On the other hand, Wish and Elliott were just right for outdoor tasks, and Elliott especially could benefit from exercise. Yes, it would be for their own good. She had some turkey loaf and complimented Wish on the cuisine, then told them both about Meredith and the gun.

“So you’re vindicated, sort of,” she concluded, as Elliott embarked on his second serving of everything. “Three bullets gone.”

“But was it the third shot that killed her?” Wish asked, breaking the encouraging spell Nina was trying to weave.

But Elliott finally spoke up. “I saw the first two. He aimed high.”

“She was high, on a balcony,” Wish said.

“She was behind him. He shot toward the street entrance at about an eighty-degree angle.”

“Too bad the police couldn’t find the third bullet,” Wish said. “Anyway, I hear you. You saw the first two shots aimed high and in the opposite direction from the woman.”

“Yes. I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon. He didn’t fire when I struggled with him. I couldn’t have leaned his arm back like the lawyer said.”

“Good, that’s clear, then.” Nina went into the kitchen and put on the teapot and thought, I hope.

“He must have seen the Hannas on the balcony after the students ran, and panicked and shot at them,” Wish offered.

The kitchen and the dining room of the cabin were essentially one room, so she could continue the conversation without a beat. “Why?” she asked. “He wore a mask. They couldn’t identify him.”

“I surprised him,” Elliott said. “He lost his bearings. He couldn’t think straight anymore.”

“Right after dinner I’m getting on the Web and see what I can find on the name,” Wish said. “What did you say his name was?”

“Guess I forgot to say,” Nina said. “He was ID’d as a man named Leland Moss Flint.”

Elliott got up from the table, clumsily. He made fists with his hands and started rhythmically beating them against his head from either side, walking around the living room.

“Elliott, what are you doing?” Nina asked.

“Thinking. Thinking. Am I making this all up? Is this my fantasy? Are you people real?” Nina and Wish exchanged glances.

“It can’t be. She wouldn’t. But I remember she had one. Or maybe I’m making all this up to look important. Maybe the notebook’s full of shit. I knew I should burn it. It’s driven me crazy, like Cantor. I’m crazy, that’s right, that’s the problem.”

Nina went to him and said, “Put your arms down. Please. Come on, sit down again.”

“You better call the loony bin.” But he sat back down, wearing an anguished expression. He looked from Wish to Nina and said, “Is it really because of me? Four deaths? I can’t take that. All I wanted was to figure out the problem. Such a fascinating problem, and I didn’t want to be famous, exactly, I mean posthumous fame would have been fine, it was good enough for Cantor. I wanted people to know and appreciate that I solved it, that’s all.”

The teapot began to whistle, and he jumped. “I never met him, but she had one.”

“One what?” Nina said.

“A brother.”

“Who had a brother?”

“Carleen.”

Somewhere she had heard that name. Oh yes, Carleen had been a card counter with the other three, but left the group months before the shooting. “What about Carleen?” she said.

“Carleen. Carleen Flint. She had a brother. A Flint like her, I’m sure. So she must have told him and he tried to steal my book. Carleen. I suppose I hurt her feelings. She was jealous of Silke.”

Wish leaned forward. “Hey, what was the brother’s first name? Think back.”

“I never knew. But isn’t it clear enough? Carleen knew we were going to Tahoe. She and Silke still talked. Carleen works with Professor Braun at XYC.”

“Now we’re gettin’ someplace,” Wish said. “Nina, I have to go get on the computer. Excuse me.”

“Am I making this up?” Elliott watched him go. “I know that paranoids-they always think their friends have turned against them. They always think they have some great discovery they’re going to give the world. Am I-are you going to have me admitted? Because I want to be in Washington State if I’m going to be in the hospital.”

“Listen to me, Elliott,” Nina said. “I don’t think you’re crazy. But unfortunately, I’m afraid it is about you. There is really a man named Lee Flint who robbed you. If he is Carleen Flint’s brother, that’s real and we’ll establish it quickly.”

“I’m the cause?” His face was screwed up like a child’s and his eyes welled up.

Nina wondered if he might try to commit suicide. The idea that he was responsible for the deaths seemed to have sunk serrated teeth into him.

“Have a cup of tea,” she said. “Will you do me a favor, Elliott?”

“What?”

“The snow’s so heavy out there, it’s going to knock down my old deck if it doesn’t get shoveled. I can’t manage it and Bob isn’t here. Would you shovel it for me?”

Elliott followed her like a zombie to the closet and she found him a hat, gloves, and the big aluminum snow shovel. “Go on,” she said. “I’m really worried about that snow.”

“Yeah, why not, snow.” Nina pulled open the sliding door and snow drifted onto the floor. She turned on the floodlight and saw it coming down more heavily than ever. Fine, she thought, let him work out there until he falls down from exhaustion. Then let him sleep, and tomorrow’s another day. She had used the same tactics on Bob now and then when he got into truly terrible moods.

Elliott stomped out there, making deep holes with his boots, and started wielding the shovel with an energy born of all his doubts about himself. He seemed occupied for the moment.

“Nina,” Wish called from the kitchen. He was gulping tea and staring at the computer screen.

“What have you got?”

“Leland M. Flint,” Wish said. “XYC Security. No resume or photo, but look, there’s the name.”

Flint was apparently low on the totem pole, not even a supervisor. The name was listed with many others as “XYC support staff” on the Web site. He had been as easy to locate as a bunion on a small foot, once they had the name and reference.

“They have a killer on their staff,” Nina said. “Maybe they put him up to it, the robbery. As for the other killings, maybe he was on his own, trying to cover up, maybe not.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Call Cheney. And first thing in the morning-”

Wish waited.

“I’m going to sue the bastards,” Nina said. “I always wanted to say that.”

28

SANDY SAID, “HERE YOU GO.” THE complaints and summonses made a very satisfying package. The agent for service for XYC, Inc. was a law firm in Palo Alto, California, home of Stanford University and countless start-up computer-technology firms.

But XYC was no start-up. The company stock traded on NASDAQ and had split recently, capitalized at over $550 million, its value all in a couple of business parks and a couple of patents. The Wall Street Journal article Nina read said that XYC had been the brainchild of two math grad students at Stanford, who had found a way to use prime numbers to develop a hackproof encryption system for Net commerce. The system was incredibly successful and used by just about everybody now.

“Did Wish get Elliott to the airport?” It had stopped snowing, but flights had been delayed even down the hill in Reno.

“He called in and said the plane took off on time. Elliott had the eyes of a cornered squirrel, he said.”

“And that ain’t good,” Nina said, stealing one of Bob’s favorite phrases. “But he’s told his story now. He’ll feel better barricaded at home.”

“Is he crazy?”

“A little. Speaking unscientifically,” Nina said. “But man, can he throw snow off a deck. He was out there again when I got up this morning. He knew he needed the distraction. He and Wish cleared the driveway and stacked my wood.”

“They work it off,” Sandy said.