“Kristi Bentz?” a deep voice asked as she pulled into a spot a few over from hers because some jerk had taken hers with his jacked-up pickup and oversized tires. Before she could respond, he said, “This is Dr. Grotto. First, I want to apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I did get your message.” His voice was so smooth, the same tenor as when he taught, and in her mind’s eye she saw him, the tall man with black hair and dark eyes, his strong jaw dark with beard shadow. She forgot being angry that she had to park a few steps further from the stairs. “You mentioned you’d like a meeting and now my schedule has cleared a bit. So how about tomorrow afternoon? Say…four? I have some time then.”

Kristi did some quick mental calculations. She was scheduled to work the dinner shift, but she figured she could find someone to cover an extra hour for her. She wasn’t going to blow this. “Sure,” she said lightly, as if she had nothing more to ask him about than a particularly tough assignment. She thought about the dark van and wondered if Grotto might have been the driver. “I’ll be at your office at four.”

“I’ll see you then.”

He clicked off as Kristi cut the Honda’s engine. She couldn’t wait to talk face-to-face with Grotto; after all he was the last person thought to have seen Dionne Harmon alive.

After double-checking the parking lot to make certain no one was lurking between the cars or behind the hedge of crepe myrtle, she nervously headed into her unit. As far as she could tell everything was just as they’d left it. She didn’t think anyone had been inside.

She felt the urge to stick her tongue out at Jay’s camera, or do a little strip tease for him as a joke, but refrained. Just in case there was another camera they hadn’t found. All she managed was a wink at the camera over the sink.

Houdini came out from his hiding spot under the bed. “I wondered when you’d show your face again,” she said. “Did that big dog scare you? Trust me, Bruno wouldn’t hurt a flea.” She slid a hand over the cat’s back and he quivered and tried to slink away from her touch. He wasn’t as quick to disappear, however, so she poured cat food into his bowl and watched with some amusement as he sniffed disdainfully at it. “Hey, don’t forget your roots,” she said to him. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”