"I. Have, yes."

"Ex-wife. I didn't know she'd gone back to her maiden name. How did the meeting go, if you've don't mind my asking?" 

"It was... eventful. We bought an Object off her and then I tried to steal another. And failed. Then she and my mom—bonded."

Nod.

"Did she seem...determined? Focused?"

"I... don't know how to distinguish how she was from how she could have otherwise been. But I suppose I'd use those to describe her, yes. Can... I ask why?"

"I'm worried about what she might do. I think her grief affected her judgment, and I don't know that she'll come out of it on her own. The Objects make it worse."

"Grief?"

"...she lost someone. She wants her back. She plans to use the Objects to do it, but I bet you can guess what I think of that plan."

"...it sounds like a pretty good idea to me, though? Like, if it's at all possible, yeah I would definitely love to bring everyone back who has ever died."

"I'm not sure you're capable of making those decisions. If it's possible, resurrection would be nice, but if it will take Objects to do it, its not worth it. The kind of power you would need to bring back the dead...how many Objects do you think it would take? Her most promising lead is whatever the original collectors did, and whatever it was, it wasn't safe or sane."

"But that's a drawback of the method, not of the goal. And if the universe is such that it can be broken to create these Objects... there's nothing that says it needs to be intrinsically bad."

"There might be something that's not so recklessly destructive, but she's not going to find it. If you think I should focus on finding an alternative method instead of talking her out of it, I might want some help."

"If she's that focused... I'm not sure talking her out of it will work. I will try, for sure, but you know her better than I do."

"She's committed to her goal, and she's addicted to her Objects, but if we could offer her a credible method...I haven't looked too deeply into it because most owners of Objects aren't interested in being ordered to experiment with them."

"But many Object owners have lost loved ones... which could be used to persuade them."

"It could."

He sighs. "Anyway, I will tell your ex-wife."

"Take the file with you, in case there's anything else that might help."

He nods and takes the file. "Thank you. How do I reach you—?"

He gives him a number to call.

After they part, he texts Stiles again: Anything?

There was this janitor who worked there who's still kicking around, and he was married to the owner, Arlene Conroy. She disappeared and the motel shut down right after. The police don't know what happened; they never found a body.

Trapped in the motel. The guy I was talking to is Victoria Kreutzfeld's ex-husband and he knew a lot of stuff, and also knew the janitor.

That's convenient. Am I looking him up next?

Possibly. I think I got everything I was going to get, here, should probably join you two.