Researched to Death by Meg Perry

Author:Meg Perry [Perry, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-20T14:00:00+00:00

Friday, June 21

At 4:00 am, my phone rang and jolted me out of a deep sleep.

It was Charlie, and he sounded near panic. “Jamie? Have you heard from Ethan at all?”

“What? No.”

He blew his nose. “I don’t know what to do. The police over there email me every day, but they haven’t found any trace of him. I’m afraid he’s lying hurt somewhere. Or worse.”

I rubbed my eyes and groaned. Even in his absence, Ethan was impacting my vacation. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s probably just gone off somewhere with no service. He had plenty of friends here that I didn’t know, and he could be with any of them. The police are following up all the leads they have. I like these cops. They’re very thorough. They’ll find him.”

“Oh, God. You have to be right.”

“Charlie, listen. It doesn’t do Ethan any good for you to get too worked up to think. I know it’s hard, but try to keep a clear head. And get some rest.”

He agreed, thanked me for listening, and hung up. I hoped it didn’t make me a bad person that I dropped right back to sleep.

When I woke up again three hours later, I felt fine. All the John Smith’s must be agreeing with me. Niles and I ran the dogs again, then came home and ate toast and eggs. We were washing up when there was a knock at the door.

Frobisher and Whitcombe were back. Both looked grim this time; even Whitcombe was missing his usual air of relaxation. Niles sighed and invited them in. "I'll put on the kettle." He disappeared into the kitchen.

Frobisher didn't waste any time. "We have a serious problem."

"What is that?"

"Simon Thompson was found dead in his home a few hours ago."

My jaw dropped. "How..."

Whitcombe chimed in. "A blow to the head, exactly like the others."

Shit. "So - now what?"

Frobisher looked especially unhappy. "Now it becomes even more imperative that we locate Dr. Williams."

Oh, shit. "Do you think he's dead?"

The detectives looked at each other; Frobisher cleared his throat. "No. We believe he may be the murderer."

Holy fucking shit. Now my jaw was nearly on the floor. "You're kidding."

Frobisher frowned at me. "Why would we do that?"

"Sorry. You wouldn't. It's just that... it's impossible for me to imagine Ethan bashing anyone over the head at all, much less killing them. He never had a bad temper or even an impulsive reaction to anything."

"How long has it been since the two of you were - er - a couple?"

"Eight years."

Whitcombe said gently, "A man can change a lot in that time."

Frobisher said, "And you don't have any idea where he is."

"No, sir. If I did, I would tell you. Like I said before, my brother's a detective. I would never hold anything back in an investigation."

"Have you communicated with Dr. Westerly?"

"Yes, sir. He called me last night."

Frobisher nodded. They knew that already. "And he has no idea where Dr. Williams could be."

"No. He's absolutely frantic. Charlie thinks Ethan is lying somewhere with his own head bashed in.

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