“And the answer is four,” Natalie concluded, as if she’d had the answer all along.
“I don’t suppose you know their names?” Garland asked.
“Pfft. I barely remember their names myself. Bobby… something. John Clarkson. Or was it Clark Johnson?” Lionel stared at the ceiling as he thought.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know their names,” Natalie said. “Maybe I can look in his papers.”
“No problem. We can find out from the university,” Pataki said, finally acting like a capable officer of the law.
“We’re going to have to bring in homicide on this now,” Garland said.
“Yeah. I know. Those detectives will act like they did all the legwork, when it was us who broke open this case.” Pataki scowled.
Natalie pressed her lips together to stop from correcting him. That it was actually Liam who cracked this case. Best not poke the bear.
“Any chance you have a motive?” Pataki asked.
“Professional jealousy would be my guess,” Lionel said. “It must be hard living in my shadow.”
She wasn’t repeating that.
“No. Sorry.” Natalie shook her head. “Oh, but wait. There is something else.”
She turned to pretend to look at Liam when she was really looking at Lionel.
“When we were cleaning out the apartment we noticed his computer was missing. It was a desktop, not a laptop, so it wasn’t like he would have carried it to his office on campus. The printer was still there on the desk, with a big power strip, but no sign of a computer, which we thought was weird. I mean even if it was in for repairs or something, the monitor, keyboard and mouse should have been there. Right?”
Lionel’s eyes narrowed. “It was not in for repairs. I was working on that computer the day I died.”
“So robbery as a motive?” Garland asked.
“Someone slipped him potassium to kill him for desktop computer?” Pataki asked with a frown.
“A ten-year-old desktop computer. I found the receipt in his desk,” Natalie added.
Liam shook his head. “The killer was playing a long game. This was clearly premeditated. Not some electronics snatch and grab.”
“But what about the head injury? Huh?” Garland reminded.
“I still believe that was sustained when he had the heart attack and fell,” Liam said.
“Yeah. Get off this line of thinking, Garland. This was obviously premeditated, like the doc says.” Pataki slapped his tiny notebook closed and switched his focus from his partner to Natalie and Liam. “We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.”
They turned to head out as Garland said, “It could be both. Premeditated and a robbery.”
“For the love of God, Garland, let it rest. You really think a kid who can afford the tuition at Yale would steal a ten-year-old desktop computer from a dead guy?”
“Maybe,” she said.
“Dammit, Garland. You give that to homicide as a motive and they’re going to laugh us out of the precinct,” Pataki grumbled before the door closed behind them.
“Well, that was interesting,” Liam said.
“It is actually…” Natalie turned to face Liam. “What if Garland is right? What if robbery was the motive?”
“Nat. You said so yourself. It was an old computer.”
“That contained all of Lionel’s research,” Natalie added. “What if they weren’t stealing the computer, but what was on it? Liam, they didn’t want the hardware. They wanted Lionel’s work.”
