Page 114 of Head Room

“Not to remind you unnecessarily of the world you’d left behind.Especially back when you hadn’t yet decided to stay.”

“Smart woman, your Thelma.”

“Damn right.Then, when Orson told me he was coming through town, I had the brainstorm, but didn’t want to put pressure on...anybody.

“On the other hand, couldn’t leave things to happenstance, because he’d’ve been back on the road right off if I hadn’t committed him to the meeting and lunch.”He leaned back in his chair, his intertwined fingers cradling the back of his head.“And it worked.”

“Needham Bender, the great matchmaker.We’re never going to hear the end of this, are we?”

“Never.”

Laughing, I stood and placed a hand on his shoulder.“Appreciate that you and Thelma wanted me to stay.And thanks for this background.I truly appreciate it.”

****

Before I leftmy parking spot by theIndependencebuilding, I messaged Diana, Mike, and Jennifer.

Flurries of replies settled that our availability for an update didn’t sync until tonight, after Mike finished the late newscast in Chicago.

In between sorting that out, what had niggled at me when I told Hannah there were two parts to a question, solidified.

With her, I’d separated the two parts.But at the beginning of this, with Colonel Crawford, I hadn’t.

I placed a call to the number the colonel left me.

“You have an update?”was how he answered.

And darned if I didn’t almost answer him.

I quelled that in time by saying, “I asked you two questions together — if you could think of anyone who’d want to kill Sergeant Jardos or anyone he’d want to kill.That was a mistake.Because when you said no it could be to either.”

“Or both.”

“I don’t think so.I think you said no to someone wanting to kill him.You had hesitation over whether he had someone he’d want to kill.”

He let the silence grow.

If he thought that would intimidate me into backing off...

“You haven’t answered.”

“It’s not that he had someone he’d kill.It was him.Strong views on right and wrong.And I had the impression those views were activated by something recently.Nothing he said directly.If he’d talked about something, I would have said.”

“But you didn’t share your impression.”

“Not much accustomed to trading in impressions, Ms.Danniher.Besides, wanted to check with my wife.”

“And?”

“She had the same impression, maybe stronger, but nothing concrete, either.We have no names, no circumstances, no details of any kind to give you.”

“Are you in online groups or forums with the sergeant?”

“Online—?No.Why?Do you have a lead—?”

“No.”

He barely gave the silence time to settle.“You have a theory—.”