Page 70 of Forgotten Path

“What’s a Mitzy?”

“Apparently, a rich lady name. She’s married to the owner of Gulf Paper Company, which is located there in Oyster Point. So I guess you found the mystery donor.”

“Huh. Maybe.”

“Yeah.”

“And the second call?”

“The second call is really interesting. Did the medical examiner determine the time of death?”

“I don’t know, but we’re assuming it was between seven-thirty and eight-thirty in the morning.”

“That’s a small window.”

“It is, but we know he left the Juice Joint just after seven, and Bodhi said that folks typically started lining up to get into the clinic as early as eight. We can’t confirm what time the first person arrived last Friday, but there’s no reason to think it was later than eight-thirty. So if someone killed him in the clinic after that, they’d have had to walk right out the front door, lock it, and breeze by the line of people waiting to get in. That didn’t happen.”

“What about a back door?”

“Sure, if they wanted to jump off the houseboat into the Gulf. But, even then, how’d the door to the clinic get locked from the outside?”

Medina was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I guess the time of death was in that little window. Well, the second call was an outgoing call, and the time of the call was nine twenty-seven AM.”

She shook her head. “Wait. A dead man did not make a phone call.”

“Right, so whoever killed him used his phone because they didn’t want the call to be traced back to them.”

The familiar sensation of her heart ticking up with excitement filled her chest. “Who’d they call?”

“An outfit called Glazier Builders. The tower for this call is outside of town on—”

“Emerald Road.”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Because I’m sitting in front of a Glazier Builders’ worksite right now and I can see a cell phone tower just over the hill.”

“What are you doing there?”

“Remember the muddy blue pickup truck?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m looking at it. It’s a Glazier Builders’ company truck.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Oh, but I’m not.”

Vick Medina let out a long, low whistle. “Hot damn.”

“Hot damn, indeed.”

“Go get ‘em, Williams.”

“Thanks, Vick. And tell Ga-Eun she’s a wizard.”

“I told her she’s a beast. She prefers goddess.”