‘No, nothing like that. It’s too soft. What about the aerospace industry, because it’s so light?’
‘Most definitely. But in those instances, there are alloys that would have come up during testing.’
‘Right. Let’s move on to silicone, which doesn’t seem to make any sense. Unless she had silicone breast implants before they were banned, which she clearly didn’t.’
‘I can tell you that silicone rubber is used in electrical insulation, hydraulic fluids, and for water repellency. None of which makes sense, unless there was something in the bathroom, maybe in the tub. Something pink — I don’t know what.’
‘Do we know if Sparkes had a bathmat — anything rubbery and pink in that bathroom?’ I asked.
‘We’ve only begun going through his house with him,’ she said. ‘But he claims that the decor of the master bath was mostly black and white. The marble floor and walls were black. The sink, cabinets, and tub, white. The shower door was European and wasn’t tempered glass, meaning it didn’t disintegrate into a billion little glass balls when the temperature exceeded four hundred degrees Fahrenheit.’
‘Explaining why it basically melted over the body,’ I said.
‘Yeah, almost shrink-wrapped it.’
‘Not quite,’ I said.
‘The door had brass hinges and no frame. What we recovered was consistent with that. So your friendly media tycoon’s memory holds true at least on that score.’
‘And on others?’
‘God only knows, Kay.’
She unbuttoned her suit jacket as if it suddenly occurred to her to relax, while she paradoxically glanced up at the clock.
‘We’re dealing with a very smart man,’ she said. ‘That much all of us know.’
‘And the helicopter? What do you make of that, Teun? I’m assuming you’ve gotten word about the little white Schweizer, or Robinson, or whatever it was that the farrier saw two days before the fire? Perhaps the same one you and I saw two days later?’
‘This is just a theory,’ she said. ‘A groping one at that, okay?’
Her look was penetrating.
‘Maybe he sets the fire and needs to get to the airport fast,’ she went on. ‘So the day before, the helicopter does a recon over the farm because the pilot knows he’ll have to land and take off after dark. Following so far?’
I nodded.
‘Saturday rolls around. Sparkes murders the girl and torches his place. He runs out to the pasture and gets on the helicopter, which transports him somewhere near Dulles, where his Cherokee is stashed. He gets to the airport and does his thing with receipts and maybe baggage. Then he makes himself scarce until it’s time to show up at Hootowl Farm.’
‘And the reason the helicopter showed up on Monday, when we were working the scene?’ I then asked. ‘How does that fit?’
‘Pyros like to watch the fun,’ she stated. ‘Hell, for all we know, Sparkes was up there himself watching us work our asses off. Paranoid, if nothing else. Figured we’d think it was a news bird, which we did.’
‘This is all speculation at this point,’ I said, and I had heard enough.
I began rearranging the infinite flow of paperwork that began where it stopped and stopped where it began. McGovern was studying me again. She got up and shut the doors.
‘Okay, I think it’s time we had a little talk,’ she said. ‘I don’t think you like me. And maybe if you come clean about it, maybe we can do something about it, one way or another.’
‘I’m not sure what I think of you, if you must know.’
I stared at her.
‘The most important thing is that all of us do our jobs, lest we lose perspective. Since we are dealing with someone who was murdered,’ I added.
‘Now you’re pissing me off,’ she said.
‘Not intentionally, I assure you.’
‘As if someone murdered makes no difference to me? Is that what you’re implying? You think I got where I am in life by not giving a shit about who set a fire and why?’
She shoved up her sleeves, as if ready for a fight.
‘Teun,’ I said. ‘I don’t have time for this, because I don’t think it’s constructive.’