Conveniently, the members of the water board had been appointed by the governor, to whose re-election campaign Red Hammernut had donated large sums of money and the use of a Cessna Citation. Therefore it was no surprise to Red Hammernut that his phone call to the water board was so genially received, or that his recommendation of a bright young job applicant was so promptly acted upon.

After that, it was easy arranging for the newly hired biologist to be assigned to the same water-testing district in which certain large vegetable farms were located.

On paper, Dr. Charles R. Perrone looked like the real deal.

Red Hammernut had his mole in place.

"It's good you're staying busy," Karl Rolvaag said.

Chaz Perrone nodded stoically.

"Your supervisor said she told you to take the whole week off, even longer if you needed."

Chaz frowned. "You spoke to Marta? What for?"

"Just routine," said the detective. "Anyway, she said you insisted on coming back to work, and I told her it could actually be a healthy thing."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do-hang around the house all day and get morbidly depressed? No thank you."

They were standing in the kitchen, Chaz with a Budweiser in his hand and Rolvaag sipping a Sprite. The detective had shown up at the front door not five minutes after Chaz had returned from work.

"I'm really beat," Chaz said for the third time.

"Yeah, it was a scorcher out there today." Rolvaag had seen on the news that an early spring snowstorm had hit the Twin Cities; he sitting in air conditioning in Florida. It was fairly astounding.

He said, "Marta explained what you do on your job, and it sounds real interesting. I bet you run into plenty of snakes out there."

"Well, I run over plenty of 'em with my truck." Chaz, unable to resist the smartass quip. "Look, I'm not trying to be rude, but, man, I am seriously whipped."

"Of course. I understand." The detective finished off the soda and raised the empty bottle. "Do you recycle?"

Chaz made a dunking motion toward the trash can. "Let God sort 'em out," he said.

Rolvaag placed the bottle on the counter. "There was just one point I needed you to clarify about that night on the Sun Duchess."

"You know who you remind me of? That TV cop, Columbo. He never quit with the questions," Chaz said. "I bet that was your favorite show, am I right?"

"To be honest, I never watched it."

"But I'm sure other people must've told you the same thing-that you remind them of Columbo. Not the way you look, but how you never let up. In a nice way, though."

Rolvaag said, "What night is the show on? I'd like to see it."

Chaz shook his head. What a hopeless dweeb. "It was canceled, like, a hundred years ago. Anyway, what did you want to ask me about?"

The detective seemed relieved to get back to business. "Just one thing, really. Are you certain about what time Mrs. Perrone left the stateroom?"

Chaz experienced a disconcerting twitch in his colon. "Three-thirty in the morning, like I told you before. I remember looking at my watch."

"And there's no chance your watch was wrong?" Rolvaag's tone was unbearably neutral. "The reason I ask, we've found some evidence raising the possibility that your wife went into the water a few hours earlier than you told us."

The detective was leaning against the countertop, his hands shoved casually in his pockets.

Chaz said, "That's impossible."

"I'm sure there's an explanation."

"What kind of evidence did you find?"

Rolvaag winced apologetically. "Afraid I can't discuss it."

Locked in his desk at the office was the test confirming that the fingernail tips removed from the marijuana bale belonged to Joey Perrone.

Chaz said, "This is my wife we're talking about-and you're saying you can't tell me?" He felt his cheeks redden, but that was actually a good thing; he was supposed to look angry. "Did you find her body or not? Goddammit, I've got a right to know!"

Rolvaag said, "No, sir, we didn't recover a body. That I can tell you for a fact. Or even a body part."

"Then what the hell was it?"

Chaz was racking his brain. Joey hadn't been carrying her purse, so it had to be a piece of clothing that had washed ashore somewhere at odds with the computer model of where her body should have floated, factoring in that night's currents and wind.

"Is this why you wanted a DNA sample?" Chaz demanded.

"It's an active investigation. Certain aspects must remain confidential for the time being," Rolvaag said. "I'm sorry, Chaz."

It was the first time the detective had used Charles Perrone's nickname, and the sudden informality only heightened Chaz's anxiety. He'd seen enough TV homicide shows to know you were in deep trouble when cops started acting like they were your asshole buddies.

"I've lost my wife and you're playing head games," Chaz said, acting hurt and disappointed. "Just come out and say so if you think I'm lying."

"I think people make mistakes."

"Not this time."

"But you'd been hitting the wine pretty hard that night is what you told me. That's not always good for the memory," Rolvaag said.

Chaz twisted the cap off another beer and drank slowly, stalling to let his emotions settle. It occurred to him that the detective had unwittingly provided a way out. The Coast Guard had ended its search for Joey, so what was the point in arguing about when she'd gone overboard? If there was anything left of her, which was unlikely after four days at sea, it wouldn't really matter how far south she was found. One could always blame a shark or some other deep-water scavenger for carrying her remains out of the search grid.

Chaz hung his head. "I was pretty hammered, that's true. Maybe I did get confused about the time Joey left. Or maybe I misread my watch." For effect he tapped the crystal of his inexpensive Timex, which he wore only on sampling days in the Everglades.

As usual, Rolvaag's expression was unreadable.

"Those are two possibilities," the detective said. "Something to think about anyway. Thanks for the pop."

Chaz laughed. "The what?"

"The cold drink," Rolvaag said. "By the way, somebody's staking out your house-some big hairy guy in a minivan, parked down by the corner. The tag comes back to a rental agency."

"Oh?" Chaz thinking: Wait until I tell Red.

"Any ideas?"

Chaz poked his head out the doorway and looked down the street. "I've got no earthly clue who that man is," he lied. "How do you know that it's me he's watching?"

"Wild guess." Rolvaag smiled. "You've got my card. Call if you need anything."

"Right," said Chaz. When goats learn ballet.

He stood at the bay window and watched the prying detective drive away. When the phone began to ring, he almost yanked it out of the living room wall.

What the hell's happening? he wondered dismally. Wasn't I supposed to be home free by now?

Off the hook.

Cruising.

Instead, that goddamn cop is still snooping around, some sadistic perv is sneaking into my house and messing with Joey's stuff-and now I've got to deal with some knuckle-dragger of a bodyguard that Red's dredged out of a sinkhole somewhere.

When Chaz answered the phone, the man named Tool was on the other end.

"That guy that just left?"

"What about him?" Chaz said.

"Want me to go after him?"

"And do what?"

Tool grunted. "I dunno. Bust his spleen."

Chaz sighed. "He's a cop."

"Yeah, so?"

Unbelievable, Chaz thought. "Leave him be, please."

"It's your party," said Tool. "Hey, I gotta go take a dump. You gone be all right?"

"I think I can manage."

Chaz stripped off his clothes and propped himself under a hot shower for twenty minutes. Try as he might, he still couldn't see where he'd made a single mistake in the plan, not one wrong move.