Page 74 of Thin Ice

"Reisner's the face, Doc Reis to his adoring fans," Michael said. "We've watched him since the symposium. Elias spent most of the evening with him. He's a brilliant man and believes every word that comes out of his own mouth. In our experience, a man like that isn't usually the one who arranges for a sick old equipment manager to die quietly in his sleep. He has the wrong skill set." More typing. "So the theory, and it is a theory, there's a third person here. It's the one who makes problems go away."

"Can you name them?" I asked.

"We can't name them," Mac said. "We've got no thread point at them. Frey's the only inside voice we have, and we're convinced he's junior to the other two. He can share documents, but he can't uncover the brain behind this."

"There was someone at that reception," Elias said. "Reisner spoke for an hour on the future of the institute, and he had the whole room in his hand. Off to the side, there was a woman who observed. She didn't talk anybody up or enthusiastically cheer Doc Reis's speech. Diane something. I don't think I ever got the last name."

"And that does us no good," Michael said, "unless we get someone to talk. Reisner won't sit for an investigative interview, but we're betting he'll sit across from a colleague and engage."

"If we sit him in front of that person, he'll leak," Mac said.

Everyone was quiet. Elias looked at me across the counter.

"Or he'll talk to me," I said. "He'll remember me. He doesn't need to charm me. I can let him know I'm already his." I stopped for a moment. "He'll take the meeting because he'll be happy to see one of his alumni face to face. And he'll tell me things he'd never tell someone with a badge or a doctorate."

"That's a lot to sit across from," Mac said.

I thought about the hallway. Thirteen years of not asking the next question.

"I need to do this," I said. "This is how I finally help Ty."

Elias hadn't said anything through all of it. "Reisner made me an offer at the reception," he said into the speaker. "It's a standing one. If my player needs anything during the run—the beauty of it is I only have to accept his invitation."

We ended the call with Mac and Michael, and Elias left an after-hours voicemail with the clinic. "My player would value a private conversation with Dr. Reisner. Sooner rather than later, given the schedule. He understands tomorrow is a difficult day, but there is a window in the morning."

Elias hung up, and we waited.

I grabbed my tablet out of the duffel and put hockey on the screen. We watched Boston's goalie.

"He'll adjust after Jamie scored," Elias said. "Won't he?"

"He should, but I don't think he will. Goalies are inherently confident. He'll double down."

My phone buzzed.

Wes: Coach says you're resting somewhere smart. Good. I need the whole veteran tomorrow, not the hero. There's a difference and you know it.

Nolan: You'll get 100% in the room. Go to sleep, captain.

Wes: Going. Forty years. We just need one more.

Elias's phone lit up at eleven-thirty. It was a text message. He turned the screen toward me.

Frey: Spoke to Reis personally. It's a yes—his word was gladly. 8 a.m., the clinic, private entrance, just him. Reis asked me to pass something along: tell Mercer I remember him from the Carolina days. One of the good ones. He said Mercer would know what he meant.

I read it twice.

I knew what he meant.

"Eight a.m.," I said. "And a game at eight p.m."

I got ice out of the freezer and strapped it to the rib.

Chapter nineteen

Elias

The ribs changed the sound of Nolan's morning routine.