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“Nah, the guy’s dead. This is a new nutcase, fresh out of the woodwork, and he’s picked Becca.”

Adam scratched his head and added, “No, I don’t think so, Hatch. It’s got to be some sort of conspiracy, there’s just no other answer. Lots of folk involved. But why did they focus on Ms. Matlock? Why put her in the middle? I keep coming back to Krimakov, but I know, logically, that it just can’t be. Someone, something else, is driving this. How’s the governor?”

“I hear his neck is a bit sore, but he’ll live. He doesn’t know a thing, that’s what he claims. He’s very upset about McCallum.”

Adam sat there and thought and thought. The same questions over and over again. No answers.

Silence.

“Put out the cigarette, Hatch. I know about your girlfriend. She loves silk lingerie and expensive steaks. You can’t afford to lose your job.”

“Okay, boss.”

Adam heard some papers shuffling, heard some mild curses, and smiled. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, of course there’s no positive ID on that skeleton that popped out of Ms. Matlock’s basement wall. For sure it was a teenage girl who got her head bashed in some ten or more years ago. I did find out something sort of neat, though.”

“Yeah?”

“It turns out there was an eighteen-year-old girl who leaves Riptide, supposedly eloping. Nobody knows who the boyfriend was though. Now ain’t that a neat coincidence?”

“I’ll say. When?”

“Twelve years ago.”

“No one’s heard from her since?”

“I’m not completely sure about that. If she’s still unaccounted for and they decide she’s a good bet, then they’ll do DNA tests on the bones.”

Adam said, “They’ll need something from her—like hair on a brush, an old envelope that would have her saliva, barring that, then a family member would have to give up some blood.”

“Yeah. Thing is, though, it wouldn’t be admissible in court if it ever came to it. It’ll take some time, a couple of weeks. No one sees any big rush on it.”

“I don’t like the feel of this, Hatch. We’ve got this other mess and now this damned skeleton falling out of Becca’s basement wall. It’s enough to make a man give up football.”

“Nah, you’ve always told me that God created the fall just for football. You’ll be watching football when you throw that last pigskin into the end zone in the sky, if they still have the sport that many aeons from now. You’ll probably lobby God to have pro football in Heaven. Stop whining, boss. You’ll figure everything out. You usually do. Hey, I hear that Maine’s one beautiful place. That true?”

Adam stared at the phone for a moment. He had been whining. He said, “Yeah. I just wish I had some time to enjoy it.” He suddenly yelled into the receiver, “No smoking, Hatch. If you even think about it, I’ll know it. Now, call me tomorrow at this same time.”

“You got it, boss.”

“No smoking.”

Silence.

Becca said very quietly, “Who is Krimakov?”

Adam turned around very slowly to face her. She was standing in the doorway of the moldy-smelling guest room where he’d spent his first night in Jacob Marley’s house. She’d opened the door and he hadn’t heard a thing. He was losing it.

“Who is Krimakov?”

He said easily, “He’s a drug dealer who used to be involved with the Medellin cartel in Colombia. He’s dead now.”

“What does this Krimakov have to do with all this craziness?”

“I don’t know. Why did you open the door without knocking, Becca?”

“I heard you on the phone. I wanted to know what was going on. I knew you wouldn’t tell me. I also came up to get you for breakfast. It’s ready downstairs. You’re still lying. This doesn’t have anything to do with drug dealing.”

He had the gall to shrug.

“If I had my kitchen knife, I’d run at you, right this minute.”

“And what? Slice me up? Come on, Becca, why can’t you just accept that I’m here to do a job and that job is to make sure that you don’t get wiped out? Get off your high horse.”

He stood up then and she backed up a step. She was afraid of him still. Hell, after seeing him all civilized that entire evening with four-year-old Sam, it surprised him. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said patiently. He realized