“Of course.” I wondered if there was something right in front of me that I was missing. “You were telling me about the encryption?”

“Adaptive optics technology is necessary for overcoming atmospheric turbulence, but that’s just one hurdle that needs to be addressed. Thankfully, Marcus Rockwell is contributing resources to the fight. Consequently, that’s the main reason that we know each other—his involvement in this area of research.”

“And your son’s internship.”

“Yes.”

“And the bill—would it benefit him? Marcus, I mean?”

“Sure. All of us will benefit if we can catch up with, or surpass, the Chinese.”

With regard to the investigation, I tried to process what he’d told me.

Marcus Rockwell.

Jake Reese.

Senator Murray.

There were evidently threads connecting all the different people, and the more I looked at things, the more those threads all seemed to be intertwined around Jon’s suicide.

Which brought us right back to the start.

“Senator, did someone pressure you to offer the twenty-thousand-dollar reward?”

He had his cup on the way to his mouth but paused with it halfway there. “What do you mean?”

“The money. Why did you go against our advice and offer it?”

“A friend encouraged me to do whatever was necessary to find out the truth surrounding my son’s death. I just decided I needed to be more proactive in solving things.”

“Which friend?”

“What is all this about?”

I debated whether or not to bring up the gambling debts that Greer had uncovered, and finally decided that I needed to get everything I could from the senator, even if some of the questions made him a little uncomfortable.

“In the course of our investigation,” I said, “it came up that you owed some people some money.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Gambling debts.”

“Were you digging into my life?” Fire had crept into his voice. “Am I the one who’s under investigation here? You can’t possibly be serious.”

“We’re just looking for answers, Senator. It’s possible that the people you owe money to might have been involved in some way in your son’s death.”

He was quiet.

“What can you tell me?” I said. “Anything at all might be helpful.”

“Sports betting. It’s not out of hand. I just got a little behind. It’s all being sorted out. I can’t imagine that it has anything to do with Jon’s death.”

If he has gambling debts, I thought, then how does he have the cash on hand to offer a twenty-thousand-dollar reward?

Maybe he isn’t the one who’s footing the bill.

“I’d like you to write up the details for our team,” I told him. “Accounts, amounts, contacts, anyone involved who might have wanted to see you suffer or take retribution on you in any way.”

“This is ludicrous.”