

Decker did a slow burn. “First off, Karl hated Ruby. Secondly, why would he kill his brother?”

Oliver shrugged. “Okay. So maybe he doesn’t know who killed his brother, but he’s framing Ruby because he hated her.”

Decker hedged. “The kid isn’t that Machiavellian.”

“What about Ernesto?” Marge asked. “Was he in on the scam?”

Decker said, “I’m not sure. All of Ruby’s letters to him held veiled threats or worse. It’s possible Ernesto may have had a change of heart and was thinking about blowing the whistle on this entire thing. And that’s what did him in.”

“So this kid, who vandalized a synagogue and painted swastikas, had this big change of heart?” Marge was dubious.

“I talked to Ernesto a few times,” Decker said. “He felt bad about the incident. That combined with Ruby warning him not to do anything he may regret.” He mulled over ideas. “Maybe that’s what he was doing in the tent at three in the morning talking to Merv Baldwin, giving the doc the low-down on his wife’s scam—”

Oliver blurted out, “Or threatening to go to the police if Merv didn’t pay him hush money.”

“And that’s why Holt popped them all?” Marge made a face.

“Why not?” Oliver said. “They were all a threat to him. They knew about Holt’s scam.”

“Then that would mean that Ruby Ranger’s a threat as well,” Marge said.

“Unless she’s in on it,” Decker said.

“So how did Holt and Ruby Ranger hook up?”

Decker said, “They were both up at Berkeley at the same time.”

Oliver said, “Holt’s older, right?”

“Two years,” Decker said.

“So Darrell has been in L.A. for the last four years. They only had a year up there in common.”

“Maybe they met down here,” Marge said. “Didn’t your son say something about Ruby being interested in Nazis or supremacist groups?”

“She made comments about Hitler being a hero or something. I don’t remember the exact words. Could be she once flirted with PEI.”

Oliver broke in, “This is what I don’t understand. How can Holt be a mouthpiece for a group that basically fronts for white supremacy when he’s part black?”