"Sure," Dean answered.

Fred thought a moment. "We shouldn't give ourselves away by using Bird Song's e-mail or mine. I'm too well known. Doing undercover work like this, you can't be too careful."

In celebration of Fred's return to Bird Song, Dean didn't bother to protest. "Just go ahead and make up another name," he said.

"Can't. Not without registering it and all that stuff. How about I use Martha's e-mail? No one would know who she is. It would be like an alias!" His eyes sparkled with the potential of intrigue as he typed in, 'girlkid93.'

"What's the '93' mean?" Cynthia asked as Fred sent the message.

"It's the year she was born, but it doesn't really mean anything" Fred answered. "When you want to use an e-mail name that might be already taken, you tack on a number to make it unique."

The balance of the day was spent moving Fred back to his own now-vacant room and later with Cynthia joining Dean in a patrol of the surrounding area looking for Pumpkin Green. Calling Mrs. Langstrom would probably have been their best lead, but that was out of the question. The poor woman had just buried her son that morning. Dean spotted Brandon Westlake on Main Street. The old man was still dressed in a dark suit after attending the funeral. Yes, Pumpkin had been there and Westlake had spoken to him briefly. Pumpkin and some of Billy's friends thought there might be more to the young man's death than reported. Dean wanted to question him further, but he abruptly turned on his heels and walked away.

Fred slipped out early to renew his social life while the Deans ate soup and sandwiches. In spite of the good news of Fred's return, the pall of Martha's continued absence draped over Bird Song. They had just finished the meal when the telephone rang, but not with news of Martha. It was Jake Weller.

"Fitzgerald's in deep do-do," he announced bluntly. "He was recalled to Denver. There's been some anonymous phone calls over Billy Langstrom's death. Only Fitzgerald didn't show today when he was supposed to. Word is his people are pissed." Then he added, "Congratulations. Looks like you're going to be running unopposed. Rumor has it he's withdrawing from the election."

While Dean was flabbergasted, his emotions were conflicted. Remaining quiet about Lydia's prior night's involvement with Fitzgerald was looking like a very poor decision. His first thought was to call Ms. Larkin and demand further details. Cynthia talked him out of it until more was learned of Fitzgerald's present whereabouts.

They spent the evening in their private quarters mulling over the possibilities and skirting the question that Lydia had actually killed her boss, which in spite of mounting concern, Dean continued to find unlikely. Fred returned early and was informed of the new developments. While he was thrilled that Dean might now be running unopposed, he was positive Lydia had killed her boss. It was reminiscent of some thriller he'd read. The trio finally called it a night with the likely hood of restful sleep a pipe dream.




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