The Mephisto Club

bumps.” He looked around at the blank walls and shuddered, as though feeling a chill wind. “You know what I think? They should just burn this place. Burn it right down to the ground. No one in his right mind will ever buy it.”
    “You said it was a doctor’s family living here,” said Jane.
    “That’s right. The Sauls.”
    “And they had a nephew staying with them that summer.”
    Jurevich nodded. “Fifteen-year-old kid.”
    “What happened to that boy? After the tragedies?”
    “The realtor says the kid left Purity a short time later. His mother came and got him.”
    “Do you know anything else about him?”
    “Remember, it was twelve years ago. No one knew him very well. And he was only here for that summer.” Jurevich paused. “I know what you’re thinking. The kid would be twenty-seven right now. And he’d know all about what happened here.”
    “He might also have a key to the front door,” said Jane. “How can we find out more about him?”
    “His cousin, I assume. The woman who owns this house, Lily Saul.”
    “But you don’t know how to find her, either.”
    “The realtor’s been trying.”
    Jane said, “I’d like to see the police reports on the Saul family. I assume the deaths were all investigated.”
    “I’ll call my office, have the files copied for you. You can pick them up on your way out of town. Are you driving back to Boston tonight?”
    “We planned to, right after lunch.”
    “Then I’ll try to have them ready by then. You might want to head over to Roxanne’s Café. Great turkey club sandwiches. And it’s right across the street from our office.”
    “Will that give you enough time to copy everything?”
    “There’s not much to the files beyond the autopsies and sheriff’s reports. In all three cases, the manner and cause of death were pretty apparent.”
    Sansone had been standing at the window, gazing outside. Now he turned to Jurevich. “What’s the name of your local newspaper here?”
    “All of Chenango County’s pretty much covered by the
Evening Sun.
Their office is in Norwich.” Jurevich looked at his watch. “There’s really nothing else to show you here.”
    Back outside, they stood in the biting wind as Jurevich locked the front door and gave it a hard rattle to make sure it was secure. “If we make any headway on our end,” he said to Jane, “I’ll give you a call. But I think this killer’s going to be your catch.” He zipped up his jacket and pulled on his gloves. “He’s playing in your neighborhood, now.”

TWENTY-EIGHT
    “He shows up in his fancy car and gets invited right into the crime scene,” said Jane, shaking a French fry at Maura. “What’s that all about? Who does Sansone know in Justice? Even Gabriel couldn’t find out.”
    “They must have a reason to trust him.”
    “Oh, yeah.” Jane popped the French fry into her mouth and snatched up another, agitation fueling her appetite. In a matter of minutes, she’d reduced an enormous club sandwich to a few crumbs of toast and bacon, and now she was dragging the last of her fries through a pool of ketchup. “Trust some millionaire with a crime-fighting hobby?”
    “Multimillionaire.”
    “Who does he think he is, Bruce Wayne? Or the guy on that old TV show. The rich man who’s a cop. My mom used to watch it.”
    “I think you’re talking about
Burke’s Law.
”
    “Yeah. How many rich cops do
you
know?”
    Maura sighed and picked up her teacup. “Not a one.”
    “Exactly. It’s a fantasy. Some bored guy with money thinks it’d be a kick to play Dirty Harry, except he doesn’t want to actually get down and dirty. He doesn’t want to walk a beat or write up incident reports. He just wants to drive up in his Mercedes and tell us idiots how it should be done. You think I haven’t dealt with people like him before? Everyone thinks they’re smarter than the police.”
    “I don’t think he’s merely an amateur, Jane. I think he’s worth listening to.”
    “Right. A former history professor.” Jane drained her coffee cup and craned her neck around the booth, scanning the busy café for the waitress. “Hey, miss? Could I have a refill over…” She paused. She said to Maura, “Look who just walked in.”
    “Who?”
    “Your friend and mine.”
    Maura turned toward the door, gazing past the dining counter where men in billed caps sat huddled over their coffee and burgers. She spotted Sansone at the same instant he saw her. As he crossed the room, a