While Dean held out no illusions of leading the pack through the mountains, after turning out 73 miles of rolling hills on a humid Saturday, he felt more confident of his chance of least not embarrassing himself.
On June 1, Dean attended Arthur Atherton's funeral. He felt an obligation to Ethel Rosewater but by the looks of the crowd his presence was unnecessary. Arthur's social friends pawed all over one another on one side of the room, while his lawyer pals held down the other side, acting as if it were a board meeting instead of a wake. None of the Philadelphia family was in evidence but a gigantic wreath from Delasandro and Company dominated the foot of the casket. Dean thought a dead fish might have been more appropriate. A pat of sympathy on Ethel's shoulder was returned by a pat on his butt and he was out of there.
The same day the station received word from the FBI the gun Dean recovered at Willoughby's had been stolen from a security guard in Connecticut the prior March. While Dean's assailant had not worn gloves, surprisingly, to Dean at least, there were no traceable fingerprints on the weapon. The days following the incident, Dean had pored over more mug books, sure he would be able to identify at least one of the two hoods. There wasn't even a close match. He was running into more brick walls than an overworked mason.
Detective Norman Hunter called Dean from Norfolk later the same week. Weeks had passed since the two had spoken and the conversation was more social than business. The bluefish were running and Hunter tried to coax Dean down for a little R and R. Dean asked for a rain check, explaining that he was going on a biking trip out west though he made no mention of his reason behind the trip. He took the opportunity to casually pump Hunter on the Byrne disappearance.
"We've pretty much given up hope a body might float in," Hunter said. "I've had one of my men checking on Fletcher Brunel, the last guy to see Byrne. We've got an address now and understand he's back from vacation. So far, he's not returned phone calls. When I hear from him, I'll give him your phone number. Maybe Byrne said some words of wisdom you can pass on to the missus."
Dean also spoke to Cece Baldwin again, just to touch base and see if she might have heard further from her mysterious benefactor. She had not, but sounded in a much cheerier mood, giving Dean a five-minute update on her school progress. When Dean chided her about her improved mood she simply laughed and said love does that to people.