I stared at him. “Mindy Wells?”
“I wasn’t told her name. Are you familiar with the case?”
I wondered if I should tell him what happened to Mindy back when I was in high school, and after a brief deliberation I decided it would be fine as long as I stuck to the facts in the public record.
When I was done, he carefully deliberated on what I’d said. “Perhaps what intrigues me the most is not that this chap contacted me but that he contacted me now. With your connection to the case, it’s too convenient. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“As a matter of fact, neither do I.”
“A man after my own heart.” His voice was softer now; he was deep in thought.
Someone knuckle-rapped on the door, then pressed it open before I could invite him in. It was Radar and he looked anxious. Obviously he had something he wanted to share because he jumped right in: “Pat, we might have some-” Only then did he notice Calvin. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“No, no. It’s quite alright.” Calvin stood. “I was just on my way out.” He extended his hand to me. “I look forward to speaking with you again soon, Detective. So I can share with you a description of this gray island.”
“Call me.” We shook hands again. “As soon as your meal is over.”
“Yes, of course.” He drew on his overcoat, then doffed an imaginary cap to Radar before exiting, but only after letting his eyes linger one more time on the maps on the corkboard.
“Who was that?” Radar asked.
“That was Dr. Calvin Werjonic.”
“The guy you mentioned at the briefing?”
“Yes.”
For a moment Radar seemed distracted, then caught himself, returned abruptly to the conversation: “Sorry, as I was saying, we might have something.”
“What is it?”
“The receipts. We found a discrepancy.”
Oh yeah, I liked discrepancies. Discrepancies are always a good thing.
“What discrepancy?
“Well, it might be just an accounting error, but-”
“What discrepancy?”
“It seems there was one item that, well…” He said nothing more, just handed me a receipt. Ralph, who’d been walking past the open door, saw us and joined us in the conference room.
“It seems there was one item that what?” I asked Radar.
“There was one item that Griffin sold that he didn’t buy.”