“And you were trying to tell him she’d do that for the Gregorys.”

“Well, they fit the bill perfectly, don’t they? And here’s one more bit of information for you. That was Memorial Day weekend when it happened. What goes on around here on Memorial Day weekend? That race over to Nantucket. The one they call the Figawi. Who sails in the race? Well, the Gregorys do. Some of ’em, anyhow. And what happens at the end of the race? Parties. Parties on Nantucket, parties here. You’re an attractive girl like my daughter, you run into a Gregory, he invites you to a party, you’re gonna be sorely tempted, don’t you think? Even if your parents wouldn’t approve?”

I stared at my drink, wondering if I should finish it off or ask the next question, the one that could get me in a whole lot of trouble. I did both. “I don’t suppose you found out which Gregorys were in town that weekend?”

“Their boat’s called The Paradox. I found out who was registered as the crew. Six people. Five of ’em guys.”

There was no exit now. “You want to tell me who?”

“Ned Gregory was the captain. It was his boat. Crew was Jamie Gregory, girl was Cory Gregory, there was a boy named Jason Stockover, another one named Paul McFetridge, and then there was Peter Gregory Martin.”

My Manhattan surged back up from my stomach, got caught in my throat, didn’t seem to want to go back down again.

“You know him? Peter Martin? He was the one who was accused of rape down in Florida that time. They never proved anything, but people said the only reason he wasn’t prosecuted was because he was a Gregory.”

My skin was burning, my chest was constricted, and yet my whole body was so cold I began to shake. I gripped my empty glass around the stem and held it tight just so the old man could not see my hand rattling.

“I took the names, I give them to Mitch White, give them to Detective Landry. What happens? They go, ‘Hmm, hmm. We’ll look into it, Mr. Telford.’ Never hear anything more. So I do my own work. Start going to Bon Faire on a regular basis. Get to know the Ross girls; they get to know me. They know about Heidi, of course. They ask me what’s going on. They’re interested, and I can tell they’re concerned because, like I said, they’re good people. And finally one day I’m in the store alone with Rachel and I ask her, that last day she remembers Heidi being in there, was Peter Martin there, too? And she tells me the truth. She tells me he was.”

“Same time?” I surprise myself by getting the words out. They seemed to have escaped through a corner of my mouth.

“Well, she’s a little evasive there, but I can tell they were. See, what you gotta understand is that Rachel knows Peter. She probably knows the whole family, but, well, she’s a little chunky, so she’s probably not on their radar. Anyhow, she’s already told the police she can’t remember anything else, but now here she is admitting Peter was in the store. And what she’s really doing, Mr. Becket, is she’s being honest with me while still being loyal to them.”

“You told all this to—”

“Yep.” Bill Telford drew a five-dollar bill from his wallet. “And now I’m telling you.” He slid the bill under his coffee cup, inclined his head in the direction of John the bartender, and said, “That ought to smooth his feathers a little bit.” Then he got to his feet, looked up at the television screen, where the Bruins were getting shut out, and said, “Those three guys they got in the trade for Thornton are about as worthless as hazelnuts.”

2

.

THAT THIRD-YEAR STUDENT WHO HAD SAVED US FROM BEING busted was named Tiel. I never saw his name spelled out, but I assumed it was T-i-e-l. His father did not live in Old Town and was not deputy attorney general of the United States. There was no Baldwin case, either—at least none that held what Tiel had claimed.

He and Marion had wanted to celebrate what they had managed to pull off. I just wanted to go home. After much protesting, they dropped me at my apartment and continued on to Marion’s place, where Tiel proceeded to spend the night with my date.

Marion liked the fact that I wasn’t bothered about Tiel sleeping with her. She thought it meant I was kinky. And I thought that was why she called me when she moved to Boston.

She was working for a well-known firm and hating every minute of it. She had heard I was on the Cape and wanted to know if she could come down for the weekend.

Sure, I said. Come on down.

Within a year we were married.

3

.

“YES, GEORGE?”

Mitch White seemed put out that I was coming to see him a second time.

I took the seat I wasn’t offered and told him that I had looked through the Telford files.

“Make any great discoveries?”

The district attorney almost smiled. At least that is what I think was going on beneath his twitching mustache.

“Only that none of the stuff was there that Bill Telford claims to have turned over.”

“What stuff? A picture of his daughter in the dress? Is that what you’re talking about?”

“He said he gave it to you.”

“Which is why I took it. But Detective Landry and those guys, they already had pictures.”

“So what did you do with it?”

“Hey—why are you talking to me like that?” Mitch White’s eyes flashed behind his glasses in a way that was meant to remind me of who he was.

“Just … the picture was part of a point Mr. Telford was trying to prove.”

“What point?” He put his hands under his pectorals and cupped them there. Then he stared.

I looked around Mitch White’s office rather than look at the spectacle he was making of himself. I wondered how a man like him could make me feel like such a loser.

The district attorney’s hands flew up in the air, extending over his head, compelling me to look back at him. “C’mon, George,” he said. “After nine years, that’s all he’s got? And you think that’s good enough for me to what? Convene a grand jury? I’d be the laughingstock of the community.”

I didn’t tell him he already was. I just said, “Well, I got the impression Mr. Telford had to build up a lot of good faith with the girl in the store, the one who finally told him about Peter Martin being there.”

“What, did the girl get jilted by the Gregorys? Is that what’s behind this? She couldn’t remember before, but now she does?”

“I don’t know, Mitch. I’m only asking because Mr. Telford says he’s supplied various items to the investigation, and from what I can tell, the files haven’t even been opened in years.”

“You know what the first thing he wanted us to do was? See who bought golf clubs. Medical examiner says the girl must have gotten hit by a golf club. Okay, nobody has any reason to argue with that. So Bill Telford thinks it’s a good idea for us to canvass the Cape, get a list of everyone who bought a single club in the thirty days after Heidi’s death.” Mitch White flung himself around in his chair in agitation. “What, we go to every golf course, Sears, Walmart?”

“We don’t have a Walmart.”

“Yeah, well, you know what I’m saying. I tell him we can’t do it, don’t have the manpower. So he comes up with these lists. Says if you’re gonna use a club to make the wound Heidi had, it can only be one of these clubs. I forget … three, four, five irons, I think he figures. Flat heads. Then he says okay, if the person knows about the Wianno course, it’s only going to be a nice club, a Ping or something. Then he says, and he’s not going to be buying it at a Sears or a Kmart. That’s the other place I was trying to think of. So all right, we indulge him. Detective Landry goes to the shops at all the golf courses, private and public, in about a ten-mile radius. And that’s a lot, believe me. We come up with a couple of doctors, some university chancellor, the travel editor of The New York Times—”