“How about a caution sign with a picture of Ben Franklin?” Stride asked.

“Don’t give them any ideas,” Pat replied, smiling. She added, “Anyway, let’s move on to police matters. Is Maggie making progress on the peeper case?”

“Not so far. He hasn’t struck again since the incident involving the disabled girl in Gary a couple weeks ago. We’re keeping an unmarked vehicle near her house for several hours each night in case he comes back.”

“Is that likely?”

“The father thinks he peeped her once before. He may have a special interest in this girl.”

“Keep me posted on this case,” Pat told him. “Families don’t get too upset when drug dealers kill each other, but they feel vulnerable when perverts are peering in the window at their daughters.”

“Understood.”

“I’d like to set up a monthly status meeting with you,” Pat added, “so we can go over outstanding cases. Okay?”

“Of course. I’ll set it up with your assistant.”

“I’m not trying to tread on your turf, but I like to know what’s in the pipeline. I don’t want to be surprised by headlines or get sandbagged by reporters.”

“I understand,” Stride said. “If anything happens, either K-2 or I will call you directly to keep you in the loop.”

K-2 was the departmental nickname for Deputy Chief Kyle Kinnick.

“I appreciate it,” Pat said. She added, “Peter Stanhope called me this morning.”

“Oh?”

“He’s concerned about this reporter, Tish Verdure, and the book she’s writing about an unsolved murder back in the 1970s. There was an article in today’s paper.”

“That’s right,” Stride said.

“This is the kind of thing I need to know about in advance, Lieutenant.” She didn’t snap at him, but her voice was cool and direct. “Particularly if someone like Peter Stanhope is involved. I don’t like to be blindsided when a major campaign contributor calls me to talk about a murder investigation, and I don’t know anything about it.”

Stride nodded. “You’re right. I apologize. I should have called you when I first met Tish and heard about her project. Candidly, I didn’t think that—”

Pat cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Never mind. I don’t want explanations or excuses. It’s done. I just want us to be clear for the future, okay?”

“Absolutely.”

“Now you can tell me about this case. I gather you knew the victim?”

“She was my wife’s sister.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry. Tell me what happened.”

Stride sketched out the facts of the case and retraced the investigation for her. He also told her what he knew about Tish’s book and about the DNA tests he had run in the past several weeks.

Pat sipped her wine and listened carefully to the story. “Peter was asking if we had any plans to reopen an active investigation of this case.”

“I don’t think we have enough evidence to do so,” Stride said. “So far, nothing changes the original theory of the crime, which is that Laura was killed by a vagrant. Tish hasn’t come up with anything to disprove or discredit that idea.”