Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

“Why? Try rephrasing the question.”

“OK, OK, OK… What would make this kid give Agnes a gun…?”

“That is more focused.”

“He already said he wouldn’t give a gun to Jose, so the only reason he would give one to Agnes is if she was going to shoot somebody he wanted dead…”

“Well, I’m not sure that’s the only reason, but…”

“So what would make him want Jose dead?”

“That is a good question. And…?”

“Jesus!” She stared at me. “If he was stealing Am’s ideas. Why else would a guy like Jose Robles hang out with a kid like Am? And if he was using them in his research, they would become the property of the university and Am would be left out in the cold. That is one powerful motive for shooting somebody.”

I nodded and sighed. “It surely is, partner. It surely is…” After a moment I added, “What I am not clear on, though, is why he would want to talk to us.”

SIX

The traffic was heavy and slow-moving on the Bruckner Expressway, and the lights looked like boiled sweets in red and green and amber. My phone rang and I handed it to Dehan. She answered the call and said, “Yeah, Dehan.”

She listened for a bit and said to me, “It’s Joe, from the lab. He has something he says we’ll want to have a look at.” She looked at her watch. “Let’s go see him and call it a day.” She didn’t wait for me to answer. She said into the phone, “We’re on our way, Joe. With this traffic, it’s going to be half an hour at least.”

She hung up and put the phone in my pocket. Then she said, “So, the question I am asking myself now is, does Am know where Agnes is?”

“You made up your mind about this?”

“No, I am exploring the idea. But frankly, Stone, so far it is the only idea that seems to have any chance of taking us anywhere.”

“OK, so talk me through it. How does this work?”

She shifted in her seat so she was facing me and stuck her gloved hands between her knees to keep them warm.

“Our starting point is that Jose Robles is an egomaniac, who gets a kick out of making weak people dependent on him. This is something he does for fun, for pleasure. It is the only way he knows how to have close, intimate relationships.”

I glanced at her and frowned. “This is a theory, we have no evidence for this, except anecdotes from acquaintances.”

“Don’t interrupt. I know that. So, he gets into this relationship with Agnes. She is highly dependent and falls in love with him, or becomes obsessed with him, whichever. Maybe both. And the more dependent she becomes, the more cruel and dominant he becomes, to the point that he starts a relationship with Dr. Alicia Cobos, and flaunts it to Agnes.”

She went quiet. I glanced at her. “I know what’s stalling you here. Jose and Ali started this relationship, but she was not dependent on him. In fact, your gut instinct is that she didn’t even have sex with him. So you are wondering A, how does that relationship fit in with your theory? And B, what made her lie about having sex with him in the first place?”

She nodded. “Mm-hm…”

“Well, note the questions and come back to them later. Keep going, it’s good.”

“OK, fine, he gets into this relationship as a way of torturing Agnes. What he doesn’t realize is just how badly he is hurting her. The final straw comes when he tells her, get a cab, I am staying the night with Alicia. Then Agnes starts thinking about killing him.”

“OK, meanwhile…”

“Wait! Meanwhile, Dr. Jose Robles, whose field of specialization is lithium ion batteries, has discovered a student who, though decidedly odd, is gifted in the field of science. And Dr. Jose Robles, while claiming to mentor him, actually starts to steal this kid’s ideas and use them in his research. What he doesn’t understand is that this kid is an evil mixture of Colorado cowboy and Bronx badass. This kid grew up around guns and he knows a Sig Sauer p226 from a Glock 18 or a Desert Eagle. So when he realizes what Jose is doing, he approaches Agnes, discreetly, and plants the idea of revenge. He also facilitates the gun.”

“Problems: how does he approach her without Jose noticing? Also, how does he get close enough to her to plant such a radical idea and facilitate the gun? Bear in mind, with both of these questions, that she is with Jose all the time.”

“At first, Sensei, but remember that after a time, he starts to get bored with her and enjoys dumping her. We have heard of two occasions, but how many more were there? Remember also that Hays told us he and Agnes used to prefer to eat their lunch in the student canteen. It is perfectly possible that Am approached her during her lunch hour and spoke to her.”

“Yes, that is possible. We need to check it, talk to Hays again. I’ll tell you what I am having most trouble with.”

“What?”

“Am as an evil genius. He may or may not be a scientific genius, but you would have to be very subtle, and very good at manipulating people, to persuade them to commit a murder and take the fall for it. I don’t see Am in that role.”

She was quiet for a long while, watching the cars ahead, with the amber light from the streetlamps washing over her face in a slow, steady rhythm.

Eventually we pulled off the expressway and turned onto Castle Hill Avenue and headed north toward Morris Park. Then she said suddenly, “I wonder how many Ams we’ve met. The name is a joke. First person of the