Lien-hua, Ralph, and I let the breakfast conversation wander into sports and the weather and politics and Ralph’s struggles to conquer his son at video games and Lien-hua’s upcoming trip to visit her brother in Beijing, and it felt good to let our friendship explore other topics than just murder, death, and abductions. But soon, like always, our conversation cycled back to the case.
“Well,” said Ralph. He spoke tenderly, with respect for the dead.
“With Austin Hunter dead, Cassandra in the hospital, and the suspect from last night in police custody, I think you two might be able to head home. Margaret arrived last night. Lucky me. I get to spend the day with her.”
“We still have a lot of unanswered questions about this case,” said Lien-hua. “Plus, we still need to find Shade.”
“Lien-hua is right,” I said. “At this point there are a lot more questions than answers, and we need to address some of them before we can wrap anything up.” I folded down my computer screen.
“I’m going to visit Cassandra before Tessa wakes up for our meeting with Calvin.”
“Werjonic is here?” Ralph exclaimed. Dr. Calvin Werjonic is a household name among investigators, especially those who track serial offenders.
“We’re meeting at 10:30.”
“Well, say hi to the old buzzard for me.” Ralph nodded with deep respect. “He’s a good man, that Werjonic. Smartest guy I ever met.” Lien-hua stood. “Pat, I think I’ll come with you to talk with Cassandra. Hopefully, it’ll shed some light on this case before we close things up.”
I had a feeling that closing things up was not on the day’s agenda, but I just stood and said, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.”