“Definitely for real. Okay, let’s make a time line.” Faith looked around the whiteboard. “Where do you guys hide the markers?”
Luke stood and reached into a drawer in the credenza behind him. “Marty makes us clean up after ourselves. We’re well trained.” There was a general murmur of agreement. “Want me to scribe?”
“Sure.” Faith sat back in the chair and waited until Luke wasready at the whiteboard. “Okay. David Lee was in South Korea in July and in Raleigh in August. We need to find out from Ivy Collins when Mi Cha was awarded this internship. It may not matter, but I’d like to know when she started planning her stay in the States.”
“I’ll do that,” Gil said.
“Great. We know Mi Cha had booked her room with Mrs. Lin at least a month before she arrived in Raleigh. And we know David Lee was in Raleigh in August, but he didn’t stay with Mrs. Lin.”
Luke drew a horizontal line across the board and then a hash mark labeled July. Under it he wrote down Faith’s observations. Then he did the same for August.
Faith waited until he had everything recorded before she continued. “We know that Mi Cha began her internship in September. Ivy Collins told us she allows the interns to take time off to visit different parts of the country, but the only time Mi Cha took advantage of the opportunity was to visit a family friend in Seattle. According to Mrs. Lin, David Lee went with her in late October.”
“Do we know who this friend of the family is? Maybe he could give us some insights into finding Mr. Park.” Zane tapped the edge of the table. “I have a buddy in the Seattle office. I can have him look into it.”
“That sounds great.”
Zane scooted his chair back. “I’m going to get my laptop.”
“Good idea.” Gil pushed his chair back as well.
Tessa jumped to her feet. She held out one hand in Gil’s direction and pressed the other down on Zane’s shoulder. “Let me. I’ll get all of them.”
The fact that neither Zane nor Gil argued with Tessa told Luke how much both of them were sacrificing to be here. Not that any ofthem had a choice anymore. They had to find David Lee first—or wait for him to find them.
Tessa returned two minutes later with four laptops and a Cherry Coke. “You’re an angel.” Faith took the offered Cherry Coke and twisted the lid off. She took several sips as everyone powered up their computers.
“Where’d the Cherry Coke come from?” Gil asked.
Tessa grinned. “Leslie stocked the fridge last week. She said if Faith was going to be around so much, she needed to have her favorite on hand.”
Faith put a hand on her chest. “She’s so sweet. I’ll thank her tomorrow.” Faith’s expression clouded, and Luke knew what she was thinking. Would there be a tomorrow? How much longer would this case take?
Zane and Gil typed away but gestured for Faith to continue.
“We aren’t sure when Mi Cha reached out to Thad, but there’s reason to believe they met more than once. I’m basing this on Mrs. Lin’s comment that she’d covered for Mi Cha several times.”
“What are we thinking about this David Lee?” Tessa asked. “Was Mi Cha clueless and had no idea that he wasn’t an accountant? And what are we thinking about his role in her death? Are we saying he saw it all go down and he’s been in hiding? And maybe now that we know who she is, he’s . . . what? Trying to kill all of us? What would be the point? And do we have any proof that he’s the one attacking us?”
Luke could not write fast enough to keep up with Tessa’s questions.
“I hate this guy,” Tessa said.
“Join the club,” Gil said.
When Luke thought he’d captured the essence of Tessa’s questions, he stepped back from the whiteboard. “I know it doesn’tlook like it, but we’re much farther along than we were this morning.”
Faith dropped her head to the table. “You’re right. It doesn’t look like it.” Her words were muffled, but her frustration was clear. She straightened and looked at Tessa. “I hate him too.”
They brainstormed for the next two hours. Somewhere along the way, Jacob must have messaged Marty, because around seven she walked in with two huge insulated baskets. “You people need to eat. Don’t you understand that?”
She pulled out an assortment of takeout containers and set them on the table. “You can’t heal when you’re running on sugar and caffeine.” Luke recognized his favorite Thai food, a few dishes from Gil and Tessa’s favorite Indian restaurant, and what looked like a dozen tacos from Zane’s favorite taqueria. “And that goes for you too, young lady.” She cast a knowing look at Faith. “Have you eaten anything today?”
Faith flushed. “I’ve been busy.”
Marty handed her a paper plate and a plastic fork. “Y’all can’t get by without me. Don’t forget it. Now, eat.”
There was enough for everyone and then some. Once everyone had food on their plates, a mishmash sure to destroy their gastrointestinal systems, they resumed their conversation. There was only one new bit of information the entire time. Mrs. Lin answered Faith’s call, and she did have a name for the family friend in Seattle, so Zane passed it on to the agent he’d emailed earlier.
