Page 9 of Guess Again
THE DAY AFTERPETEKRAMER SHOWED UP IN HISER, ETHAN ENTEREDthe Edgewater Hotel in downtown Madison. He had no idea what he was walking into, only that he had agreed to meet his old partner and hear him out about the Callie Jones case. Had Pete not mentioned the ALS diagnosis noosed around his neck, Ethan wouldn’t have entertained the idea of helping him with a ten-year-old cold case. But here he was, partly intrigued, mostly annoyed, and still racked with guilt over his broken friendship with Pete Kramer.
He walked into the lobby and saw Pete sitting on a couch. It took effort for Pete to stand. Ethan thought about suggesting a cane, but knew his hardheaded former partner would rather bathe in lava than be seen using a cane.
“What are you wearing there, sport?” Pete asked as Ethan approached.
Ethan looked down at his scrubs. “I just finished my shift.”
“We’re meeting someone, kid. Couldn’t you have put on some real clothes?”
“Your message was pretty cryptic, Pete. All it said was to meet at the Edgewater. I was running late so I came right over. Want me to go back and change?”
Pete shook his head. “No, but do me a favor? Be an investigator today and give up the save-the-world doctor thing for just this one meeting? Can you do that for me?”
“Pete, I’m giving you some leeway to be an asshole only because I still carry some irrational guilt for deciding to make my life better by leaving the DCI. You’ve been dealt a shitty hand with the ALS thing, and I’m trying my hardest to help you out here in any small way I can. But I’m not going to say this again. Get off my ass about my life and my career or I’m walking out the door and you’re not going to see me again.”
Pete began clapping. “Well, lookie there! It’s my old partner. Took you long enough to show up. That’s the attitude I need you to have for this morning. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs. We’ve got a room reserved.”
“Let’s just talk here, Pete.”
Pete limped off toward the elevator. “It’s not me you’ll be talking with. Come on.”
CHAPTER 9
Madison, Wisconsin Thursday, May 29, 2025
THE ELEVATOR DEPOSITED THEM ON THE THIRD FLOOR, ANDETHANfollowed Pete down the hallway as his old partner used the wall to aid his balance. Pete stopped at room number 349 and knocked. A man in a suit and tie opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Pete pointed at Ethan, and the man nodded. He pulled a badge from his breast pocket and held it out for Ethan to see.
“Jon Grace, DPU. I need to pat you down before you can enter.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows. Wisconsin’s Dignitary Protection Unit was in charge of protecting the governor and his family. These guys were akin to the Secret Service. Ethan looked at Pete.
“See why I wish you hadn’t worn your doctor costume?”
Ethan put his arms out to his sides while the DPU agent checked his body for weapons.
“Go ahead,” the agent said when he was finished.
Ethan followed Pete into the hotel room and, sure enough, was suddenly face-to-face with Wisconsin’s newly elected governor. A woman was also present who Ethan did not recognize.
“Ethan?” the governor said, extending a hand. “Mark Jones. Thanks for coming.”
“Yes sir,” Ethan said, shaking the governor’s hand. “I’m not really sure what’s going on here.”
Still holding Ethan’s hand in a firm alpha grip, Mark smiled. “We’ll get to all that. This is Geraldine Feck, our state’s attorney.”
Ethan finally got his hand back from the governor and offered it to Ms. Feck, wanting to ask Pete Kramer a thousand questions about what the hell he was doing in this hotel room with the governor and the DA. He felt awkward standing in the hotel room in scrubs, and wished he’d changed into his civilian clothes before hustling out of the hospital for this meeting.
“Let’s have a seat so we can talk,” Mark said.
They sat around a table in the suite that overlooked Lake Mendota. The governor lifted a box from the ground and pulled bound folders from it, distributing them around the table. When one of the packets reached Ethan, he looked at it and read the title page.
CALLIEJONES
MISSING 7/18/2015
