I blinked. Somehow, I’d managed to forget that I was in the bookmobile not only with Eddie, but also with Hunter, who was driving. Since Eddie hadn’t responded, I shrugged and said, “How much have I told you about Ryan, Pug, and the Contis?”

Hunter glanced over at me. “That sounded like a new music group. Or maybe a bunch of attorneys.”

After saying it out loud again a couple of times, I agreed. “But the question remains. I’m not sure I’ve told you much about what’s going on. Are you interested in what I’ve learned?”

He was.

“Even if I might be talking for a long time?”

There was a short pause. Then he said, “I only met Pug that once, but I liked him. I liked him a lot. Anything that has to do with finding his killer, I want to know about. I want to know it all.”

Once again I was so very pleased that this fine young man had decided to become a part of the bookmobile. “Okay, then,” I said, and started talking.

I didn’t tell him everything, of course. Certainly I didn’t tell him about the cabin in the woods. And I didn’t tell him my own personal instincts about the innocence—or guilt—of the five suspects, because I wanted to hear his conclusions. Maybe he would see a hole that had been invisible. Maybe a fresh viewpoint would give me something that would help me push Mr. Detective Hal Inwood toward an avenue of investigation that didn’t involve Ryan.

So I talked and talked, and by the time I was finishing, Hunter was tidily parking the bookmobile at our newest bookmobile stop: the parking lot of a popular restaurant that only served lunch and dinner and so was completely empty at nine in the morning. The owner and core staff would show up soon, but they parked behind the building. We wouldn’t be in anyone’s way unless we had vehicular problems, which absolutely wasn’t going to happen.

Hunter rotated the driver’s seat and turned on the laptop computer on the small desk facing the seat while I set up the computer at the rear of the bus. “. . . and that’s about it,” I said.

“Mrr!”

“Sorry, Eddie,” Hunter said. “You may be last, but you’re definitely not least.” He reached over and unlatched the wire door. Eddie jumped to the console, bounded to the driver’s seat, rotated, then ran back over the console and into his carrier.

“Anyway,” I said, “what do you think? Lots of speculation about lots of people without any real proof of anything, I know. I’m trying to find out more, though.”

Hunter didn’t say anything for a moment. “Do you really want to know what I think?”

“Sure. I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

“Seems like the biggest problem is there’s no proof that Ryan’s innocent.”