“Laurel Jo Masterson dropped out of med school a month into her second year,” Jeremy said. “She submitted the proper paperwork, but not in person. She mailed it to the office. When I finally got her name from her HGA professor, I called one of my old friends in the office and asked if she remembered her. She did, because Laurel’s brother came looking for her in January, at the beginning of the spring semester, when she didn’t return home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The family had been receiving e-mails from her, but no one had actually talked to her, and the brother was worried. My friend confirmed to the brother that the office had received Laurel’s withdrawal documents at the end of September. It was the first the brother had heard of it.”

“Brothers Grim,” Dani murmured. “Why didn’t her disappearance make the news?”

“That’s what took me so long to find out,” Jeremy said. “And why I asked Troy to come with Keith and me as we asked our questions.”

“I went because I wanted Jeremy to have a witness,” Keith explained, “because he was talking to young female medical students in their apartments. It might have looked unprofessional.”

“I was also nervous about Jeremy going alone,” Troy added, “because, even though you didn’t tell him why the young woman was important, we figured something was up because Diesel was involved. And the kid you took in was accused of murder yesterday. I didn’t want whoever actually committed the murders getting to Jeremy and Keith because they were asking questions.”

Dani grimaced. “I’m sorry. I never intended to put you in danger.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve put yourself in danger by bringing the boy into your home. We didn’t end up having any trouble at all. At least, not of the violent variety. I’m glad Troy came with us, because he was able to locate Laurel’s old roommate, who’d moved several times, moving up to a more expensive apartment each time.”

“That’s not suspicious,” Kate said dryly.

“That’s what we thought,” Troy agreed. “When we finally found the roommate, she told us that Laurel said she was leaving school to run away with her boyfriend, an older man she met at a party. She claimed Laurel had e-mailed her that she was spending the holidays with this guy. The roommate said she told this to the brother, who was very upset and didn’t believe her. But CPD did believe that Laurel had simply run away and therefore did not open an investigation, even though the insistent brother was a Cleveland cop.”

Dani blinked in surprise. “A cop?”