Chapter 55

The detective already knew Richard, so I introduced him to Bruce and Gran, saying that Charles had just been put to bed with a pain pill. Gran invited him to sit at the table with us and offered him dinner and/or dessert. He declined the former but accepted the latter.

Unable to contain myself, I asked, “So what do the police know about the guys that shot at me yesterday morning?”

Detective Howard said, “They belong to a fundamentalist group that are big-time supporters of Foible.”

Before he could continue, I said, “Most important, were they working independently, or is there a larger group involved?”

“We’re not sure at this point. The one that survived the crash didn’t say anything much at the hospital before they finally sedated him for the evening. He’s in a secure lockup ward; we’ll have another go at him in the morning. He suffered a mild concussion, according to the ER doctors, and seemed a little confused when they were treating him.”