Shriner said, “Look. I’m not saying that she didn’t have the urge. I’m not saying that she didn’t indulge from time to time. But it was my understanding from being in the group with her that the problems started on a large scale after her husband was murdered. The woman appeared despondent. She was lonely, she was ashamed, and she was in an altered state of mind. Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to imagine how quickly you can go from ‘I’m okay, I can handle it’ to ‘I’m totally out of control.’”

“So you think she hid her compulsion until after he died?” Oliver was skeptical.

“I betcha that her husband knew about her tendencies. He probably was able to rein her in. Once he was gone, and she had this sudden windfall of cash…that’s a deadly combination. The whole point of my confession is that I don’t want you to see me as incompetent. I was a very good private investigator, and I did what I could for Melinda, but I wasn’t going to go the full nine yards for her because I had my own troubles.”

“So we’re back to my first question, what do you remember about the case?”

“Little seemed to be well liked and admired. The way it laid out, it seemed like a professional hit, but I couldn’t find a reason why someone would have wanted to off him.”

Oliver said, “That brings us back to his wife…”

Shriner said, “If she was in deep, deep trouble, she had resources other than murder.”

“Did you know if she owed anyone cash?”

Shriner said, “Not to my knowledge.”

“What did you investigate?” Marge asked.

“The usual. His friends, his relatives, his colleagues, some of his students.”

“Does the name Darnell Arlington mean anything to you?”

“The black kid who was kicked out of school. Yeah, I talked to him over the phone. By the time Little was murdered, he’d moved away. I remember that he seemed broken up about Little. Why? Does the kid have a record?”

“He teaches physical education at a high school in Ohio.”

“Good to hear that he straightened himself out.”

“So you never suspected him?” Oliver asked.

“Of course I suspected him. I ruled him out early on because he had a good alibi, although it skips my mind at the moment.”

“Supposedly he was playing sports in front of an audience.”

“Yeah, that was it. Hard to be in two places at one time, and he didn’t seem angry enough to hire a hit six months later. But check him out. Like I said, I didn’t spend an abundance of time on the case.”

“Have you ever heard of a man named Primo Ekerling?” Marge asked him.

For the first time, the private detective gave the question some thought. “He sounds vaguely familiar.”