Samuels looked at Paul, then at George. Very clever, he thought, and closed his notebook. This whole situation wasn’t worth his time. He knew that the police had gotten the tip from Nano, suggesting that Nano had had them under surveillance, possibly because they had tried and failed to get into their facility. Samuels had the gut sense that there was some weird romantic aspect to this story, but at that point he wasn’t going to speculate. The facts of the case were that someone, maybe the two sitting in front of him, had broken into Mariel Spallek’s apartment, but nothing had been stolen or damaged save for a pane of glass in a back door. More important, Mariel Spallek specifically declined to take the matter further when contacted, and the responding police officers hadn’t actually seen anyone, despite the clear evidence of a break-in.

“Detective Ibbotson, how about you head out to the car. I’ll be right out,” said Samuels. His partner nodded and left.

“I don’t know what’s going on here,” he said, “but my sense is that you guys need to cut out playing detective before you get yourselves in trouble. I know those security people at Nano, and they’re no fools. Next time you try a stunt like this, I hope they don’t get to you first.”

“That sounds like a threat,” said George.

“Actually, it isn’t. It’s a piece of friendly advice. Your girlfriend will come back, provided she wants to. That’s what happens in ninety-nine point nine percent of cases like this. If she doesn’t, then she won’t. But we have the facts as they exist, and we will continue to follow up on the case. We are in direct contact with the Nano human resources department. We have the woman’s description and photo. There was evidence that she had returned to her apartment after sending the text to you, Dr. Caldwell, along with the suggestion that she had driven east. We, of course, will be following up on that. So, fellows, cool it before you get arrested or hurt.”

Samuels got up and left.

“Funny they should know to come right after my shift finished,” said Paul after Samuels had walked out.

“Paul, I’ve been thinking. It’s pretty apparent we’re being followed by Nano, and the police are onto us, and we’re getting nowhere finding Pia. She’s gone, I’m sure of it. I don’t believe she drove east for a second. I think someone took her. I think it was Berman. And we don’t have the resources to find her.”

“So what the hell do we do? The authorities obviously aren’t listening to us.”

“When Pia was in trouble before, her father saved her. I think I have to ask for his help. I hate to do it, because he’s basically a gangster of the worst kind.”