“About two hours,” Decker said.

McAdams opened the passenger door and in came a gush of cold air. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Old Man. Have a good night, Mrs. Decker.”

“You too, Tyler.” Rina got out of the car and moved to the front seat. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep. Now my schedule will be all messed up.”

“Maybe you needed sleep after caring nonstop for your grandchildren.”

“Isn’t that the truth? There’s a reason for having children when you’re young.”

“You are young, especially compared to me.”

She leaned over and kissed him. “Your mother is ninety-three. You have many more years on this planet . . . if you don’t wear out your engine with homicide cases.”

“I hear you.” Decker parked in front of his house and killed the engine. Outside was deadly silent. “We’re going up to Summer Village tomorrow. I’m hoping the detectives had better luck with Latham because I’m not getting anywhere.”

“You can’t just call them?”

“I’ve already called them. They don’t tell me anything over the phone. I need a face-to-face. I’ve got an appointment with Chris Mulrooney. After him, I want to start looking into some of the Boston galleries since New York was a bust.”

“Are they open on Monday?”

“Some of them are. The one I’m interested in, isn’t open usually, but I have an appointment.”

“So you really think the murders have to do with the art theft?”

“Right now, it’s the only thing I have to go on.”

They both got out of the car and went into the house, Decker flicking on the hallway light. He hung up his jacket and Rina’s jacket as well. He took off his boots, his scarf, and his mittens and turned on a living room lamp. Inside it was warm and cozy. Greenbury was beginning to feel like home. Rina had put on a kettle. “Tea?”

“Love some.” He sat down on the couch and threw his head back.

Rina sat down and put her hand on his knee. “Tell me where you are in the case.”

Decker explained what he knew so far. “Now that we have the connection between Angeline and the panels, I can at least go forward. If she and Latham were fencing stolen material, they’d need a middleman. Since Latham lived up north, I’ll try hunting around the Boston area.”

“You can do that without stepping on Summer Village’s toes?”

“That’s why I want to see them personally. We can compare notes and since they’re busier than I am, maybe they wouldn’t mind a little help.”

Rina nodded, and then she went into the kitchen to fetch the tea. They sipped a while in silence, watching the snow fall from the living room picture window. There was a light outside the house emphasizing the delicate white flakes: a live screen saver. She said, “Are you taking Tyler with you?”

“It always helps to have another point of view.” A pause. “Before we left for New York, Tyler was in the middle of searching for valuables that could be stolen from a library: things like old reference material with original prints or vintage maps or collectors’ books that could be sold on the black market. If they were stealing from graveyards, I wouldn’t put it past them to steal from libraries.”

“Makes total sense.”

“The problem is none of that material is worth killing over. Even if their fence was caught, the most he’d get is a slap on the wrist. So far I have nothing that says that Angeline was anything more than a two-bit hustler. I have nothing on Latham. I’m going to exhaust all my leads very soon. I’m missing something.” The room fell silent. “It’s times like this when I really miss Marge.”

“You do own a phone.”

“I don’t want to bother her.”

“While Ventura is a bigger city than Greenbury, it isn’t LAPD. I’m sure she’s going through ‘homicide withdrawal’ as well. And I know she loves hearing from you. It’s not late on the West Coast and you know she’s not working on Sunday. Call her up.”

Decker checked his watch as if to verify the time. “Why not? At the very least, it’ll be nice to talk to someone who doesn’t call me Old Man.”

HALFWAY THROUGH THE ride to Boston, Decker said, “I spoke to my old partner last night.” A beat. “Not my old partner, my former partner. She’s younger than me.”

“Isn’t everyone?” McAdams snapped.

Decker raised his eyebrows but said nothing. It appeared that he had hit a jealous nerve in the kid. It was always surprising what set people off.

The kid fidgeted. “Why’d you call her? Never mind. It’s none of my business. Unless you were talking about the case. Then it is my business. Aren’t you the one who told me to keep my mouth shut?”

Decker ignored his ’tude. “Her department isn’t nearly as big as LAPD, but it’s in a major city and she has access to a lot more databases than we do. I’ve asked her to look into any art crime that might have involved homicide within the last five years. It’d be interesting to see if she comes up with anything new.”

McAdams was silent. He sipped coffee from a thermos.

“Anything left in that thing?” Decker asked.

“Dregs.”

They drove for five minutes without speaking. Then Decker spotted a Dunkin’ Donuts. “Let’s get a refill.”

“Doughnuts and coffee. Very cop of you.”

“You want something to eat? I’m going to get a bagel.” When McAdams remained silent, Decker said, “I’ll take that as a no.” It took him five minutes to make the round-trip. When he came back, he unwrapped his bagel and took a bite. “Sure you don’t want anything?”

“I’m fine, okay?”

“Sure.” Decker continued eating.

McAdams blew out air. Then he got out of the car and came back a minute later with his own bagel and a cup of coffee. “Did she have anything illuminating to add to the case?”

“She’s smart enough not to offer opinions without having the facts in front of her. Mostly she just listened to my frustration. She agrees with us, that it has to be something more than just a couple of Tiffany panels.”

“Insightful, that woman is. What’s her name again? Maude?”

“Marge Dunn. She and her fiancé may come out in the summer to visit.”

“How old is she?”

“Marge is a little older than Rina’s age . . . early fifties. We both left LAPD at the same time. I don’t miss the department, but I do miss her. You’re with someone that long, it’s like a marriage.”

“Was she your little piece of action on the side?”

Slowly, Decker smiled. “No, she was not my little piece of action on the side. I don’t have action on the side. I’m a true blue guy. But I thank you for the compliment: that I could get action on the side . . . had I wanted it.”

McAdams just shook his head. “You are absolutely unflappable.”

“I’ve asked Marge to look up Jason Merritt, Maxwell Stewart, and Chase Goddard. See if any of them has ever been in trouble before. It would help to know Goddard’s background before we see him.”

“What’d she tell you?”

“I called her last night.” Decker checked his watch. “It’s seven in the morning on the West Coast. I’m hoping to hear from her in a couple of hours. In the meantime, we can talk to the Summer Village PD, a guy named Chris Mulrooney. They’re done with the search of Latham’s apartment. Mulrooney was generous enough to share what they found . . . which doesn’t look like much so far. We’re meeting with him at eleven.”

“What about Latham’s computer?” McAdams asked.

“The dees didn’t find his computer. They’re trying to find his e-mail server via his phone service but that takes a warrant. They’re hoping to have it today or tomorrow along with his phone and text logs. If he was using a throwaway phone like Angeline, we probably won’t find much, but no stone unturned, right?”

The kid rubbed his eyes. “Do we know that Angeline was definitely using a throwaway phone?”

“We do. Ben Roiters texted me last night during dinner. He found the mobile phone store where she bought her throwaways. Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”