Ida Frostokovich was a sturdy woman with big bones, a fleshy face, and nervous hands. Like the Repkos, she had created a shrine to her daughter, which I saw as soon as I entered. A poster-size portrait of Sondra hung on the wall over the television, with smaller pictures around it and still more pictures on a nearby credenza. The pictures preserved Sondra's life from birth to death, and dominated the room. I had seen similar shrines when I returned from the war and sought out the parents of friends who had died. A husband or wife could be lost and you would never know they were gone, but losing a child left an emptiness so large it screamed to be filled with memories.

You say the Repkos want to know about the original investigation?

They're trying to understand why it took so long to catch this man.

She settled into a Barcalounger and cupped one hand with the other, but the hands never quite rested.

Oh, I understand, believe me, and I don't blame them. If the police would have caught this lunatic sooner, their daughter would still be alive.

Something like that. Were you satisfied with the way Sondra's investigation was handled?

Ha. Seven years, and they still wouldn't have him if he hadn't blown his own brains out. I guess that should tell you something about my satisfaction level.

Who notified you of the discovery in Laurel Canyon?

A Detective Bastilla. She told me the newspeople might come around, but they didn't. No one came. I guess it was too long ago, what with so many others.

I'll get back to the police in a minute, but first let me ask you this do you know of a firm called Leverage Associates?

I don't believe I do. What is it?

They're a political management firm downtown. Debra Repko worked for them.

Ah. Uh-huh.

She nodded without comprehension, probably wondering what this had to do with anything.

Sondra and Debra had a lot in common. More with each other than with the other five women. They both had college educations. They both worked downtown in fields involved with the government. Was Sondra interested in politics?

Not my Sondra. She was an account administrator with the planning commission. She called herself a bean counter.

She ever attend political events, like a fund-raiser or dinner?

Oh, my, no. She hated that kind of thing. Is that what the Repko girl did?

She was at a political dinner on the night she died.

Sondie was off having fun with her friends. At least she was enjoying herself.

Do you remember how the police handled the original investigation?

Every word. I lie in bed at night, remembering. I can still see them sitting here, right where you're sitting now.

The detective conducting the investigation was Chief Marx?