The Match (Wilde, #2)(53)

“By outing Panther?”

“By getting Panther’s name, yes. This way, we can check on them and make sure they’re okay.”

“I agree,” Kitten said.

“I’m against it,” Polar Bear said. “For a lot of reasons.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“First, sorry, it’s still too early. If it were me, if I were Panther in this scenario, I would not want you to out me. So I’m hard-pressed to do it to Panther.”

“What else?”

“If you’re right, Lion, if this is directly connected to Panther, then I can only see two possibilities. One, Panther was so incensed by our decision not to punish this McAndrews that he took matters into his own hands. I know, I know, I’m supposed to say ‘they.’ For all I know, Panther is a woman. But I find it awkward so let me just speak this way, okay? So that’s one possibility, right? That Panther lost his mind and killed McAndrews and now he’s ghosting us.”

“Okay.”

“Except that’s pretty damn unlikely. Sure, Panther pushed for us to okay a low-level hurricane on McAndrews, but he didn’t seem super upset about it. If he had, if Panther really pleaded for us to punish McAndrews, I think we would have relented. But he didn’t. So why would he go and kill him?”

“Fair point,” Chris conceded.

“Then let me take it another step. If Panther did decide to kill McAndrews and ghost us, well, he knows that we might break the glass. We would get his real name. We would be able to track him down. So ghosting us makes no sense.”

Chris nodded. On the screen, he could see the Lion’s head nod too.

“So what does that leave us?” Polar Bear asked. “Well, one possibility, maybe the most obvious one, is that the Panther was careless. Maybe this Peter Bennett was able to trace down the Panther as their contact.”

“Impossible,” Chris said. “We have too many security layers in place.”

“Yeah, but we aren’t infallible. There is a reason we set up breaking the glass and all these protocols. Because we knew that there was a chance someone might come after us. We set this up so that if that happened—and maybe it has now—we could keep the rest of us safe. So let’s say someone got to Panther. I don’t know how or why. But they got to him. Let’s say, worst-case scenario—Panther has flipped or he’s hurt or he’s dead. If so, by rushing to his aid we may be exposing ourselves to greater harm.”

They all considered Polar Bear’s argument.

“What you’re saying makes sense,” Chris said, “but a man has been murdered. I still vote for getting Panther’s identity.”

“I agree with Lion,” Kitten said.

“Me three,” Alpaca said.

“I’m still on the fence,” Giraffe said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Polar Bear said. “It has to be unanimous, and sorry, gang, but I want to wait another day or two. Let’s give Panther a chance to reply. Let’s give the local police a chance to solve the murder. Waiting a few days won’t matter. We aren’t in danger if we don’t act.”

Chris was not so sure. “You’re officially blocking us from breaking the glass, Polar Bear?”

“I am, yes.”

“Okay,” Chris said, “that’s final then. Let’s all stay in touch and keep an eye on the McAndrews case in the meantime. Alpaca, maybe take a look at what Panther came up with. Maybe there is someone in that file we think is good for the crime.”

“On it.”

“How long do you want to give this, Polar Bear?”

“Forty-eight hours,” Polar Bear said. “If we don’t hear anything from Panther by then, we break the glass.”





Chapter

Twenty-One



Okay,” Hester said to Wilde, “let’s see where we are.”

They sat in Tony’s Pizza and Sub, which looked pretty much exactly how you’d picture a place with that name to look. Two guys with hairy arms flipped pizzas. The tablecloth was vinyl and checkered red. Each table held a paper napkin dispenser and shakers for parmesan, oregano, and red pepper.

“Where should we start?” Wilde asked.

“You don’t want me to say ‘at the beginning,’ do you?”

“Please don’t.”

“I’ll get us rolling,” Hester said. “First off, Peter Bennett is adopted, what, twenty-eight years ago. Did the sister—what’s her name again?”

“Vicky Chiba.”

“Did Vicky tell you how old he was?”

“No, just that he was a baby.”

“Okay, I don’t think it matters if he was two months or ten months. He’s adopted. He grows up near Penn State. Do we think it was in this rural area because they wanted to keep to themselves?”

“Could be. They were in Memphis before that.”

“Okay, so Peter grows up never knowing he’s adopted. The whole family lies about it. That’s a little sketchy, don’t you think?”

“I do.”

“But let’s skip that for now. Peter grows up, yada yada yada. He applies for a reality TV show and learns he was adopted. He’s upset, naturally. He puts his name in a bunch of DNA sites hoping for a match. One match he gets is you.” Hester stopped. “Well, that leads to the obvious question.”