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I couldn’t have done this without him,” he said softly.
    “We’re sorry for your loss,” Jack offered. “You said he handled the finances. Did Mr. Lombard work here in the office?”
    “He spent a lot of time here in the early days. But over the past year or so he started coming in less and less. George had other investments, and I think he managed them from home. These days, he’s in two, maybe three days a week. Or was, I guess I should say.”
    Keller gave Lennox a moment and shifted gears. “So how much ice do you guys make here in a given day?”
    “About eighty tons a day, sometimes more. We service grocery stores, convenience stores, fresh food producers, hospitality, and so on. Cubed, crushed, block. If you want ice, we’ve got it,” Lennox said proudly, smiling for the first time since they arrived.
    As Tripp Barnes started up in the background with a rendition of the Eagles song “Take it Easy,” Keller turned to Mia, inviting her into the conversation.
    “Eighty tons a day, can you believe that, Serrano?” he said, genuinely.
    “That’s pretty impressive,” Mia replied. “I notice you’re playing Tripp Barnes in here over your loudspeakers. Are you a fan?”
    “Oh yeah, since before he was anybody. I got to meet him once several years ago at a little club in Boulder. A couple of us from here at the plant went out to see him perform. He was just starting out back then, but everyone knew he was going to be big. I’ve been to every concert he’s performed here in Colorado and a few in Kansas City as well.”
    “I saw him at the Pepsi Center in Denver a few years ago,” Mia added.
    Lennox was in his element. “Crossroads tour. That was a great show. Did you see him at Red Rocks several months back?”
    “Unfortunately, no,” Mia said. “Work, ya know.”
    “A friend got me 7th row, center. It was amazing.” Lennox boasted.
    “Was Mr. Lombard a fan?”
    “Not really. In fact, George wasn’t much of a music guy.”
    “Do you mind if we get a look in his office?” Jack asked.
    “Sure, I guess so.”
    Lombard’s office was small and sparse. There was a modest desk, computer, and printer on one side and a clothes locker and gun safe on the other.
    “Can we get a look inside these? It’s just routine,” Keller asked.
    Lennox quickly pulled open Lombard’s top right desk drawer, opened a small keepsake box, took out a key ring with two keys, and used one to open the gun safe. Inside, there were three rifles and a .45 caliber handgun, along with an assortment of ammunition. The investigators were careful not to touch anything, but Mia took notes.
    “Okay if we look in here too, Scott?” asked Keller.
    “Yeah, we can do that.”
    Using the second key on the ring, Lennox opened the locker. Inside they found an array of hunting gear, mostly camouflage, along with hats, boots and gloves. Lombard was prepared for any weather condition, even temperatures well below freezing.
    Keller asked, “Does anyone else have access to this office?”
    “No, just George. I mean, I have keys to everything here, but I have no reason to ever go in here.”
    As they headed back toward the lobby, Keller made small talk.
    “How do you make so much ice, and how do you deliver it all?”
    “Well the entire operation is highly automated. That’s why you don’t see a lot of people around. We make the ice in those buildings over there,” Scott said, motioning across the small parking lot. “We do cubes and crushed from those two, there’s storage in the third and we do big blocks and special orders in this building. We load the ice in freezer trucks and deliver directly to the customer.”
    “How cold is it inside those trucks? I mean, the ice melts if it’s not kept below thirty-two degrees, right?”
    “For storage and transport we try to stay between 20 and 25 degrees depending on the season. Those truck doors get opened quite a bit on a delivery route and we have to maintain