It is Wednesday Story Day time again, and last week, we all went down the path of thinking Stennis (Lazar’s lawyer) was the one passing information to Cortez’s team. Then Larry asked when Pricilla called Stennis since one key factor was Cortez’s team had Pricilla’s phone number. True to this story, she never called Stennis. So here we are, thinking we’ve nailed the mole, and now we are not sure. Last week Pricilla asked the Lieutenant if he had any idea how Cortez’s team got the number. The big implication was the Lieutenant is the mole. Let’s go back and see how the Lieutenant answers the question.

“Well, Pricilla, there are several ways. One could be isolating your signal from all signals in this area. That would be a simple matter since those guys probably know you are here in State Police Headquarters.”

“How would they know which is my phone?”

“Let’s see. You call a number several times. That number happens to be located in the FBI building. Not hard. I think the bigger question is who gave them the location information on where Carolyn and Andre and that kid were.”

“Yes, that is a bigger question.”

“Tell you what. Put your techie on getting into Stennis’ phone and locating all the calls he placed while he was here.”

“Excuse me, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Mr. Popović.”

“He never placed any calls.”

“How are you sure? Did he ever leave your sight?”

“Let’s see. Why yes, he want to the men’s room.”

“How many times.”

“You know, now that I think about it, I thought he was having some kind of problem cause he seemed to have to go several times.”

“To my point. He had plenty of time to text information to Cortez’s guys.”

“You all have to hole on.”

“Yes, Larry.”

“Couldn’t that kid in the car have given the location all along? It is obvious he was in Cortez’s employ.”

“Whoa. Good point. What about that Pricilla.”

“I think a call to the evidence guys could confirm if the kid had a cell phone.”

“If he did, I’m sure they took it when they killed him.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to check.”

“Sure, of course. I was just making sure we don’t take our eye off the Stennis ball. He seemed a little shaky to me.”

“Shaky, how?”

“Every lawyer I met couldn’t wait to get away from the lock-up. This guy stayed around forever. Seemed strange to me.”

“You know, Mr. Dunfee. You would be the one to know. Also, you must be a good detective since you are so logical.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. By the way, there is another elephant in the room.”

“Elephant?”

“Several readers raised the point that you were going around verifying that others were not the mole. Who is going to verify you?”

“Readers. What the hell are you talking about?”

“Never mind. That was a fourth wall slip. So how do we know you are not the mole?”

“I am a flipping federal Officer of the Court, Mr. Dunfee. Why on earth would I want to see Cortez get off the hook?”

“Um, Any number of reasons. Maybe he’s holding a family member.”

“For the record, I have no family. Not even a dog. Also, for the record, I plan to run for office and would like to use the Cortez collar as my finest moment. Where does that leave you now?”

“Leaves me with the feeling you are not the mole.”

“Damn straight, I’m not. Now that we have left that unpleasantness, let me call the techie and see what he can find.”