Another look at the greasy ceiling.

"You're saying you've never been to Arnie Joseph's."

Franck licked his lips. "I haven't."

"But you have been near Arnie Joseph's, that's how we found you, Trey. You walked Elise over there, then the two of you shared a bye-bye kiss. Hot and heavy was the way it was described to us."

Trey Franck blurted, "Oh, God." Plopping back on his bed, he lay on his back, closed his eyes, breathed fast.

"Anything else you want to tell us, Trey?"

Franck mumbled something.

"I didn't catch that, Trey."

"We did it."

"Did what?"

Franck propped up on his elbows, stared past us. "We made love. Not regularly, once in a while. Nothing emotional, for fun."

"Fun," said Milo.

"Stress relief." Franck swiveled and met our eyes. Held the gaze defiantly. "Dealing with idiots, hour after interminable hour. It helped us forget."

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER
19

Trey Franck sat up and spread his shoulders.

Admitting his affair with Elise Freeman had enlarged him.

Milo said, "When did you and Elise begin your stress-reduction program?"

"Don't worry, I was over eighteen."

"I'm not worried, son, I'm looking for details."

"I still don't see why anything I've done is relevant."

Milo squatted and put his big face close to Franck's. Franck edged back.

"When we investigate a nasty death, Trey, we begin by looking at people close to the deceased, because statistically, most nasty deaths are perpetrated by someone the victim knows. When we ran Elise's phone records, you popped up as a frequent contact. One thing in your favor is that you didn't lie about not speaking to her in two weeks. The record backs that up. But that doesn't mean we're not interested in learning more about you."

"Statistics," said Franck, "are group measurements intended for samples, not individuals. They possess absolutely no validity when applied to individuals."

"Thanks for the math lesson, son, but right now you're what we call a person of interest and if you want to stop being a person of interest, you'll just answer the questions."

"I just don't see why my sex life is--"

"Here's a theoretical situation, Trey: What if you and Elise had a hot-and-heavy romance going and she broke it off? Jealousy and resentment are great motives."

"It may be theoretical but it's definitely not empirical," said Franck. "Elise and I got together occasionally for recreational sex and no one broke anything off. If you're looking at jealousy, pay attention to a loser who had a serious thing for her named Sal Fidella. Since you've got phone records, I'm sure you've seen his number."

"You know Mr. Fidella."

"No. I know of him. Elise said she'd dated him on and off, he was getting annoying."

"Annoying in what way?"

"Wanting to keep getting with her but she was over it. She thought he was a loser, always talking to her about get-rich-quick schemes."

"Such as?"

"She didn't elaborate and I didn't ask. It wasn't anything we dwelled upon."