"It bothers me he only listed one person at the motel," Dean said, almost to himself.
"Why?" Fred answered. "He wouldn't have been anxious for someone to find out he was with some floozy."
"No, but he signed an anonymous name in the first place and probably changed the last three digits of his car license plate. Then why bother to lie about the number of people in the room? One person in that place looks more suspicious than two."
"He could have checked in early and had the gal meet him."
"I suppose so. It's just another nagging question."
"Any idea how long he stayed at the motel?" Fred asked.
"No." Then he added, "Maybe I'll look up this Ridner kid and ask him if the car was still there when he finished, but I'm just checking it out because I promised Randy Byrne I would. It's chasing ghosts. Just because Byrne might have gotten a quickie two months ago doesn't mean he faked his drowning and skipped."
"Maybe. But I been making these lists. There's a lot more angles to this here caper-options we ain't touched on yet."
"Such as?" Dean asked, hardly listening.
"Such as someone else could've killed him."
"Why?" Dean asked with a yawn as the night caught up with him.
"That opens up a whole new list of sub-topics, like was it just a random mugger or someone he knew? If it was someone he knew, then that opens up another list-his wife, a business enemy, an old grudge, or he could have been scooped."
"'Scooped?' What in hell does 'scooped' mean?"
Fred looked at Dean as if the detective was clueless. "It means kidnapped."
"Not in the real world, it doesn't."
But Fred was undaunted. "You got to consider the bizarre. That's what reading does for me. My mind's not tied down like yours. You have to be inventive, try to get into the criminal mind, think of all the angles...."
"How about considering the obvious? Like maybe Jeffrey Byrne was just stupid enough to drown himself-half-drunk or sober." Dean rose and stretched. "Whoever gets up first, don't wake the other." He climbed the stairs and never even remembered hitting the bed.