"What about Pat Corbin?" Dean asked
"Churchez la femme," Fred said. "Just like I been saying all along."
"Her, or him! Pat is a pretty androgynous name. Only Burgess saw Cleary and no one saw Corbin. Say Cleary rented the place innocently-he's a coast-to-coast truck driver or something and needs a temporary place, just like Burgess. Maybe Corbin just used it too and received some mail there."
"And the Parkside Sentinel?" Fred reminded Dean. "Maybe Corbin is just another name-a nom de plume-another alias for Byrne, just in case. Like belts and suspenders."
Dean changed the subject. "Let's talk about the bicycle. How does that come into play?"
Fred thought a moment. "He buys the bike in Scranton or someplace up north and stashes it in the trunk of his company car, dropping the tire patch kit. He hides the bike on the beach, maybe with some clothes. He pretends to drown, sleeps on the beach for a few hours, and about dawn pedals off into the sunrise."
"In his new bike shoes," Dean added. "But he doesn't really need bike shoes unless he plans to bike a long distance."
"How are they different from regular shoes?" Fred asked.
"They've got a plate on the sole so your feet don't get numb and they hold on to the pedal better."
"So where does he bike to? Sure not to Kansas-bike shoes or not." Fred snapped his fingers. "To his motor home!"
Dean smiled. "Too many vehicles in one place for one person."
"Maybe we're back to Pat Corbin as an accomplice," Fred suggested.
"I like your one-guy theory better so I'll help you out here. What do you do if you have two vehicles and one driver?"
"You tow it!" Fred answered. "He bought a motor home in Scranton and towed his company car down to Norfolk!"
"I'll help you out again," Dean offered. "He could account for the correct mileage on the car if he used a tow bar that kept the wheels on the road. He could figure the gas he'd have used and written his own receipt when he filled up the motor home, stopping after filling the tank part way."
"So why haul the bike in the car and not the motor home?" Fred asked, in a reversal of rolls.
"Because he parked the motor home in some campground near Norfolk, then transferred the bike to his car, stashed the bike somewhere down the beach and used it the next morning, like you said, to get back to the motor home. He's barefoot after he leaves his shoes on the beach and needs some kind of footwear so he might as well get bike shoes; after all, he's biking."