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are only six full-time employees.”
    “Have there been any recent changes at the business?”
    “Oh yes, definitely,” she said. “Thomas worked hard over the last two years, but he just recently finished developing new cryptographic processes that he thought could revolutionize the whole field of cryptography.”
    “Was it something that could have paid off for you guys?” I asked.
    “We were recently offered ten million dollars for the first phase alone,” Katherine said.
    This caused me to look up. “Wow! What happened?”
    “It sounds like a big number, but I don’t think Thomas wanted to sell—at least not to those people. He did have our company lawyers check out the purchaser, though. It’s my understanding that for technology like ours, the U.S. Department of Commerce has to approve the buyer. Thomas said the sale couldn’t happen because the group was foreign and not approved. The U.S. Department of Commerce wouldn’t allow the sale to go through.”
    “But still, eventually, it could be sold to someone domestically?” I asked.
    “Definitely. That’s why Thomas was so excited recently. He wanted to sell to a big tech company—a U.S. company.”
    “And even though this foreign outfit didn’t seem to fit, at least they established a market—they let you guys know the value of the product—is that it?” I asked.
    “Exactly,” she said.
    I nodded. “That makes sense.”
    I went through my notes, looking for holes in my questions. I was pretty satisfied for now. I glanced at Toni.
    Toni caught my look and took over. “Just a few more standard-type questions to round things out,” Toni said. “Any unusual mood changes?”
    “No. Thomas was very even-tempered. He rarely got upset.”
    “So no depression or anxiety, nothing like that?” Toni continued.
    “Nothing like that. On the contrary, he was excited about work. He was enthusiastic.”
    “Did he feel guilty about anything? Did he have reason to feel like a failure?”
    “Just the opposite,” Katherine said. “He’s been pretty much on top of the world. Even though we couldn’t accept the offer we got—couldn’t even negotiate it—he was looking forward to being able to sell to someone in the U.S.”
    Toni paused and looked at her notes, and then she looked up at me. “That’s it for me,” she said.
    “Okay.” I turned to Katherine. “Katherine, if your suspicions are right, then that means Thomas was murdered.”
    She nodded.
    I continued. “Since most murders are committed by someone the victim knows, who do you think should be on the initial suspect list?”
    “I’ve thought about that,” she said. “And the short answer is—no one. I don’t know anyone who’d want to hurt Thomas.”
    I nodded. “I phrased that wrong,” I said. “Let me put it another way. At this early point, it’s not so much about who you think might have wanted to kill Thomas. If Thomas was murdered, it’s quite possible that the crime was committed by someone he knew. That person might not stand out as someone we know he had a beef with. If I were investigating this as a murder,” I said, “I’d build a list. Right now,
everyone’s
on the list—whether they seem like they might have had a reason or not. In fact, I’ve got to say that the top spot on that list is, unfortunately, always reserved for the spouse.”
    Katherine stared at me hard. “Wait a minute,” she said. “You’re not implying that I might become a suspect in my own husband’s murder?”
    “No, I’m not. Actually, if Thomas has been murdered, I think you’d be the
last
one to suspect,” I said. “The police already think it’s a suicide. If you were the murderer, you’ve pretty much already gotten away with it. Why would you want to hire me to dig up evidence that would make the police reopen the case? This dismisses you, in my book. If we get the police to reopen the case, I imagine they’ll eventually come to the same conclusion. But what I’m