I found myself wondering, briefly, if Sandie might be part of the reason Karen and I had drifted apart. Not in a bad way—but with Karen’s marriage breaking up while Michael and I were getting more and more serious, we were definitely at very different stages of our lives. Probably good for both of us if Karen had found a friend nearby with not only a sympathetic ear but also some idea of what she was going through with Jasper.

“Don’t be silly,” Sandie said, when I tried to apologize for talking her ear off and possibly grossing her out. “You think I mind getting the inside scoop on the hottest story to hit Caerphilly in years? I can’t wait to run down to the personnel office and tell everyone there. If they’re in today,” she said, her face falling a little. “For all I know the police shut them down just like us.”

“Shut you down?”

“They took away all our files and computers yesterday,” she said. “So it’s not like we can do any work to speak of. I thought maybe Ms. Sourpuss would give us the day off, but no—someone has to be in the office to field calls.”

“Nadine can’t do it herself?”

“Nadine called in this morning to say she’d be in after lunch,” Sandie said. “Then she called just before you did to say she probably wouldn’t be in at all. And she complains about her staff taking advantage.”

“Maybe she can’t help it,” I suggested. “Maybe she’s down at the police station and can’t get away.”

“You think maybe they locked her up?” Sandie asked. She looked ready to break out the confetti and champagne at the thought.

“I think we’d have heard if they’d arrested her, but maybe they’re still questioning her.”

“Well, it’s a start,” Sandie said.

We both sat for a few moments, lost in our thoughts.

“How well did Nadine know Jasper?” I asked finally.

“Jasper?” Sandie said. “I don’t know that she did, outside of work. And she wouldn’t have known him that well at work—she’s big on doing what she calls facilitating lateral communication between decision-makers, which basically means if you’re not a vice president or a full professor, she doesn’t give you the time of day.”

“So she wouldn’t know him well enough to have anything against him?”

“You mean you think Nadine had something to do with Jasper’s death?” Sandie asked. “How come?”

“What if they were both in on this embezzlement thing the police are investigating?” I said.

“Nadine?”

I could see she was thinking it over.

“That’s so hard to believe,” she said finally. “She’s so dedicated to her job—she’s always the first one in every morning and the last to leave. She hardly ever takes a vacation.”

“Classic embezzler behavior,” I said. “Her best chance of keeping others from finding out is to be around all the time, ready to smooth over any problems.”

“I never thought of that,” Sandie said. “And the nerve of her, being so strict with us about things like putting it down on our time cards if we leave half an hour early, when she was—”