Cindy said, “How about if I just…observe?”

“Observe what?” Decker checked his watch. “Oh, hell. Just sit down and don’t touch a thing. And stop smiling. I’m going to deal with you later.”

Cindy tried to sport a grave look as she sat on the white ottoman. She noticed the kitten and ran a finger across its head. “Who’s this little guy?”

“Probably Marie’s cat. We found it locked in the bedroom waiting for food.”

“Poor thing,” Cindy cooed. “Can we keep it?”

“I suppose we can give it some foster care,” Decker said. “It can live in the stable with the other strays.” To Marge, he said, “Unless Bellson’s answering machine has a malfunction, I think someone was here last night, retrieved the messages, then rewound them.”

“Could have been Marie.”

“Could have been.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure, because other than that, nothing appears out of order. I was about to leave the apartment, then lo and behold I find a couple of keys taped under her desk. This one”—Decker held up a key with his gloved hands—“belongs to a storage bin over her parking space. Only took Detective Snail a half hour to find it.”

Marge smiled. “What’s in the bin?”

“Lots of old college texts—history, anthro, poli sci, as well as a bunch of sixties radical books.”

“Radical?”

“Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, Abbie Hoffman—”

“Who’s Abbie Hoffman?”

“A guy who couldn’t spell America.”

“So Marie has done some transforming,” Marge said. “Somewhere along the line she became a born-again.”

“You can trace the transition. There were also a lot of texts on comparative religion as well as texts on Eastern philosophies.”

Marge said, “From gurus to Jesus.”

Decker said, “All religions are similar, once you get past the idiosyncrasies.”

“What about the other key?” Marge asked.

Decker shrugged. “I don’t know. It looks like it belongs to a lockbox. I’ve been searching for about twenty minutes and can’t find a damn thing. I’m supposed to interview a Paula Delfern. She’s a nurse at St. Jerome’s who was supposed to meet Marie at three this afternoon. I don’t know what the relationship is. I said I’d be there at eleven.”

“You’re late,” Marge said.

“I’m well aware of that, Margie. This Paula may be a good information source for us about Marie.”

“Do you want me to continue the search or interview Paula Delfern?”

“You do the interview,” Decker said. “I know what I’ve already gone through. This key has to belong to something!”

“I’ll help you, Daddy,” Cindy said.

“You, young lady, will sit there and not say another word,” Decker said.

“He’s cute when he’s tough, isn’t he?” Marge said.