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truck and park it at the intersection of Peekskill and River Road. You got your flares?”
    Kevin nodded.
    “Good. I’ve called in the state police CS unit. They’re going to be sending a van and a couple of techs, and I want you to be on the lookout for ’em. You know how it can be with people from away driving these country roads. You send ’em up here. Can you do that?”
    Kevin nodded again. His expression relaxed. The low-man-on-the-totem-pole job; this was familiar territory.
    “You need anything, you call Harlene on your cell phone. Don’t use your radio.”
    “I don’t have one in my Aztek yet.”
    “Okay, go.”
    Flynn fluffed through the snow, intent on his assigned task.
    “That’s the biggest load of bullshit make-work I’ve ever seen. There’s not a man in Troop G who couldn’t find this road in the dark, and half of ’em probably know which house is the chief’s.”
    Lyle nodded. “That’s why I put in the call to Troop D.”
    McCrea stared at him. “Are you nuts? They’re down in Amsterdam. It’ll take their CS unit an hour to get here.” He scrubbed his face with one gloved hand, dislodging the snowflakes that were attaching themselves to his eyelashes and beard.
    “Eric,” Lyle said. “Stop. And think for a moment. Forget who all’s involved. Lay it out like a domestic violence case.”
    Eric’s mouth twisted in disgust. “Domestic violence?”
    “Just do it for me.”
    “Okay.” McCrea closed his eyes for a moment. “A woman found dead in her home. No signs of forcible entry. No known history of drugs. No arrests. No known involvement with any suspicious individuals.”
    “The victim recently separated from her husband,” Lyle added. “The husband left the marital home under protest. The husband has access to weapons and is trained in their use.”
    Eric stared at him. “You can’t say… Jesus, you don’t think the chief had anything to do with this?”
    “Ssh. Keep it down.” Thank God, this part he had already rehearsed. He didn’t hesitate. “Of course I don’t think the chief was involved. But if you didn’t know him, if you didn’t have any stake in this investigation, who would you peg as the prime suspect?”
    Eric’s mouth worked before he could get the words out. “The victim’s husband.”
    “And if this investigation gets taken away from us and handed over to the staties, who do you think they’ll come down on?”
    Eric shook his head. “But…”
    “You don’t think we can crack this case without their help?”
    “No, but—”
    “ ’Cause I’ll tell you what the staties will do. They’re gonna tag the chief as it, and the entire rest of the investigation is gonna be devoted to proving them right. If we don’t want that to happen, we need to keep this as quiet and lowkey as possible. We need to control any information, starting right here and now. Are you with me?”
    Eric stared down at the snow beneath their boots, packed by the footsteps of everyone who had already crossed this dooryard and gotten involved. “I gotta tell you, Lyle. I been a cop ten years now, and four as an MP before that. And this… this gives me a bad feeling.”
    “Christ almighty, don’t you think I feel the same way? It’s making me sick to my stomach. If you think it’d go down a different way if the staties took over, please, convince me. I’d love to hear I’m wrong.”
    “You aren’t wrong.” Eric squinted toward the neighbor’s house, a good quarter-mile away on the ridgeline. Lights had come on in the windows. Lyle thought he could see someone’s silhouette. Watching them. “Okay,” McCrea said. “I’m in.”
    “Good. I want you to run the crime scene. You know to expect the Troop D CS.” A mournful yowl wound through the sky from somewhere behind the barn. “For God’s sake, get ahold of her cat and get it to a shelter.”
    “Will do.”
    “I’m heading back to the station. I’m going to call the ME when I get into