The Ever-Running Man by Marcia Muller

Author:Marcia Muller [Muller, Marcia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery & Detective, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780446197304
Google: JRw3AQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0066XI2WI
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2007-07-11T12:00:00+00:00

Friday

MARCH 3

The morning had dawned gray and foggy—the way I felt. I called Patrick, Derek, and Mick into my office, where we sat in a circle on the floor, Patrick’s flow charts spread out before us.

His description of them had been accurate: scribbled notes clogged the margins; arrows pointed in all directions; there were crossouts and question marks. Patrick went over the high points—if they could be called that. His earlier assessment had been right. Nothing made any sense.

When he was finished, I asked Mick and Derek, “Anything else to report?”

Derek said, “That iMac of Hy’s—I recovered three deleted files. One was a letter to the executive director of the Spaulding Foundation.” He handed me a printout.

The Spaulding Foundation: an environmental organization set up and funded by a bequest in the will of Hy’s late wife, Julie Spaulding. Hy was chairman of the board. The letter had to do with how he thought a recent endowment should be allocated, but it wasn’t very cogent, and there were a number of typos. He must have been feeling muddleheaded when he wrote it, and given up. I looked at the date and time when the file was opened: oh, yes, definitely muddleheaded; the night before he started the letter we’d consumed a fair quantity of champagne while relaxing in the hot tub.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the break-in,” I said. “What else?”

“Another letter. Similar.”

I took the paper from him, scanned it. Hy had apparently started afresh, then given up. “You can get rid of both of these.”

“This other one is more interesting. It’s titled ‘Dr. Richard Tyne.’ Backgrounding on his education from grade school through medical school, internship, residency, and military service.”

I studied the sheets he handed me. Born, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tyne would be sixty-five by now. Attended elementary and middle school there. The family moved to Indianapolis shortly before he started high school. He’d attended Purdue University for his undergraduate and medical degrees. Internship and residency at South Bend Memorial Hospital. Upon finishing his residency he joined the navy and was assigned to their hospital at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

I looked up at Mick, raising an eyebrow. He nodded. “Tyne was Dan Kessell’s surgeon after his leg was shot up in Vietnam. I still haven’t been able to locate him.”

Seemed Hy had been investigating his own partner’s background. Another thing he’d kept from me.

I said, “Try again. Find out everything you can about Dr. Tyne.”

“Why don’t you ask Hy—” Seeing my frown, Mick switched tacks.

“I’ll get on it.”

After the others had left my office, I wondered why I didn’t just ask Hy about the Tyne file. My hand strayed to the phone, but then I pulled it away. Truth was, I was afraid.

If he denied having started an investigation about the physician who had performed surgery on Kessell in the Philippines, or—worse—refused to explain, it would result in a confrontation that might very well end both my investigation and our marriage. I’d stick to my decision to carry this job through without further personal complications.

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