Izzy glanced up, blinking too fast as she tried to catch up to Mia’s non sequitur. “What now?”

Mia stood up without bothering to answer. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought about it earlier.

Mama still had an old-fashioned landline hooked up in the kitchen. It was a step up from a rotary phone, but just barely. Her cell was hopeless at this point, though, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.

She hopped up on the counter next to the phone and checked her contacts list for the right number.

Theodore Schaffer answered on the second ring even though it was a Saturday and she was calling from an unknown number. She wasn’t surprised.

“Schaffer.” He was distracted, she could tell.

“Hey, it’s Mia Hart.”

“Ah, Mia.” There was some shuffling on the other side, and then a door closed. “My favorite detective.”

“I bet you say that to all the cops,” Mia said, lacing it with fondness.

Theo was currently the editor for the daily newspaper in Portland, but before he’d given in to the call of the North, he’d worked for decades on the politics desk for the New York Times.

He also was in a forty-year-long partnership with Gina Murdoch, the Rockford chief of police and Mia’s boss. Once, Mia had asked why they’d never married, and Murdoch had laughed for a long time, then insisted she could never be tied down.

“Only the best ones,” Theo said now, and Mia rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at her mouth.

“What can you tell me about shorthand?” Mia asked, without any further preamble. Theo would appreciate it, he was a busy man.

“I could tell you more than you ever want to know about shorthand, my dear,” he said, his deep, cigar-and-whiskey voice rumbling with leashed laughter.

“Is there a universal one reporters use?”

There was a pause at that. “The Gregg method is popular.”

Mia jotted the name down. “I’ve heard of it. We were taught a bit in training.”

“Well, that’s part of the problem,” Theo said. “Journalists aren’t really taught the technique. They just pick it up as they go. So even if the main principles are there, everyone’s comes out a bit different.”

“Like an accent? But in writing?”

Theo hummed. “More like German and Dutch. You can muddle through, but you might miss some big concepts and some small nuances.”

“If I sent you some samples, could you try deciphering it?” Mia asked.

“I can try. Can’t promise anything, though,” Theo said.

It was something. “You’re amazing.”

“I bet you say that to all the reporters.”

Mia laughed. “Just the best ones. I’ll send you some pictures when I can.”

Izzy was watching Mia as she hung up. “You going to run down to the FedEx and scan these over to Portland?”