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offered a position in Toronto and had moved, leaving Williams alone in the apartment.
    Williams had never seen his family in Chicago again. He had tried to talk to them several times on the phone, but they would always hang up as soon as his sister passed over the receiver. Williams was of course deeply hurt of losing his family. But he refused to get married with a woman and be sad for his whole life just to please them. He refused to stop being himself.
    Those were probably the reasons why he lacked self-confidence. Dr Gomes, his psychoanalyst, kept telling him that he had to look at the future rather than the past. Thus, four months back, Williams had decided to apply that advice and had moved in with Kyle. They had been together for three years, and Williams had never been happier. So it seemed like the good time to take the relationship to the next stage.
    “Why are you so secretive about yourself?” Cowley asked, pulling Williams away from his memories.
    “Personal reasons,” he repeated. “And I just told you where I live; is that being secretive?” he added with a grin. “Besides, I don’t know much about you either.”
    “Because there’s nothing to know about me,” Cowley laughed. “I’m bloody uninteresting.”
    “No one’s uninteresting.”
    “Then I must be the exception that confirms the rule.” Williams was staring at her interrogatively so she continued. “I’ve spent my whole life in New York, I was a cheerleader in high school, and I live with my mom and our cat,” she lectured.
    “How about the rest of your family, your dad?” Williams asked, still sipping on his coffee.
    “I… don’t wish to talk about him,” Cowley answered as the smile disappeared from her face.
    “Why not?” Williams insisted.
    “Personal reasons.”
    “Ah. So you see my point, now,” he concluded. Cowley nodded, half agreeing half apologizing. Williams didn’t let the silent make her feel bad. “Anyway,” he said to change subject. “What do we know about Carter?”
    “He punched me,” Cowley growled.
    “And ran away,” Williams finished. “Let’s see the bright side: at least we know he’s back in New York.”
    “Yes. He didn’t change at all,” Cowley indicated. “But, his face is known to everyone in this department, so we have a good chance of catching him.”
    “How long do you think he’s been back?”
    “Without us knowing? I’d like to think that he just arrived,” she answered with not much confidence. “How about the ruby, do you think he has it?”
    “I don’t know,” Williams winced. “I did see it on that counter, but it was gone after the chaos.”
    “I don’t think he was carrying it when he punched me. He only had his gun. And he dropped it when he surrendered.”
    “He surrendered?” Williams asked in an astonished voice.
    “Yeah, I should have been more surprised at the time,” Cowley admitted. “Then maybe I’d have seen the punch coming.”
    “Stop blaming yourself,” Williams reassured her. “It could have been anyone.”
    “But it was me.”
    Williams feigned he didn’t hear her last remark. He poured himself a second cup of coffee instead. “Why would he surrender? It makes absolutely no sense,” he wondered out loud.
    “Well, his intention wasn’t actually to surrender,” Cowley said. “He did escape in less than five minutes, you know.”
    “Yep, right. You know what, I’ll go ask his former landlord. Maybe he knows something.” Williams gave his cup to Cowley and walked out of the room.
    An hour later, Williams was back at the office. He hadn’t been able to find anything. Carter’s old apartment was empty since he’d left the year before; no one wanted to live in a garage. Williams had asked the owner if he knew anything, but obviously, Carter hadn’t left any address.
    Meanwhile, Cowley been looking for him in online data, but without any result so far. There was no phone number associated with his name, no credit card, and no