'It wouldn't be ironic at all,' retorted Albert. 'We've never been to Europe.'

There was a long, pained pause. Finally, Conni said, not looking at anyone, 'I think Scotland is considered Europe.'

Scotland! Spencer's face was pressed to the mirror; he felt its cool, smooth surface against his skin. I get it now. God, I'm an idiot.

When he tuned back to their conversation, Albert was patting Conni's arm across the table, saying, 'Let it go, babe, let it go. She is dead. Let it go.'

'What, like that makes it all better?' snapped Jim.

'Not better,' said Albert sadly. 'Just over.'

Albert then said to Conni, 'We were friends, Constance, friends. Why is your imagination so out of kilter?'

Had Spencer caught Albert in an out-and-out lie? He had not seen a love letter from Albert to Kristina, nor one from her to him. Spencer had not seen the two together, or smelled his cologne on her clothes, or seen their breath intermingle in the November cold. However, he had seen something more powerful and more telling. Matchbooks and cigarette lighters and napkins from a country with impossibly green grass, a country where men wore kilts and bagpipes played music nearly too mournful for the human ear. He had seen firsthand what Kristina Kim nee Sinclair thought of Edinburgh, Scotland, and because of that, Spencer O'Malley knew she and Albert were not just good friends.

Kristina loved Albert.

That made all the difference.

What the hell was she doing going out with Jim? Spencer pressed his palms against the mirror. If Albert and Kristina wanted to be together, and if Jim was stuck on Conni, why in hell's name did they play this stupid game of musical love chairs?

Spencer's headache was getting nasty. Why, why, why? The questions of the living pressed at him. What happened to 'No chemistry, man'? Or was it just a one-way street? Maybe Albert wasn't lying. Maybe they were just good friends.

And he was rejecting her money. She left it for him, and for her boyfriend, and for the girl who was her best friend; why would Albert not take her money? It was obvious he didn't want to. And soon, Spencer heard Jim Shaw say, 'It's a good idea, Albert. This Red Leaves thing. That's a lot of money for them.'

'Yes,' Albert said. 'Kristina mentioned they wanted to renovate. They only have a few bedrooms upstairs, and sometimes it gets so crowded the girls have to share rooms. With the money they could build an extension.'

'For nine million dollars?' said Conni. 'An extension and then some.'

'Yes, it's a good idea,' agreed Jim. 'But why didn't Kristina think of it herself?'

'She cared about us more than she cared about Red Leaves,' said Conni. 'But you're right. We should give the money to them. Who runs that place?'

'I don't remember,' said Albert. 'I'll write them a letter, and when the money becomes available send the check. They'll be very happy.'

'But will you?' said Conni softly. 'Will you be happy?'

Spencer did not see his face, but he saw Conni's. 'Sure. She's dead. Me keeping her money isn't going to bring her back, is it?'

'Do you want to bring her back, Albert?' said Conni, and again, Spencer could not read the expression on her face. It read somewhere between intense love and intense misery.

'I'm sad she is gone,' Albert said. 'You should be, too.'

'Don't tell her how she should feel,' snapped Jim. 'What do you understand about her feelings? Everything is black-and-white with you.'

'What the hell does that mean, man?' said Albert and laughed irritably. It was the first time Spencer had heard Albert be anything more than impassive. 'First of all, nothing is black-and-white with me, and second of all, how Conni feels is none of your business, all right?'

'See, unlike you, I care about her feelings,' Jim said.

Albert did not miss a beat. 'Well, we certainly know how you feel about Conni, Jim. You've made it very clear. Listen, stop acting like this all the time, stop it, all right? I didn't take your girl away from you, and you know it.'

'Yeah,' Jim said, 'you took both girls away from me.'

'I don't know what the hell you're talking about,' said Albert.

'"No chemistry, man,"' Jim mimicked Albert. 'Remember you said that to me? About why you couldn't get it on with Kristina? No chemistry, you said.'

'Yeah?' Albert said rudely. 'What about it?'

'It was a goddamn lie, wasn't it?'

