“A half hour, tops,” Mingo said.

They’d searched every inch of that plaza.

“These octopuses can get around pretty well,” Mingo continued. “They can crawl from tide pool to tide pool, fit through a hole the size of a pea.”

“Heil,” Archie called. Heil looked over from where he was interviewing Jen Auster. “We need to search the plaza again. Make sure that octopus didn’t crawl into a pea-sized hole and die.” Archie’s gaze fell on the surging Willamette. “It can’t survive in there, right?” he asked.

“Not a chance,” Mingo said.

Susan was still staring across the river. “So the killer has more than one octopus? I mean, if he left the bag. Maybe he put the thing in a bucket or his pocket. Carried it away. He has to get it out of the bag, right? Or does he just open the bag up and get people to pull it out?”

“Maybe he uses tongs,” Archie said.

No one laughed.

“Does it know him?” Susan asked Mingo.

“Oh, come on,” Archie said.

“If you put a crab in a bottle,” Mingo said, “and drop it next to one of these things, they can figure out how to uncork it to get at the crab. They can learn. It’s possible this thing has learned that its owner isn’t a threat. But if that’s true, it would be spectacular. I’d want to write a paper on it. Can I write about this? For a professional journal?” He looked off into the middle distance. “CONSULTING WITH THE POLICE TO CATCH THE OCTOPUS KILLER.” Then he chuckled nervously and fumbled with his glasses. “You know what they say, publish or perish.”

Anne was focused on the body, not having any of it. “So let’s assume he’s got more than one.”

“We’re talking about exotic animals here,” Mingo said. “He’d need a species tank. Fifty gallons of salt water, at least. A filtration system, a protein skimmer. Constant temperature monitoring. Ideally you’d want to run the tank for three months before you even put an octopus in it. And you’d need a tank for each octopus. They don’t like roommates.”

“Any luck with aquarium supply stores or pet shops?” Archie asked Heil.

“Everything’s closed,” Heil said. “I’m trying to track down the owners. Ngyun’s looked online and contacted some of the sites that sell them. Nothing yet.”

Susan hugged her arms. “Why do people want to own these things?”