Where the road turned toward the bay at 50th Street, she got lucky. A hundred yards away, she spotted a red Corolla. There was a splash of blue on the hood, where the man in the turquoise pants sat watching the rolling train cars. She parked her Mustang not far away and got out. She let a truck pass, then crossed the road to approach him.

‘Afternoon,’ she called to the man.

He was probably about thirty years old but looked younger. He had a baby face and nervous eyes behind the blue-framed glasses that matched his pants. He looked as if he wanted to jackrabbit across the train tracks toward the water.

‘Uh, hi,’ he said.

Serena let him see her police shield. ‘Do you mind coming down here for a minute?’

‘Uh, okay.’ He slid off the hood, scattering French fries from a white foam box. ‘Is there a problem? Am I not supposed to be here?’

‘Can I see some identification?’ Serena asked.

‘Sure. I guess.’

He dragged a wallet out of his pants and gave her his driver’s license. His name was Mort Sanders, and he was from the Twin Cities suburb of Eden Prairie. Mort looked like a geek who’d never outgrown his high school science classes. His short hair was curly and mocha-colored.

‘What do you do for a living, Mr. Sanders?’ she asked.

‘I’m a field service tech for a big gaming company. I test and repair their video slot machines.’

‘Is that what you’re doing in Duluth?’

‘Uh, no. I’m just up here doing tourist stuff.’

‘I understand you were in the Grizzly Bear Bar asking questions about the murder of Kelly Hauswirth,’ Serena said.

‘You know about that?’ His voice screeched like a badly played violin. ‘Holy crap, I knew this was a mistake. I swear, I didn’t kill her!’

‘I didn’t say you did, but I’d like to know why you’re so curious about this crime. Did you know Kelly?’

‘Sort of. I mean, I never met her, but I knew her. Online. I’m on the road for work a lot, so I’m stuck in hotel rooms. I like to follow the chat rooms. It’s a big party in there, you know? Everybody’s drunk and hitting on everybody else.’

‘So you met Kelly in one of these chat rooms?

‘Yeah. She was Dream_on223, and I was . . .’

He stopped.

Serena said, ‘What was your handle?’

‘Beccababe911.’

‘You pretended to be a woman?’ she said.