“Is there anything else?” he went on. “I hate to rush you, but things are pretty busy for me. Gordon’s dead, but life goes on. I’m sure the mine will be asking for a continuance, and I need to be ready with a motion to oppose it.”

“I think that’s all for now.”

“Good.”

We were about to stand up, but Ajax suddenly interrupted. “Hang on. What about Kip and Racer?”

Norm settled back into his chair with a little sigh. “What about them?”

“If you talked to the coroner, then you know the crime scenes are similar. You’re the only person with a connection to all the victims.”

“You think I killed Kip and Racer?” Norm asked, chuckling.

“I think you know more than you’re telling us.”

Norm studied us like a cat debating the physics of a jump from roof to roof. Strangely, when I looked at Norm’s face, I realized that Ajax was right. Norm was hiding something. I narrowed my eyes in apprehension of what he might say. What did he know that he’d kept from us for six years?

“Fair enough,” he replied finally. “I guess I can share this with you now. Not that it’s likely to help you with regard to Gordon’s death. Do you remember what was found in my trailer, in addition to the bodies and the blood?”

I knew. “Liquor bottles. A lot of them.”

“Yes, exactly. A couple of weeks earlier, there had been an overnight break-in at a liquor store way over in Mittel County. The owner was lazy about cleaning out the cash register at night. The thieves took several hundred dollars and a few cases of beer and spirits. Somebody spotted a car peeling away that matched a stolen vehicle here in Random.”

“So what?” Ajax said. “We already suspected that Kip and Racer were behind the robbery. That’s why we were looking for them.”

“Yes, but what you don’t know is that Kip Wells called me. He thought he and Racer were likely to be arrested at any moment and they wanted me as their lawyer. Of course, I was in the middle of the trial in Stanton and couldn’t come home. Kip wanted to avoid the two of them being found until I was back in the county.”

“Norm, what did you do?” I asked, with a chill in my voice.

He shrugged. “I may have mentioned to Kip during our conversation that I was disappointed at not being able to spend time in my trailer because I was away from home.”

“You told them to hide out there to avoid arrest,” I said.

“I did nothing of the sort. That would be illegal.”

“You’re the reason they were there,” I said again, shaking my head with disgust.