"I figure you got three ways to get'm. You take that thing to the police like you was gonna do with mine, and maybe they find'm and maybe they don't. The other way is you pack it back to Stephen like you said, hope he's home, there aren't any witnesses, nothing like that, then put a gun in his mouth and hope he don't delete'm while you're looking the other way."

"What's the third way?"

He stared at me without expression in a way that made me feel obvious. I felt myself flush.

"What?"

"Whatever you're after is important to you. You've been here twice now, and you're in a hurry. You don't want to wait for the police and you don't want to mess around with Stephen. I'm not saying I can find those pictures, but I got an idea how, so maybe I can save you some time."

He let it hang. I knew what he wanted.

"When I send Stephen the pictures I give each of them its own name. If Stephen didn't change the names, I might be able to find them. Save you all that time. But I gotta get a pass on the crimes. I got the three strikes."

Pardy might go for it. He told me he wasn't interested in sex crimes, but this was a slam-dunk blackmail and extortion conviction, and it was a major case. If he wouldn't go for it, Diaz would go for it. I thought I could deliver the deal.

"Show me the pictures."

"You gotta get me a deal."

"I'll get you the deal."

Thomas sat at the laptop. He opened and closed several scrolls until a window appeared, asking which file he wanted to find. He typed DANA1. JPEG, then clicked a button to initiate the search. A tree chart showing files within files appeared with the DANA1. JPEG at the bottom.

Thomas suddenly laughed as the tension blew out of him.

"Be damned."

The tree chart showed that DANA1. JPEG was in a file called DUMMIES, which was in a file labeled ASSOCIATES, which was tucked within another file called ED'S VACATION, which had been stored in yet another file with the innocent name COVER LETTERS, which was located on the hard drive. Thomas copied the names, then closed the finder window to open the hard drive. He opened each file in reverse order, beginning with COVER LETTERS, then ED'S VACATION, then ASSOCIATES. Each time he opened a file, Dana and I leaned over his shoulders, trying to pick out the next name in a jumble of other files. When Thomas finally opened DUMMIES, the screen filled with a list of tiny file names in alphabetical order--

ALLIE1. JPEG

ALLIE2. JPEG

ALLIE3. JPEG

ANGELA1. JPEG

ANGELA2. JPEG

There were hundreds of JPEGs. Maybe a thousand. Many of the names showed more than one series -

BARB1. JPEG

BARB2. JPEG

BARB3. JPEG

BARB2/1. JPEG

BARB2/2. JPEG

I said, "Why the different series with some of the names?"