TALKING TO FRIEDA Kowalski got him out of the office and that was the only positive aspect of the visit. When he broke the news about Mandy, her mother gasped and put her hand to her chest, stumbling backward. Decker helped her with her balance, sat her down on her floral sofa, and brought her a glass of water, which she sipped. No tears in her eyes, but her freckled pale face had turned ashen. He waited until she could find her voice. The woman appeared to be in her early fifties, with a nest of teased red hair and dark eyes. She was a pixie; she probably weighed about a hundred pounds.

When she finally did talk, she asked for details. Decker told her what he knew, minimizing any gore, then helped her book a flight to Las Vegas.

“Sergeant Dunn from my team is over there now.” Decker gave her Marge’s cell phone number. “She’ll pick you up at the airport and take you to the hospital.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I know this is a hard time, but anything you can tell me about Mandy would be helpful: her hobbies, her friends, her boyfriends. Did she drink? Did she take drugs?”

The woman looked stunned. “I rarely heard from her except for a dutiful call once every two weeks on Sunday. Tomorrow was the day.” She looked at Decker’s face. “It’s not that we didn’t get along. We’re just so…different. I was a single mom. I might not have done the best of jobs, but I took care of her.”

“I’m sure you did.”

She nodded. Still no tears. “The truth is, even as a little girl, Mandy kept to herself. She was very secretive with friends and certainly about boyfriends.”

“So there were boyfriends?” Decker asked.

Frieda thought about that. “She went to the prom with a boy. I think that was the first and only time I ever saw her with the opposite sex.”

“Do you remember his name?”

“Not at all.”

“Could it be Garth Hammerling?”

“Garth who?” Frieda was kneading her hands together.

“He’s a tech that works at St. Tim’s—where Mandy works.” Still no response. “Garth is missing. We’d like to talk to him.”

“What does he have to do with Mandy?”

“We’re not sure if he has anything to do with her. Right now, he’s just a person of interest.”

“I can’t help you. I didn’t know much about Mandy when she lived with me. I certainly don’t know much about her since she left me…left home.”

“Does she have a father?”