'What are you talking about?' said Albert loudly. 'Kristina is dead, we're sitting here, all under suspicion for killing her, she's left us a shitload of money, and you're going on about three-year-old crap. I mean, what's going on?'

Spencer moved away from the glass and toward the door. Any moment he was going to be needed in the small square room with the round table.

Conni spared him from intervening by intervening herself. 'Guys, please,' she said in a small voice, 'can we just please stick to the matter at hand?' Looking at Albert across from her, she said, 'I'm with you. We'll give our money to Red Leaves.'

When no one said anything, Conni looked at Jim. He stared back at her, and his mouth tightened. Conni reached out and patted his arm. 'Jimmy, why are you so angry? She's gone.'

He moved his arm away and said harshly, 'So what? Does that make it all better?'

'Yes,' said Conni quietly. 'Doesn't it?'

'What are you talking about, Conni?' said Jim, staring at her intently. 'Don't say that, you of all people, don't say that.'

Not answering, Conni stared at the table. Albert said nothing.

Spencer was amazed. Minutes passed, and the three of them began talking about other things: about the ex-husband; what would Kristina be doing married so young, and why? Why hadn't Kristina ever told Conni about Howard when they talked about everything, and then Conni looked at Albert and asked, childlike, 'Everything, Albert?' and he said, 'Guess so,' and then they talked about Kristina's funeral, would she be buried at Pine Knoll, in which case they could come, or would she be buried in Brooklyn? In which case they couldn't take the time off from their exams. Well, Jim said, he'd take the time off, and the other two were surprised. Jim? Time off from school?

None seemed disturbed by the fact that they had vowed to give away over nine million dollars.

With a sleight of hand, Albert, Conni, and Jim gamely gave away what Spencer thought was the motive while he watched from a two-way mirror.

And the subject of Kristina's actual death was going selfconsciously untouched.

Spencer suddenly thought of last week when they went for coffee was that only last week? What had Kristina told him? She was broke. She drove an old Mustang, she bought used textbooks because she couldn't afford new ones. She had three dollars in her pocket. Had she told a single soul she was coming into nine million dollars? And if not, why not? If Spencer were coming into nine million dollars, heck, if he were coming into nine hundred dollars, he would tell everybody. Certainly Will. But Kristina hadn't told her three best friends. Why not?

He turned around to walk out of the room, and Will was standing at the door. 'What was she afraid of, Spence?' Will said.

For a second Spencer thought Will had read his mind and was talking about Kristina. Then he realized Will was talking about Conni. 'Was I talking out loud?' Spencer said.

'No, you were thinking out loud,' Will said, coming closer to Spencer. 'I stood behind you the whole time.' Will put his hand on Spencer's shoulder. 'You're taking this way too personally, O'Malley. What's gotten into you?'

Spencer ran his hand over his cropped hair. 'Nothing, man.'

'Relax. We'll figure it out. You'll figure it out. I know you will.'

'Will I?'

Will nodded. 'There's something else here. Something else besides the money.'

'I agree.'

'There's this abnormal tension among kids who are supposed to be friends.'

'Yes.'

Will said, T think they really didn't know about the money. Did you see their faces? I watched them. Albert nearly fell off his chair. Conni acted like somebody hit her. Jim closed his eyes; he understood right away what it meant for them. I'm telling you it's not the money.'

'I don't know, Will. It's too much money not to be the money.'

'Yes, but O'Malley, Albert goes alone to Kristina's room. She is possibly naked, and he is possibly tying her boots. Conni sees Albert is not in his room and goes nuts. No wonder she is obsessively looking for him all over campus at one in the morning.' Will was talking quietly, but he lowered his voice another notch. 'And why is Conni so uncomfortable? She keeps pulling on her eyebrows all the time.'

'Yeah, I know. But Will, where was Jim?'

'Sleeping.'

'Okay, if Jim was sleeping, where was Albert?'

'You're saying he could've slipped out?'

'No,' said Spencer. 'I'm not saying that. I'm saying, where was Conni?'

Will stopped him. 'Tracy, we've been so wrapped up in looking for the motive, we haven't been looking for the killer. What if it was just some crazy lunatic? What if someone demented knew she walked the wall naked, so he waited for her, dragged her into the bushes, raped her, and then killed her because she was screaming like a banshee?'

