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

in the research, why was it at your house? Why wasn’t it at the university, or at Dr. Robles’ house?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “You are determined to see me as a villain in all this, and you are going to pick on every tiny irregularity.”

Dehan shook her head. “Not at all, we are just asking you to explain. Can you?”

“Yes, of course I can. I just told you we were planning a review of the team’s work in January, immediately after Christmas.”

I said, “When you got back from Maine.”

“Yes. I was planning a get together with the team for a long weekend. We would eat, drink, discuss the work and do a bit of brainstorming. Science is a creative business, and we work best in a relaxed environment like that. So we had started shipping the research over. It is entirely possible that the more advanced stuff is in electronic format at the lab in the university.”

I nodded. “Then we will need to see it.”

“I understand. Are we done? I would like to leave now.”

“There is just one last thing, Dr. Meigh. Agnes has disappeared without a trace. I am quite certain that she was not murdered along with Dr. Robles. Now, disappearing that thoroughly requires a lot of skill. It requires the skills of a trained agent, and even they don’t always manage it. It requires things like fake ID documents: social security numbers, driver’s license… In a word, it requires field craft. You and I both know that Agnes Shine does not have field craft. And that means that somebody is sheltering her. There is only one person that can be. So you need to give some very careful thought to what you do next, Dr. Meigh, because what started out as a desire to help a friend in trouble could end up becoming accessory to murder, or, if the DA feels you didn’t cooperate when you should have, conspiracy to murder. Either way, you are looking at serious time. Think it over, and call me.”

Her cheeks were burning. She stood, snatched her coat and slammed out of the room. Dehan stood and walked across the room till she was two inches from the wall, with her hands stuffed in her back pockets. “Stone, I hate to say it, and I have not exactly shone in this case so far, but I believe her.”

“None of us has shone in this case, Dehan. This case is like wading through mangroves at midnight with no moon and sunglasses on. She is very credible. I’m inclined to believe her myself. Come on, let’s go do some homework.”

She turned to face me. “Homework?”

“Yeah, old fashioned wading through files, eliminating the impossible, checking registers… that kind of stuff. I want you to find out what Meigh’s husband does for a living.”

“Yay. Wait, can we go to Goa instead?”

We went downstairs and spent the next two hours going through births, deaths, marriages, company directories and the land registry. It was slow, tedious and largely unrewarding work. The light was starting to fade outside when my phone rang. The number was withheld.

“Yeah, Detective Stone.”

“Detective Stone, I would like to meet with you, to discuss the Am Nielsen murder.” The voice was pleasant, even cultured.

“Who am I speaking to?” I waved at Dehan and mouthed, ‘Get a trace.’

“I’m not going to tell you, Detective. And I am not going to stay on long enough for you to have the call traced.”

“I need to know at least…”

“All you need to know, Detective, is that I will meet you in an hour at the park gates opposite the Bronx Zoo. Come alone. If there is anybody with you, I won’t show. I have information you need.”

He hung up. Dehan had the other receiver in her hand and shook her head. “Not a chance. Who was it?”

“A guy who wants to meet me alone, park entrance opposite the Bronx Zoo. Says he has information about Am Nielsen’s murder.”

“You can’t go alone, Stone.”

“I can’t afford not to. We’re at a dead end, Dehan.”

“You think so?” She looked doubtful.

I smiled and shook my head. “No, but I do think this is the breakthrough we need, and we can’t afford to blow it.” I pointed at her computer. “Did you find anything?”

She nodded. “I think it could be significant.”

“Tell me.”

She filled me in on what she had found, and bit by bit, the mangrove started to make sense to me. The only problem was, everything was circumstantial; everything was a theory. And Am Nielsen’s killer knew that. As things stood, there was no way of proving a goddamn thing. Dehan looked up at me and shrugged. “What does any of this prove, Stone? I can see by your face that this is what you were looking for, but I have no idea why.”

“I can’t explain right now, it just confirms some thoughts I had. It’s beginning to make sense. Some of it, at least.”

“So share!”

“I have to go.”

She sighed. “You should take back up.”

I shook my head. “He might get spooked.”

“Wear a wire at least.”

I thought about it. “OK, I’ll call you when I get there and leave my cell on. You can listen in. Will that do?”

She didn’t look happy. “OK, but don’t get hurt anywhere important. You still owe me five kids.”

“Five? Last week it was seven, what happened?”

“I’m serious.”

“I’ll call you when I get there.”

I had left with plenty of time. It’s less than a three mile drive from the station house to the zoo, but at that time of the evening the traffic was heavy going out of town, and the dark and the sleet made the progress slow. Besides which, I’d wanted to get there early, so I could see him arrive.

I took