“I do have some good news from the hospital,” Vince said. “I went to check on little Haley, and she’s going to be fine.”

Another moment passed then came the sound of locks being turned on the other side of the front door. Zahn emerged wearing what looked to Mendez like black Chinese pajamas and a pair of clogs.

“Haley?” he said, looking up and just to the right of Leone’s head, as if he were seeing a vision in the sky. “Haley is all right? She’s going to be all right?”

“I spoke to her doctor.”

“Oh my God. Oh thank God,” Zahn whispered, wringing his hands absently as he spoke. “Could I see her? Do you think that might be possible—that I could speak to her and see her?”

“You would have to go into the hospital to see her, Zander,” Nasser said.

Zahn looked at him sharply.

His assistant shrugged. “Hospitals are full of sick people.”

“Haley isn’t sick, though,” Zahn pointed out. “She’s injured. She was injured somehow and her heart is broken. She’ll be heartbroken over Marissa. I’m heartbroken.”

“They won’t want her to have visitors yet,” Vince said. “But I’ll let you know as soon as they give the go-ahead, Zander. You’ll be my first call.”

“Thank you, Vince. I will appreciate that because I will want to see her. I—I’m so upset about what happened. Haley will be also.”

“I understand,” Vince said, nodding, then he glanced around. “Is there somewhere we can just sit down for a few minutes, Zander?”

The idea seemed to startle their odd host.

“I don’t want to add to your stress,” Vince assured him. “I’m just thinking we could sit down for a few minutes and chat. You knew Marissa so well. You might have some useful insights you may not even be aware of.

“Do you know what I mean, Zander?” he asked. “Sometimes we know things that may not seem significant until put into another context. I’m sure it’s the same in mathematics. A number is just a number until you assign it a purpose, right?”

Zahn put his head to one side like a quizzical bird, then slowly began to nod, pleased. “That’s a very interesting statement, Vince. I like that. I like that.”

His face took on a wondrous expression that made Mendez think the guy had some kind of psychedelic kaleidoscope hallucination going on in his head.

“So many people think of mathematics as being very static and absolute,” he said. “But that’s so wrong. It’s thinking in the abstract that frees the mind to the greatest of possibilities.”

He spoke with as much passion and clarity as Mendez had heard out of him. His gaze then became acutely focused on Leone, and he took a step closer to him. “We should talk about this, Vince.”