Ki was Ki Marton, a digital media specialist and Musil’s friend and former colleague at FBI Cyber before the great migration to Net Force. Back then, Ki had doubled as an operational support tech for their cash-strapped unit, a glorified term that meant he’d handled communications between Leo Harris, the field agents and other involved parties during major investigations. He often blamed losing his formerly lush head of black Korean hair on the stress level of handling both assignments.

“Do this, do that,” he said now. “You ever think of actually calling to say hello anymore? I’m two floors up and haven’t seen or heard from you in weeks.”

Musil considered that. It was true that they hadn’t interacted much lately. Perhaps because Ki no longer manned the switchboard during operations.

“So,” Ki went on before he could answer, “what am I doing for you today?”

“I have the name of a crewman from the Stalwart,” Musil said. “Stephen Gelfland. Place of residence, Teaneck, New Jersey. He was hired by CloudCable as a boarding agent trainee last November and sailed with the ship in early February. The fourth, to be exact.”

“OK.”

“Nine days later, on the thirteenth, a cousin filed a missing person report for him with the Teaneck Police Department. The report was forwarded to the state police. They maintain a centralized MP database.”

“You pull any details?”

“Yes,” Musil said. “The cousin is Clara Hughes. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and children. The last time she spoke to Gelfland was just before Thanksgiving. She invited him for the weekend, but he declined. He told her he was scheduled to train at CloudCable’s corporate office in Massachusetts before shipping out and wanted to stay home and prepare.”

“And?”

“Hughes became concerned when he didn’t call her on Christmas or New Year’s Day,” Musil said. “She claimed he always phones for the holidays.”

“Uh-huh,” Ki said. “I’m guessing there’s more?”

“Yes. Gelfland has been a professional sailor for years. And his cousin usually checks on his home when he’s away on a cruise. She knew when he was scheduled to leave and expected to hear from him ahead of time. To make arrangements.”

“And he never called?”

“No,” Musil said. “She kept trying to reach him by phone but only got his voice mail. Finally, she and her husband drove to Teaneck and let themselves into the house.”

“When was that?”

“The middle of February.”

“Took a while.”

“He’s a grown man. She thought he might have gotten busy.”

“All right, go on.”

“When he wasn’t there, they decided to file the police report.”

“I assume the cops would’ve contacted CloudCable right off.”

“Yes,” Musil said. “They were told Gelfland reported to the New Hampshire shipyard for orientation in January, then left with the Stalwart. That ended the matter for them.”