“That’s why he showed up at the greenhouse,” said Riley. “The wasps. He wasn’t using them to sniff out explosives-he was seeing if Quadros had been there.”

“Yes,” said Grissom. “And the wasps told him that he had.”

“I get it,” said Nick. “Not really that much different than planting an explosive dye pack in a bag of stolen money-except the dye’s invisible, it works by smell instead of sight, and it leaves traces behind detectable only to wasps… Okay, maybe it’s not that similar. But I understand the concept.”

Greg shook his head. “So at that point he knew the killer had been posing as Quadros-something we’d already figured out. But how did he find him?”

“The same way. He knew that the killer would have changed his appearance-including his clothing-but had noticed earlier that his shoes were rather expensive. That’s what he sprayed with the training chemical-he gambled that the killer would keep them.”

“Undone by comfortable footwear,” said Nick. “Warrick would have been proud.”

“The rest was persistence and luck. He took the wasps up and down every hallway of every hotel on the Strip until he got a hit. That told him where LW was staying-he convinced a maid to let him into the room while it was unoccupied.”

Greg nodded. “Which is when he slipped LW the insecticide. But why didn’t he come to you instead of going the vigilante route? I thought you two were buds.”

“We are. I asked him the same question.”

“And?” prompted Riley.

“He didn’t want his interference to screw up our case. The braconid method is still very new and has never been tested in court. He worried that his data would be misunderstood or distorted if we went to trial-damaging not only our case, but the credibility of the method. Especially since he wouldn’t be around to defend it.”

“Why not?” asked Greg. “I’m sure the LVPD would spring for airfare from Australia if the case called for it-”

“He’s dying,” said Grissom.

There was a moment of silence.

“Pancreatic cancer,” said Grissom. “His oncologist tells him he has a few months left, at most.”

“Wow,” Catherine said quietly. “And now he’s going to spend it in a prison hospital.”

“He was repulsed by what LW did,” said Grissom. “Jake has always been… a little larger than life. When he encountered someone who had nothing but contempt for everything he reveled in-everything he was about to lose-he felt it was appropriate to take action.”

“So he took the law into his own hands,” said Riley.

Grissom paused. “I can’t say I agree with what he did. But he didn’t try to hide it; he told me everything. I’m sure he could have covered his tracks well enough to at least return to Australia and die at home.”

“Why didn’t he?” asked Greg.

“Because,” said Grissom, “a scientist uncovers information; he doesn’t hide it. He wanted the last investigation he ever performed to be part of the public record, not a deception motivated by self-interest.” Grissom got to his feet. “Or as Jake put it: the Bug Killer was wrong. Humans may act like insects some of the time, but we understand that our actions have consequences, good or bad. We get to choose accordingly.”

Grissom paused. “And that’s exactly what he did.”

Nick shook his head. “No offense, boss, but-what is it with you and serial killers? I’m starting to think you attract them the way honey attracts flies.”

“Honey isn’t the only thing that attracts flies,” said Grissom. “So do corpses.”

“Speaking of which,” said Greg, “Do we have an ID on LW yet?”

“No,” said Grissom. “His prints and DNA aren’t in the system. He didn’t leave anything behind that might indicate his true identity. Even though he claimed to be superior to the mass of humanity, in death he’s become as faceless and anonymous as any member of a beehive or ant colony. His history, his true motivations, will likely remain unknowable, as frustrating as that sounds.” He paused. “I suppose that, in the end, it’s what we leave behind that defines us.”

He nodded once, as if to himself, and then got up and left the room.

About the Author

DONN CORTEZ is the pseudonym for Don DeBrandt, who has authored several novels. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.