At the beginning, but he left. Then it was, oh, I think it was Detective Petievich. A Serbian, that's why I remember. Ronnie was so glad when a Serb took over. Frostokovich is a Serbian name.

How long was Marx involved?

Four or five weeks, was all, then he disappeared. Got a promotion, they said.

After four or five weeks.

Ronnie was just furious, but he calmed down. Marx and that other one hadn't caught anyone, so we thought the new people might get results.

Who worked on the case with Marx?

Let me think

She stared at the ceiling, trying to remember.

That was Detective Munson. He never said much. Ronnie called him The Zombie. Ronnie was always making up names like that.

I tried not to show a reaction.

Did Munson stay on the case with Petievich?

For a while, but then he moved on, too. They all moved on, sooner or later.

But Marx and Munson were the first investigators?

The day they found her body. They sat right where you're sitting.

Did they have a suspect?

Oh, no. That first day they asked if we knew who did it. I will always remember that, them asking if we knew. Ronnie went straight up right through the roof. He told them if he thought anyone was going to kill Sondie, he would have killed them before they had the chance.

Was there anyone you suspected?

Well, no. Why would we suspect anyone?

Maybe something Sondra had said.

The nervous hands held each other. It was a sad move, as if her hands were keeping each other company.

No, nothing like that. We were shocked. It was like being swept away by a wave. We thought they must have made a mistake.

Did they ask many questions?

They were here for hours. They wanted to know if Sondra was seeing anyone or had complained about anyone, that kind of thing. Sondie had gone out with her friends from work that night, so the police wanted to talk to them. We had to look up their names and numbers. It just went on and on like that.

She suddenly smiled, and her face was bright with living energy.

Would you like to see?

See what?

Her friends. Here, they took a picture together

She pushed up from the well of the Barcalounger and waved me with her to the credenza.

Carrie gave this to us. Ronnie called it The Last Supper. He would cry like a baby when he looked at it, but then he would call it The Last Supper, and laugh.

She grabbed a framed snapshot from the forest of pictures on the credenza and put it in my hands.

They took this at work that day. That's Sondie, second from the right, that's Carrie, that's Lisa and Ellen. They used to cut up and have so much fun. They went out together that night after work.

I stared at the picture.

Her friends at work.