She opened Safari and went to eBay to check on the key. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular. It was just something to do. But as soon as the key appeared on her screen, she unplugged her laptop and went searching for Ngyun.

She found him at his desk typing a message on an octopus fan chat board.

“That key on eBay?” she said, turning her laptop so he could see the screen. “Someone just bid ten dollars for it.”

He took her laptop and set it on his desk, and she came around behind his chair and looked over his shoulder.

“Doesn’t really mean anything,” Ngyun said. “Except he really wants the key.”

“Check out the user name,” Susan said, pointing at the screen.

Vanport48.

“He’s willing to spend ten bucks on an old key,” Ngyun said. “I think it’s clear he’s interested in Vanport.”

“Can you find out who it is?” she asked.

“Like contact eBay and have them tell me the guy’s real name and contact info?” Ngyun said.

“Exactly,” Susan said.

“Nope.”

“Really?” Susan said.

“Not without a warrant,” Ngyun said. “And reckless financial decisions aren’t probable cause.”

“I thought the government had access to all our online accounts.”

“Homeland Security, maybe,” Ngyun said. “Not us. And you’re not supposed to know about that.”

She saw his eyes flick back to his own monitor.

“Come on,” Susan said. “There’s something you can do.”

Ngyun hesitated. “Okay,” he said. “A lot of people have a user name and stick with it for all their accounts. I, for instance, am huggybearxp for almost everything not work-related. This guy probably uses Vanport48 for other things. I can keep an eye out for it. If I see him in any of the cephalopod-related chat rooms, we might have probable cause.” He started typing on his keyboard. The noise his fingers made tapping the keys sounded a lot like rain. “I rock at this,” he said.

Susan was satisfied.

She took her laptop back to the conference room, plugged it back in, and resumed staring. Carter was dead. And now he just lay there on the page. She had written that he’d been instrumental in the river rescue, that he’d recovered the body of Dennis Keller. But his personality was missing. Then something occurred to her.

After a few minutes of browsing, she had what she needed. “Alex Paul Carter grew up in Pendleton, Oregon, where he was a lifeguard, varsity swimmer, and Boy Scout. He won a gold belt buckle for calf roping at the State 4-H rodeo competition.”

She stared at the screen some more.

Then she clicked send, packed up, and headed home.

Chapter 44

CHAPTER

44

“There,” Claire said. “See?”

Archie had seen it. Henry’s eyelids had fluttered. Claire reached for Archie’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Henry had been breathing on his own for almost thirty minutes.