“Because it didn’t happen?” Lester asked.

“All right,” Joe intervened. “Let’s put them aside until those backgrounds come back with something meatier. Willy, you mentioned a remeet with Robin.”

“Yeah. She’s another case of waters running deeper. Turns out, she went joyriding with Don, breaking into a place in Stratton, putting the master bed to good use, and filling a backpack with trophies. Suddenly quite the party girl. She’s claiming she didn’t know who knocked him off, but she did describe Don as someone with a fuse.”

“Does that bring you back to Corey Browne?” Joe asked. “You said he wasn’t happy with Don.”

Willy made an equivocal gesture with his hand. “Browne told me they kissed and made up, before suggesting I talk to Darren Bader. All these losers are kind of the same that way. Like I reported before, Bader told me about some mysterious somebody who was supposedly looking for Don, whatever that means. Could’ve been the amazing flying Trevor Buttner; could’ve been Shaw; could’ve been pure fiction. Who knows?”

“You don’t think either Corey or Darren did him in?” Lester asked.

Willy was unusually candid. “I don’t know. As Don becomes more complicated, his potential enemies list grows. Speaking of which, I did ask Robin toward the end if she ever thought he’d cheated on her. She seemed surprised by the idea, and for what it’s worth, I believed her.” He paused a moment before adding, “And I don’t think we should walk away from Cheri Pratt without a second thought, either.”

“Oh?”

“Talking about Browne and Bader reminded me that Corey said Cheri probably taught Don everything he knew. His quote was Cheri knew ‘what was what.’ While we’re putting people under microscopes, it wouldn’t hurt to include her.” He fixed his boss with a look. “What happened between you and Trevor’s love goddess, Melissa?”

“Let’s start by admitting,” Joe replied, “that none of them will be spokespeople for eHarmony anytime soon. That being said, we were right about her canoodling with Don. And Trevor did walk in on them. But according to her, he blew up fast and cooled down faster, to the point where she headed off to bed because the two boys were getting along too well and her feelings got hurt.”

“You believe that?”

“Not for a second. Melissa told me Don ripped off Trevor on his way out the door, while Trevor was using the can. Trevor beat feet after him, but that’s all she ever heard about it. She never asked, and Trevor never told.”

“So he might’ve whacked him,” Lester mused.

“Without taking back the phone?” Willy challenged him. “Unlikely.”

“Unless there were complications that got in his way,” Les countered. “Like he couldn’t find it afterward.”

Willy, opinionated but open to this kind of back-and-forth, nodded. “True,” he said. “Okay.”

“Willy,” Joe asked him, “just to switch things up, you want to take Trevor Buttner around the block for another heart-to-heart?”

“Absolutely,” Willy agreed.

“Sam and Les,” Joe addressed them. “You’re still working Don’s last walkabout, so to speak. Given what you’re finding, I don’t want to get in the way of that. In the meantime, I’ll swap with Willy and go after Corey Browne.”