Huh. It must not have registered with him that she had school. Maybe he thought she was older, in college or something. She tried to figure out if he was being flirty or forward or inappropriate, but in the end she decided that he was most likely just a little clueless and not very socially adept.

Okay, so she could visit him after lunch.

After she’d found out all she could about the missing woman that he claimed not to have killed.

++++

The Beretta was registered to Julianne Springman.

Another wrinkle in the case.

Or maybe things were finally starting to get smoothed out.

“What do you think?” Ralph said. “Go back in and have another talk with our friendly lying neighborhood novelist?”

“Let’s look at what we know—Julianne was working with Dylan in Detroit. After his death, she moves here to New York City. Somewhere along the line she takes an interest in Sabian, visits him, and now she’s missing and he has her gun.”

“And Sasha’s body is in her apartment.”

“Yes.”

We both considered the implications, but the connection between Julianne, Sasha, and Timothy remained elusive to me. The first two had ties to Blake, but how did Timothy fit into the mix?

“Alright,” I said, “here’s what I’m thinking—we stake out his place and hers. Let’s see if she shows up at either location, and if he leaves his house, we’ll have an undercover team follow him.”

“Works for me. For now. But I don’t like that he lied to us.”

“I don’t either.”

“And that makes me angry.” Ralph tightened his jaw. “And you know how Buddhists say you’re not supposed to lose your temper? That anger shows you haven’t yet reached enlightenment? Well, that’s me right now.”

“But you’re not a Buddhist.”

“No, I am not. I’m something else.”

I took the bait. “What are you?”

“A Ralphist.”

“And what exactly are the tenets of Ralphism?”

“There’s five of ’em. Courage. Honor. Justice. Action. Anger.”

“Anger?”

“If you don’t get angry about injustice, you won’t act, and if you don’t act, evil will win. Don’t be a coward, treat people with honor, and do what’s right regardless of whose feelings get hurt. The road to enlightenment is paved with well-directed anger, not denial.”

Although he made some good points, I wasn’t quite ready to become a Ralphist.

I checked the time and realized that if we were going to get to the Field Office for a sit-down with Senator Murray, we needed to get moving.

Ralph offered to stay here and keep an eye on Sabian’s place until we could get a team on-site. “I’ll hitch a ride with an NYPD car, meet up with you at the Field Office,” he told me.

++++

Christie notified her boss, Brian Stokoe, that she was slipping out.