“Good. You didn’t mention the checkbook you looked at?”

“That wasn’t my duty. I didn’t take it and there won’t be any prints on it. Crockett will find it and do the same thing we’re doing.”

“Except he won’t have to hack into the bank records,” Nina said, scrolling down rapidly. “Where did you get this software anyway? It’s scary.”

“A Big Brother company on the Net.”

“It went right into the bank’s computers. This is legal?”

Paul didn’t answer.

“Then I hope it’s as good as it seems and nobody ever finds out we’ve been creeping around in one of the accounts. Ugh. I hate sneaks on the Internet. I hate doing this.”

“Even to save a life?”

“I spend all my time worrying with the subtle refinements of morality, but today I’m going for a crude goal, get Wish Whitefeather out of jail.”

“Your money back if you’re convicted of a felony.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

Paul had started massaging her shoulders. He leaned down now to look at the numbers scrolling down the screen. “Coyote’s checks?”

“For the past year. What I expected. A Social Security disability check for Nate comes in each month. He cashes it and mostly lives on the cash. He writes a check to Susie Johnson for fifty bucks each month. He’s late this month.”

“Susie Johnson. His mother in Markleeville.”

“He also receives money from odd jobs. The total income from the two sources is around fourteen hundred a month.”

“They weren’t starving, then. Did you get some lunch?”

“A tuna sandwich.” She pulled on his sleeve. “Bend down.” She put her arm around his neck and gave him a long, deep, thrilling kiss. “I found something else,” she whispered.

“What?” His hands were under her shirt.

“Six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, deposited a month ago into Coyote’s checking account. Don’t stop.”

“You are such a sexy woman. I think you need a nap.”

“A half-hour nap would be nice. Oh. Look at you. You want a nap too.”

By three o’clock they had gotten back to business.

“Cash deposit,” Paul said. “Crockett will send somebody to the bank to see if the teller remembers the depositor.”

“Except the depositor is probably Coyote. The Moneyman gave him the cash and he deposited it.”

“Thus ending the money trail,” said Paul.

Nina thought about it. “We could work this from the other end,” she said. “The Moneyman probably took that money out of his bank account a day or two before Coyote made his deposit. Cashed out on some stocks, maybe.”

“Yeah, but we can’t check every transaction like that in the U.S.”

“Think about it, Paul,” Nina said. “I keep coming back to the Cat Lady’s report. Coyote, I assume it was Coyote, dropped someone off on Siesta Court.”

“Right.”

“We seem to be down to a couple of scenarios. First, maybe Danny was the second arsonist and Coyote dropped him off. Danny couldn’t be the Moneyman, he was broke, but he clearly knew the Moneyman. So the question is, who did Danny know? He was new to Monterey County and a loner like Coyote. He knew Wish, and he knew the people in his neighborhood. So we could hack into the bank accounts of the neighbors on Siesta Court.”

“We could.”

Nina said, “I shudder to think what we might find out about these people.”

“Ordinary citizens,” Paul said. “Right?”

“We would be committing multiple felonies and with different banks your hacking program might not work so well.”

“What’s the second scenario?”

“Okay. Danny was not the second arsonist, but the second arsonist met Coyote through Danny. I say that because Coyote lived a long way away and was a loner.”

“Which explains how Danny had inside information, and which makes what Danny told Wish, about trying to take a photo and collect the reward, the plain truth.”

“Right. And again, who did Danny know? Same group of people.”

“It’s the same outcome,” Paul said. “Except then the Moneyman and the second arsonist are one and the same.”

“No matter what, somebody on Siesta Court is involved. Paul, I just realized something.”

“What?”

“If it’s Scenario One and Danny was the second arsonist and the Moneyman is a separate person, then-”

“Then?”

“The Moneyman could be anybody with access to money. A woman.” Nina pushed aside the laptop and opened her notebook. “That means the whole Siesta Court Bunch,” she said. “Eleven adults. And I think we need to include Elizabeth Gold, who is Debbie Puglia’s sister and who knew Danny too. That makes an even dozen.”

“Actually, didn’t we already establish a woman could be the arsonist? Wish was hit on the head with a stone. Anyone could do that. In my mind, Ben Cervantes is still the obvious one, just because he was closest to Danny. But if someone hired the arsonist, that someone could easily be a woman. Or even the disabled guy, George whatshisname.”

“George Hill. The guitar player at the party. So check the bank accounts on all of them,” Nina muttered. “How are we going to find out where they bank?”

“Check their mailboxes for a month?” Paul said. “It’s the time-honored way.”

“We don’t have a month. Not with Wish in custody and the prelim coming up. And that’s a felony too, Paul. And somebody’s going to notice in that neighborhood.”

“How about we ask them?”

“Just ask them? ‘Hi, there, have you or a loved one recently withdrawn six thousand bucks for any purpose? Like, oh, say, murder and arson?’ ”

“It’s another time-honored technique. It has the virtue of simplicity.”

“Just asking might lead to some action,” Nina said, biting her nail. “We’re throwing a rock into a pond, making unexpected ripples.”

“We’d have to come out from under cover.”

“Okay. We become a couple of rocks disturbing the calm.”

“You call that neighborhood calm?”

Nina said, “Okay. We’re throwing matches into an explosives warehouse. Seeing what blows. That doesn’t bother me anymore, Paul. I think there are some children out there in danger and my guess is that the children are the ones on Siesta Court. I know we have talked to Crockett, but if he hasn’t warned the parents-I think we should.”

“Shall we pay the neighbors a friendly visit?” Paul said. “Talk about money, tell them to guard their children? Spread chaos?”

“I don’t know what to do about the threat to the children.”

“I’ll call Crockett and see what he plans to do about warning them. Let’s pretend we’re responsible citizens.”

“Good idea.”

“It’s three-thirty already. We could go out there during the cocktail hour. Gossip Central will be the Puglias’ deck, where they had the party.” She picked up the phone. “I’ll call Debbie and confess all, and see if she and Sam will have us over for a drink.”

“It could be fun,” Paul said. “Not as much fun as I just had with you, but drunken, dangerous fun.”

“Welcome to Siesta Court,” Nina said.