“Okay then,” Regan said. “I’m sure Jane and John Doe made it a point to blend in with the crowd. They’re middle-aged and in good shape. The last thing they want to do is attract attention.”

Michael shook his head. “It sounds like blend in they did. I wish I had more to tell you.”

“And we wish we had more of a description of them,” Regan said. She rolled her eyes. “We just learned from the girl who signed up the last-minute runners that there’s a possibility our John Doe has a very strange laugh.”

“A friend of mine just broke up with a girl because her laugh is so god-awful,” Michael said fervently. “And she’s absolutely stunning. She’s a fine bit of stuff, I tell you! It’s such a pity, but my pal couldn’t take it anymore. I told him I’d be willing to put up with it for at least a couple of dates.-”

“Thank you, Michael,” Gerard said. “You can go back to work now.”

“Cheers,” Michael responded as he gave Gerard back the list and walked out the door.

Gerard sighed. “If I caused you this trouble, I’m terribly sorry,” he said. “I really mean that. The crime rate in Ireland isn’t bad, and I never thought-”

“Don’t worry about it, Gerard,” Jack said with sincerity. “We have no way of knowing if that’s how they found out we’d be here. And if it is and we nab them, then we’ll have you to thank for drawing them out of their lair. You don’t know how much I want to put those two behind bars. They’ve stolen from so many good and generous people. Lately they’ve gotten more daring, and this time they set a fire that could have been deadly.”

“I’m going to make sure everyone in Galway is on the lookout for the Does,” Gerard promised. “If they’re here, I’ll make sure they won’t rest easy. I’ll have them looking over their shoulders every minute.” With a determined look on his face and the list of names in his hand, he picked up the phone.

With the help of the staff at the radio station, it took only thirty minutes to determine that Joe and Josie Cullen were schoolteachers who had driven up from the Dingle Peninsula on a whim early Sunday morning to join the race. They took pictures to bring back to their students, anxious to teach them that exercise can be fun and it’s never too late to start any new venture.

“And Brad and Linda Thompson,” Gerard reported, “bought a home last year in a little village south of Galway. Their number is unlisted. As of yet, we haven’t come up with any other information about them.”

“It’s a good start,” Jack said. “We’ll take a ride into the village now and look around. Gerard, do you think you could get copies of the pictures those teachers took at the race? If they have e-mail, maybe they can scan the photos and send them to you. It might be helpful.”

“I’ll get on it right away,” Gerard said.

“And, Gerard, do you have a tape of last Monday’s show?”

Gerard looked a little embarrassed. “I’ll have my assistant get the master from the tape library and make a copy. I promise not to edit the parts where I, uh, talked too much, shall we say.”

Regan smiled. “We just want to hear the woman caller’s voice, the one who asked about where we were staying, that’s all.”

As they walked out of his office, Gerard put his arm around Regan. “Try not to be late for Louise’s Irish stew,” he joked. “We’ll have ourselves a good meal. Afterwards we can stop in town for a pint at one of the pubs playing music and then come over here to do the show.” He paused, and his tone turned serious. “If the Does are still somewhere around Galway, we’ll find them. And we’ll make their lives miserable.”

He needn’t have been concerned on that score. Just outside of town, the Does’ lives were getting more miserable by the minute.

Knuckles white from gripping the arms of Dr. Sharkey’s dental chair for dear life, Bobby was planning his revenge on the security guard who knocked out his teeth after he and Anna had stolen an antique necklace from a department store in Nanuet, New York, last Christmas. They had made it out the door and into the dark snowy parking lot before the salesclerk, momentarily distracted, realized one of the estate collection necklaces she had shown them was gone. Hearing someone shout “Stop them!” Bobby and Anna began to run toward the car. Anna flew into the driver’s seat, but a burly guard caught up to Bobby and grabbed his arm as he was getting in the car. Bobby hit the hulking man in the face with his free fist, and the guard returned the favor with a punch that landed squarely on Bobby’s mouth. Enraged, Bobby pushed the guard as hard as he could, which normally wouldn’t have been effective, given the guard’s size, but the man slipped on the icy pavement and fell. Bobby jumped into the car, Anna floored the gas pedal, and the car screeched out of the parking lot, slipping and sliding.

Stealing that necklace was a stupid, impulsive thing to do. They certainly hadn’t planned it. They were shopping for a special present for Anna’s mother, who had been complaining that they didn’t visit her enough. The salesclerk made it too easy for them to walk off with the sapphire and diamond necklace. Being who they were, they couldn’t resist.

And for their trouble, Bobby ended up minus four front teeth. Each of the carefully planned jobs they had pulled off before that provided them with jewelry worth a couple of hundred grand, and not a scratch on them. The Nanuet necklace was valued at $10,000 retail, which, after paying off Dr. Favorman, left enough for an ice cream soda.

Anna’s mother lived in upstate New York. They had promised to visit her and stopped at the mall to buy her Christmas present. Explaining to her why they suddenly couldn’t make it home for Christmas had been a challenge, but explaining Bobby’s missing teeth would have been harder. They decided to head across the country and put as much distance as possible between the scene of the crime and a trip to the dentist. They dropped off their rental car at the after-hours lot in New York City and boarded a bus to Pennsylvania, where they rented a four-door sedan. Christmas dinner was eaten in a truck stop. Bobby dined on soup and apple sauce. They arrived in Los Angeles to find everyone gone for the holidays and spent a week in a hotel waiting for the highly touted Dr. Favorman to return from St. Bart’s.

All for a necklace that meant so little to them.

Bobby really wished he could turn the nitrous back on. He was feeling depressed and scared. There was nothing remotely cheery in the harsh little treatment room, nothing at all to lift a patient’s spirits-except, of course, the tank of nitrous, that was now off-limits.

“Your dentist has talent,” Sharkey allowed. He was bent over a side table, stirring a grayish paste with a steel utensil. Bobby thought he looked like a mad scientist. “Where did you say the man is based?”

I didn’t, Bobby thought, but he had to give an answer. “He’s in New York.”

“‘New York, New York, what a wonderful town,’” Sharkey sang. “Mother and Dad and I went there years ago. It was a brilliant trip. Brilliant.”

“Um-hmmm,” Bobby said.

“If I get back there, I’d love to watch your dentist in action. He’s a master.” Sharkey straightened up. “I’ll fix you up with this temporary cap. It should hold you till you get home. Now open wide…”

Bobby closed his eyes while Dr. Sharkey pushed the cap up against his stub, then picked and poked and prodded inside his mouth.

“Voila!” Sharkey finally announced. “Take a look.”

With great trepidation Bobby opened his eyes. Dr. Sharkey held up a mirror to his face. Bobby grimaced at his tired reflection, made worse by the harsh fluourscent light overhead, and then smiled. A big bulky chunk of matter, resembling an oversized and slightly faded kernel of corn, stood in stark contrast to the rest of his Hollywood smile. He had to squelch the impulse to scream, jump out of the chair, and throw Dr. Sharkey against the wall. I look like Goofy, he thought desperately. But he knew he couldn’t make a scene. It was too dangerous with Jack Reilly on his tail.