Page 48 of Thin Ice

"Fine. Then we wait for him to come to us, which is my least favorite plan." He paused. "That's all I've got, except I have to say it—Mac reminded me that now isn't the time for improv. That means you don't fly anywhere, Elias. Not even for an afternoon. Your job is the man in that condo."

"He's in the gym."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do."

He didn't hang up. I heard shuffling on the other end.

"Ward." It was Mac's voice. "Michael says our witness hung up on you."

"I'll call, and he'll answer, long enough to set up a conversation on his terms."

"I think you're probably right. Skittish ones usually circle back, once they've given it some thought." A beat. "Game Five tomorrow. Is the arena sealed?"

"Doyle's got it. He runs solid coverage."

"Good." I heard paper rustling. "How's your head, Elias?"

I hadn't rewritten the disclosure statement I trashed.

"Head's fine," I said.

"Alright," Mac said. "Go win a hockey game."

***

Frey called a little after one, while I was eating food out of a tray, sitting at the island. Nolan was watching tape in the recliner and threatened to skip lunch.

"Two-day break," Frey said. "How's your guy? I counted the finished checks in Game Four until it wasn't fun anymore. Somebody in that organization better be icing him down like a prize racehorse."

"He's managing. He says veterans don't feel June."

"Veterans feel June twice." I heard a door close on Frey's end. "I keep thinking about those alumni. I read a report on one in the Chicago clinic a few days ago. After I read it, a colleague sent me the imaging for a consult. Forty-six years old, hip like a man of seventy. There was no history of an injury. Nothing."

"Which club did he play for?"

"Can't say. You know I can't tell you that."

I asked a question to test him. "For the white papers you showed me," I said. "The interoceptive load work. Who was the corresponding author on those? Was it Reis himself, or did he farm it out?"

"Reis on the early ones, through about '09. After that it's a woman named Okafor. She went to a university job in Calgary years ago and won't return my emails." He laughed. "Why, are you going to write the rebuttal? I'd love to read it."

All the details were right. Michael had pulled the publication records, and I'd read them twice.

"No rebuttal," I said. "I'm just trying to see the whole animal."

"The whole animal." I heard tapping on a surface, maybe his pen or pencil on a desk. "You know what your problem is, Elias? It's the same as mine. We think understanding a thing counts as doing something about it." Papers shuffled.

I started to respond, but he spoke first. "Listen, while I've got you. I keep chewing on that history nobody will discuss with me, and I remembered I've stayed friendly with a couple of the old-timers. Guys from the embedded era, retired now, with no love for the current regime. If you're stuck, I could put out a feeler. No names attached to why I'm asking."

I considered the offer. "There's a name I keep hitting," I said. "Tierney."

"Tierney." He was silent for a few seconds. "No, it's before my time, but the tech guys from then all knew each other. Somebody will remember him. Can you spell it?"

"It's like it sounds." I shared the spelling.

"Give me a day," Frey said. "And get some sleep before tomorrow. You sound like a man who's trying to do two jobs."