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Boston cops do their own crime scene investigation, handle their own evidence.”
    â€œThat’s one point I’m trying to make,” he says. “Boston PD has its own labs, and if we’re honest about it, Cambridge gets priority with state police labs because of Lamont.”
    â€œAnd because Cambridge hasn’t joined the FRONT, and if we’re honest about it, departments that join us get punished for it. Get treated as if we’ve committed treason.” Rudely. She doesn’t know why he seems to bring out the worst in her.
    â€œIf I were a smart bank robber,” Win continues, “I would definitely pick targets where police resources are limited and the evidence analysis is going to take forever, assuming it’s done at all.”
    â€œWell, that would be most of Middlesex County. So I’m missing your point.”
    â€œMy point is maybe you should think about where he’s not committing his crimes as opposed to where he is committing them. Let’s just say this guy’s avoiding Boston and Cambridge. Then why? Maybe for reasons I just cited. Or maybe because he lives in Boston or Cambridge. Is afraid someone might recognize him.”
    â€œSo maybe you’re the one robbing the banks. Since you’ve got that nice apartment in Cambridge.”
    â€œSays who?”
    â€œI check somebody out when he’s on my radar screen,” Stump says. “You sure live like you rob banks.”
    â€œYou don’t know the first thing about how I live. You just think you do.”
    She points a latex-sheathed finger at the note, says, “Same spelling and punctuation, same block printing.”
    â€œYou should wear cotton examination gloves. Latex can smear pencil, some inks. This piece of paper from the same notepad?” he asks.
    â€œWow. So you know about indented writing, too.”
    â€œYou used electrostatic detection?”
    â€œHoly smoke. And you know about ESDA, too. You’re quite the brain trust. As if we have an ESDA, by the way,” she says, annoyed. “And if we’d asked you guys? Well, maybe ten years later you’d get around to it. Anyway, oblique lighting did the trick. Each note shows the impressions of the last note written.”
    â€œThe guy wants us to know it’s him,” Win says.
    â€œUs? There’s no us. How many times do I have to tell you? And you can quit trying to insert yourself into my life, because it’s not going to work. I’m not helping you with your publicity stunt.”
    â€œI’m sure Janie Brolin wouldn’t appreciate your considering her murder a publicity stunt.”
    Stump wishes he would go away. For his own damn good.
    She says, “Why might this bank robber want us to, quote ‘know it’s him’?”
    â€œMaybe he’s showing off. Maybe he’s some kind of thrill seeker—gets off on all this.”
    â€œOr maybe he’s just plain stupid, doesn’t realize each time he writes a note, he leaves indentations of it on the sheet of paper below it,” she says.
    â€œWhat about latent prints? Anything on the other three notes?”
    â€œNothing. Not one damn fingerprint, not even a partial.”
    â€œOkay, then he’s not stupid,” Win says. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t keep getting away with it. Middle of the day. And no fingerprints. Not even partials. You used ninhydrin?”
    It is an inexpensive, tried-and-true reagent used to develop latent fingerprints on porous surfaces such as paper. The chemical reacts to the amino acids and other components of oils and sweat secreted from the skin’s pores. She tells him it hasn’t worked on any of the notes, nor have forensic light sources with various bandwidths and special filters.
    â€œAnd the tellers aren’t touching the notes,” Win says.
    â€œJust leave them right where they are. Bottom line? We’ve got nothing. And unless this