"I'm sure you're emotional about the situation. But it's an active investigation and soon to be an active prosecution. Any interference from you is unacceptable."

Shaking with rage, Dance rose and started for the door.

Harper seemed to have an afterthought. "One thing, Agent Dance. Before I move to admit that email of yours into evidence, I want you to know that I'll redact the information about buying that lingerie, or whatever it was, at Victoria's Secret. That I do consider irrelevant."

Then the prosecutor slid toward him the document he'd been reviewing when she arrived, turned it over and began reading once again.

IN HER OFFICE Kathryn Dance was staring at the entwined tree trunks outside her window, still angry with Harper. She was thinking again about what would happen if she was forced to testify against her mother. If she didn't, she'd be held in contempt. A crime. It could mean jail and the end of her career as a law enforcer.

She was drawn from this thought by TJ's appearance

He looked exhausted. He explained he'd spent much of the night working with Crime Scene to examine Greg Schaeffer's room at the Cyprus Grove Inn, his car and Chilton's house. He had the MCSO report.

"Excellent, TJ." She regarded his bleary, red eyes. "You get any sleep?"

"What's that again, boss? 'Sleep'?"

"Ha."

He handed her the crime scene report. "And I finally got more four-one-one on our friend."

"Which one?"

"Hamilton Royce."

Didn't matter now, she supposed, with the case closed, and apologies-such as they were-delivered. But she was curious. "Go on."

"His latest assignment was for the Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee. Until he got here he'd been billing the nukers sixty hours a week. And by the way, he's expensive. I think I need a raise, boss. Am I a six-figure kind of agent?"

Dance smiled. She was glad that his humor seemed to be returning. "You're worth seven figures in my book, TJ."

"I love you too, boss."

The implication of the information then struck her. She riffled through copies of The Chilton Report.

"That son of a bitch."

"What's that?"

"Royce was trying to get the blog shut down-for his client's sake. Look." She tapped the printout.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Posted by Chilton.

Rep. Brandon Klevinger…Ever heard of his name? Probably not. And the state representative looking after some fine folks in Northern California would rather keep a low profile. No such luck. Representative Klevinger is the head of the state's Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee, which means the bomb-oops, excuse me, the buck-stops with him on the issue of those little gadgets called reactors. And you want to know something interesting about them? No-go away, Greenies. Go whine elsewhere! I have no problem with nuclear energy; we need it to achieve energy independence (from certain interests overseas whom I've written about at great length). But what I do object to is this: Nuclear power loses its advantage if the price for the plants and the energy expended in the construction outweigh the advantages. I've learned that Rep. Klevinger just happens to have been on a couple of posh golfing trips to Hawaii and Mexico with his newfound "friend," Stephen Ralston. Well, guess what, boys and girls? Ralston happens to have put in bids for a proposed nuclear facility north of Mendocino. Mendocino…Lovely place. And very pricey to build in. Not to mention that it seems the cost of delivering the power to where it's needed will be huge. (Another developer has proposed a far cheaper and more efficient location about fifty miles south of Sacramento.) But a source has snuck me the Nuclear Committee's preliminary report and it reveals that Ralston's probably going to get the go-ahead to build in Mendocino. Has Klevinger done anything illegal or wrong? I'm not saying yes or no. I just ask the question.

"He was lying all along," TJ said.

"Sure was."

Still, she couldn't concentrate on Royce's duplicity just now. There was, after all, no need to blackmail him at this point, considering he was headed home in a day or two.

"Good work."

"Just dotting my i's."

As he left she hunched over the MCSO report. She was a little surprised that David Reinhold, the eager kid-the one she'd played cat-and-mouse with last night-hadn't brought it in person.

From: Dep. Peter Bennington, MCSO Crime Scene Unit

To: Kathryn Dance, Special Agent, California Bureau of

Investigation-Western Division.

Re: June 28 homicide at house of James Chilton, 2939 Pacific Heights

Court, Carmel, California.

Kathryn, here's the inventory.

Greg Schaeffer's body One Cross brand wallet, containing Calif. driver's license, credit cards, AAA membership card, all in name of Gregory Samuel Schaeffer $329.52 cash Two keys to Ford Taurus, California registration ZHG128 One motel key to Room 146, Cyprus Grove Inn One key to BMW 530, California registration DHY783, registered to Gregory S. Schaeffer, 20943 Hopkins Drive, Glendale, CA One claim ticket for car at LAX long-term parking, dated June 10 Miscellaneous restaurant and store receipts One cell phone. Only calls to local phone numbers: James Chilton, restaurants Trace on shoes, consistent with sandy dirt found at prior scenes of roadside crosses Fingernail trace inconclusive Room 146, Cypress Grove Inn, registered in name of Greg Schaeffer Miscellaneous clothing and toiletries One 1-liter bottle, Diet Coke Two bottles Robert Mondavi Central Coast Chardonnay wine Leftover Chinese food, three orders Miscellaneous groceries One Toshiba laptop computer and power pack (transferred to California Bureau of Investigation; see chain-of-custody record) One Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printer One box of 25-count Winchester.38 Special ammunition, containing 13 rounds Miscellaneous office supplies Printouts of The Chilton Report from March of this year to present Approximately 500 pages of documents relating to the Internet, blogs, RSS feeds

Items in Gregory Schaeffer's possession found at James Chilton's house One Sony digital camcorder One SteadyShot camera tripod Three USB cables One roll, Home Depot brand duct tape One Smith & Wesson revolver, loaded with 6 rounds of.38 Special ammunition One Baggie containing 6 extra rounds of ammunition Hertz Ford Taurus, California registration ZHG128, parked ½ block away from James Chilton's house One bottle orange-flavored Vitamin Water, half full One rental agreement, Hertz, naming Gregory Schaeffer as lessee One McDonald's Big Mac wrapper One map of Monterey County, provided by Hertz, no marked locations (infrared analysis negative) Five empty coffee cups, 7-Eleven. Only Schaeffer's fingerprints

Dance read the list twice. She couldn't be upset at the job Crime Scene had done. It was perfectly acceptable. Yet it offered no clues whatsoever as to where Travis Brigham was being held. Or where his body was buried.

Her eyes slipped out the window, and settled on the thick, barky knot, the point where two independent trees became one, then continued their separate journey toward the sky.

Oh, Travis, Kathryn Dance thought.

Unable to resist the thought that she'd let him down.

Unable, finally, to resist the tears.