Flight

“No — later on we’ll be going over to the dedication of the new wing of the courthouse. Judge Kerr is going to give us front-row seats and a personal tour. But don’t worry — there won’t be more law enforcement types in any one place than the courthouse today.”

“That’s true,” he said. “But take the cell phone with you today — all right? I’d just feel better.”

When he went back to the others, he found them huddled in intense discussion.

“Mind if I take a casual stroll down to the lab to try to get some hint about where the bereaved Mr. Haycroft might be?” Pete asked him. “I’d feel better about riding in your car if we could keep an eye on him.”

“Yeah,” Vince said. “I’ll go with you — I want to ask Mary Michaels about how Haycroft has been spending his time lately — see if he was out of the lab when those fires were started.”

“I think I’ll have a long talk with Flynn down in the property room,” Reed said. “Maybe we can let that guy who works with Tom Cassidy—”

“Hank Freeman,” Frank said.

“The computer geek?” Pete said.

“The computer expert,” Reed corrected, and Pete shrugged.

“I’ve already got him looking at Seth Randolph’s computer,” Frank said.

“I thought maybe he should take a look at Flynn’s machine, too — see if there’s any reason Haycroft knows who checks out the evidence from the Randolph case.”

“If all that’s okay with you, Frank?” Vince asked uneasily. “It’s your case.”

“I think I’ll talk to the chief about changing that,” Frank said.

“You want off the case?” Pete asked.

“No. I want to stop working solo.”