Spencer shook his head vehemently. 'Will, I know you're making this up. She was clean. And she wouldn't have gone into the woods for a psycho. Where she was found was a long way from the bridge. What did he do? Carry her tenderly in his arms? Besides, what kind of sicko would rape a woman in the snow? What did he do, bring a picnic blanket? He'd have to get down in the snow himself, and it's cold. His dick would freeze.'

The two men eyed each other, and Spencer said, 'Look, it's not a bad idea to say that that's who we're looking for, a crazy man. It'll give us a little more time, and might relax these kids a little.'

Will nodded. 'Not a bad idea. Still, though ... I think ...'

'Shhh,' said Spencer. 'Let's go.'

Opening the door for Spencer, Will said, 'These kids worry me. There is something weird going on.'

'Yeah, but we haven't met the husband yet,' said Spencer, walking out of the room. 'He could be weird as hell.'

Howard Kim was neat, well dressed, gravely serious, and Asian.

Spencer was not surprised. He had expected Howard to be Asian.

They shook hands. 'So she is dead? I am sorry to hear that. I am sorry. How did she die?'

'She was found frozen in the snow.'

Howard looked at the floor. They were standing near the front reception desk at the hospital.

'God, how horrible.'

'Yes,' echoed Spencer. 'I'm very sorry.'

'Do you need me to identify her?'

'Thanks, but she's already been ID'd. We need your permission to autopsy her.'

'That will be it?'

'No.' Spencer glanced at Will. 'Then maybe you and my partner, Will Baker, could talk.'

'Kind of like a formal talk?'

'Formal?'

'Like questioning talk?'

Spencer looked at Howard askance. 'Questioning?' Spencer's voice wasn't as friendly and sympathetic anymore. 'I don't know, Mr Kim. Is there something we should question you about?'

'I am a lawyer, Detective O'Malley. I know how these things work. A young woman is dead. Everybody close to her is a suspect.'

'Yes, and you, after all, were her husband.'

Howard waved him off. 'Yes,' he said, 'but in name only.'

After that, Howard asked to look briefly at her body. They took the elevator into the dungeon. With a disbelieving, stricken look, Howard touched Kristina's corpse, now unfrozen and decomposing.

'How did this happen?' he whispered. 'How?'

Spencer shook his head, trying not to look at Kristina's body. 'What can I tell you? You allow us to autopsy her and we'll have more answers for you then.'

Howard nodded his assent and began to cry. Spencer breathed shallowly, quickly to keep his composure.

'I do not want to leave her here,' said Howard, turned away from Spencer, from Will, and from Kristina. 'Not another minute. She does not belong here. I want to bury her. Her body needs to be at rest for her spirit to be at rest. I have to take her out of here. Please,' he added.

Spencer wanted to put his hand on Howard's shoulder. 'After the autopsy, the funeral home in Hanover will take her anywhere you like,' he said, unable to comfort Howard. 'Let's wait outside, and I'll talk to Dr Innis.'

Howard started to leave, and then took a black scarf off his neck and placed it on Kristina's body. He was sobbing. Spencer took the scarf off and handed it back to Howard. 'No,' he gently said. He asked Howard to wait for him in the corridor.

Dr Innis was in the autopsy room. The three metal tables were empty. The doctor was putting on his rubber gloves. 'Can we begin?'

'How long is it going to take?' asked Spencer.

Dr Innis handed Spencer a white overcoat. 'About six hours. Three for the autopsy, another three for the coroner's report. This isn't your first autopsy, is it, detective?'

Spencer's life in the last two days had been doled out in three-hour increments. It wasn't bad enough that it was ten at night. Three hours from now it was going to get worse. And Spencer was still on the job. 'No, it isn't my first,' he said. 'Certainly not.' But the lab coat in his hands made him shiver, and his head jerked.

Dr Innis calmly looked up at Spencer. 'Detective?' he said.

'Yes, yes,' Spencer said hurriedly, fumbling with the white coat. 'I'm fine.'