I DIDN’T GET HOME UNTIL MIDNIGHT LAST NIGHT, AND THEN I COULDN’T sleep. It had been a busy day, full of revelations and just plain hard work. After tossing and turning for an hour, worrying about not getting enough rest to tackle a busy day today, I got up and ran a hot bath. I threw in one of those bath bombs that foam up and smell nice. André and Collin gave me a huge basket of expensive bath products for Christmas, and I figured I might as well start using some of the stuff. I sank into the tub with a glass of wine, had the Moody Blues playing softly on my phone in the corner. After methodically working through what I think happened at the mountain house and a good soak, I finally felt sleepy and went back to bed.

I woke up with the sunrise, swung by Dunkin’ for a large coffee, and met the chief as I was walking into the station. It’s early yet, and not everybody’s in. Lauren is here, of course, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I don’t think she ever goes home. Her latest boyfriend just broke up with her, and she doesn’t seem to understand why they never hang around for more than a month or two. But working 24/7 will do that, as I well know. My own romantic life is nothing to write home about.

The chief has rounded up the team, or at least everybody who’s here, and we head to the conference room. This is my show, so I walk to the whiteboard, set my notes on the table. I run through everything we discovered yesterday at the Bradleys’ mountain house.

When I finish, I ask Lauren to follow me to my office. Just as we’re getting settled, Chase arrives, coffee in hand. Lauren has already taken the chair, so Chase moves my dead philodendron from a low filing cabinet and sits there.

“What are you thinking, Rita?” Lauren asks.