She was still lying.

“Anyway, we were past it,” Tish went on. “I wrote to her when I moved to St. Paul, and she wrote back, and we became friends again, just like before. Laura was going to join me in the Cities. She never got the chance, though. She was killed before she could get away. I guess that’s why it’s gnawed at me all these years. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. She and I were supposed to escape together. Instead, we let some silly argument come between us, and she stayed behind. And she never made it out.”

She made it sound as if Duluth were a war zone, and Laura had been a soldier trapped behind enemy lines.

“When did the stalking begin?” Stride asked.

“During the spring. Late April, early May.”

“Did Laura have any idea who was doing this to her?”

Tish shook her head. “No, but it must have been someone at school. Most of the notes wound up in her locker. She thought it would all go away after graduation.”

“It didn’t?”

“No, the letters and photos started arriving by mail after school let out. Laura told me about it when she wrote to me in the Cities. I was scared for her.”

“Why did you bring up Peter Stanhope’s name? Do you have any reason to believe he was the one who was stalking her?”

“He was one of the last people to see her alive. I know he was a suspect in the murder.” She added, “Does your girlfriend have some kind of relationship with Peter Stanhope?”

“He’s a client,” Stride said.

He didn’t tell her that the relationship went deeper than that. Stanhope had asked Serena to be a full-time investigator at his law firm, and Serena was wrestling with the decision. Stride thought she was planning to say yes.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Tish asked.

“Peter’s rich and powerful. That’s always a problem.”

Tish shrugged. “I’m not afraid of him. Look, I know that Peter was after Laura. They dated for a while that spring. Peter was looking for another conquest. If Laura had put out, that would have been the end of it.”

“But she didn’t?” Stride asked.

“No way. Peter was hot for sex, but Laura didn’t want to do it. So she broke it off. He took it badly. You know how rich young punks like Stanhope can be. They think they can have whatever they want because their daddies have money. He wanted Laura, and he was furious when she turned him down. The letters started arriving not long after that.”

“That’s not enough to make a connection,” Stride said.

“Well, I know what Peter was like. He came after me before Laura, and I didn’t want anything to do with him. He got nasty when I told him no.”

Tish shivered as the sun sank below the crest of the hill. Long shadows accompanied a damp chill off the water.