"So," said Milo, "a month or so ago she told you people at Prep were out to get her. She definitely used the plural?"

"Huh?"

"They were out to get her. More than one person."

"Hmm. Yeah, I'm pretty sure... yeah, yeah, definitely they not him. That's another reason I thought she was being dramatic."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone's against her? Like a conspiracy?"

"Was Elise into conspiracies?"

"Like Kennedy stuff, UFOs? Nah. But you know what I mean."

"You didn't take her seriously."

"I would've if she'd told me something," said Fidella. "Also, to be honest, when Elise drank she could get that way."

"What way?"

"Feeling sorry for herself, maybe a little paranoid."

"About what?"

Fidella looked at the carpet. Twirled his cigar. Slugged back tequila and put the glass down.

"To be honest, guys, mostly about me. Enough juice in Elise's system, she'd start convincing herself I didn't like her no more, was gonna find myself another girl, someone younger. Stuff like that. But normally, she was a great girl, she could be fun. I'm nauseous-sick over what happened to her, you gotta nail whoever did it."

He rubbed one fist with an open hand. "I know I'm not supposed to say stuff like this but you get this asshole, you just leave me alone with him. I used to box Golden Gloves back in Connecticut."

"Last I heard," said Milo, "Golden Gloves didn't use tag-teams."

"Huh?"

"They, Sal. More than one person."

"Oh, yeah. Well, whatever, leave me with all of them."

Milo crossed his legs and spread his arms along the back of the sofa. "Where'd you meet Elise?"

"A bar."

"Which one?"

"Not here, Santa Barbara. Place called Ship Ahoy, off South State. I was there on work--Santa Barbara, not the bar. Elise was on vacation. She was all by herself and I was all by myself, we got to talking, we hit it off."

"What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm in between right now. Back then, I was a sales executive."

"What'd you sell?"

"Used to rep band equipment to schools, for G.O.S.--Gerhardt Orchestral Supply. They're headquartered in Akron, Ohio, I was their West Coast guy. The state budget for music classes got cut, my contracts started drying up. For a while, Santa Barbara was still good, it's a rich town. But then even they started holding on to their old instruments longer. I tried to switch to guitars and amps because they're hotter than trumpets and tubas. But the schools don't buy them and the mega-stores have that buttoned up. I tried to work for Guitar Center or Sam Ash, figured my experience would be a big deal. They use guys in their twenties, got eight million tattoos, pierces, heavy-metal hair extensions."

Touching his own bald head. "Before that, I used to sell truck tires, airspace for office buildings, exercise equipment, you name it."