7:00 pm
After supper George left with Kim, promising to return to the Tower as quickly as he could.
There had been so many Eds, stretched so far apart all day, that he was exhausted and began collapsing back into the one at the Tower. “Sorry I can't help any more,” he apologized.
“You've done plenty. Get some rest, we're going to need you later,” Mego told him.
Wade appeared to have taken his own lunch break in Middleton. “I had a thought,” he told the O'Ceallaighs as they returned to the main room of the Tower.”
“What's that?” Shego asked.
“Well, maybe instead of focusing on Hellpike we would do better to look for Obtinus.”
“Are you suggesting he's alive?”
“No, I'm suggesting he left his property to Hellpike. But that would mean there was some sort of will filed somewhere and it would list assets and things like addresses. Hellpike left his motel a day or two after he talked with Aviarius. That suggests he moved into wherever Obtinus had his hideout.
“We don't have a death date for him. Hell, we aren't even sure of his real name. Do you know how many people die every day here in the greater metropolitan area?”
“Fine, you got a better idea?”
Shego opened her mouth to voice another objection, then realized she didn't have a better idea.
Mego spoke up, “Let me get the date for the last confirmed fight Hego had with Obtinus.”
Shego considered going back to search for Aviarius to see if he had a real name or could give them a better idea of the death date. But she suspected the fowl fiend had gone into hiding and it might take days to find him. She kicked herself for not questioning him more thoroughly that morning. She decided her time would be better spent searching records at the Tower -- although she went to her room and made another fast call to Bella, hoping she could narrow the window of Obtinus's death a little more
With Ed asleep and the Wills trying to conserve their strength Shego, Mego, and Ron sat at computer terminals. Wade managed to hack into the official death records -- a better source of information than the newspaper obituaries since the papers would sometimes list euphemisms as the cause of death. The trio began to comb through the death records while Wade began the process of trying to hack into the Probate Court records.
“You know the police will open the records to us if we ask,” Mego told him.
“Maybe, but I can probably get in faster.”
The Alchemist watched for a few minutes, then asked, “Anything I can do to help?”
“Thanks, Al,” Ron said. “Any chance you could make us a pot of coffee?”
“I guess so.”
“That would be great,” Shego told him. “Then call your cousin Dexter's house and say you're still working on the distribution details. Could you help the Wegos monitor the local news? I don't think the TV stations have found anything but we should be watching just in case.”