Cynthia was right. Westlake's connection didn't make any sense. "What about Pumpkin?" Dean asked. "He was in the stage play Boo! He said so. And while he isn't sure exactly where it was staged, there's a possibility he might have been in the same theatrical company that played Ouray, went broke and left their gear in storage."
"That's about the only connection Pumpkin might have, and none that I can see to the bones. Certainly he has no ties to Josh Mulligan of forty years ago, or the Dawkins, or the Lucky Pup mine. He's not much older than Randy. I think we're grasping at the proverbial straw to consider him. Common sense tells us the obvious is usually where the truth rests and the obvious is either Fitzgerald or someone in the Dawkins family."
Fred O'Connor banged into the room with a look-ma-no-cavities smile on his face. He pulled up a chair with a hook of his foot and joined them.
"Where have you been?" Dean asked.
"Doing research, mostly on-line with my computer and the library for a while, but it's closed until Monday."
Dean summarized his meeting with the curmudgeons. Fred nodded his head, pulled out his pad and took notes. Then, out of character and without preamble, he announced, "I've got one more nail to put a flat in Mr. Fitzgerald's little red wagon. I asked a darling woman at the courthouse yesterday to do some digging for me. She just called me back." He paused, to build the suspense. "One of the three owners of the storage building is named Fitzgerald!"
"Our Fitzgerald? Seymour?" Dean asked.
"She didn't get a first name. I'm gonna dig further on Monday but just the last name's a mighty strong coincidence, isn't it?"
"It must be the same person!" Cynthia said, elated. She stood up and kissed Fred on the forehead. "Good work, detective O'Connor!"
"That is a hell of a coincidence," Dean agreed.
"More than that," Fred answered. "To my mind, it locks it up. He's the illegitimate son of Josh 'Bones' Mulligan and he killed Billy Langstrom to shut him up!"
Dean smiled at Fred's exuberance but didn't contradict him. He too congratulated the old man.
Cynthia turned to her husband. "You have to talk to some-one-an official-about all this. It's getting out of hand. If Fitzgerald was involved with Billy's death, some official should investigate and do something about it."
"Fitzgerald is the official," Dean said. "Much as we believe he's culpable, we don't have any hard evidence. I can't tote supposition to the state authorities-I'd be laughed out of Denver. I'm running for election against this guy." He didn't have to explain how accusing his opponent would be perceived, especially after their acrimonious debate.