She gave that some thought. “She usually came in later. Four, five, six.”

“When do you close?”

“When I feel like it.”

“Did you leave her to close up?”

“It’s not a big deal, the door self-locks, you just leave.”

“So she was here by herself.”

“Yes.”

“Any idea where she was when she wasn’t working?”

“Not a one.”

“You two never hung out.”

“I don’t hang out,” she said.

“With anyone?”

“With anyone.”

“How about Frankie’s friends? You ever see any?”

“No.”

“Did she ever mention annoying customers? Someone who bothered her?”

“She never said anything. We never talked because the minute she showed up, I bailed.”

Milo waited.

“I’m telling you the truth, Mr. Detective. I want you to catch him and torture him.”

“Okay, thanks for your time. What’s your name?”

“Bekka, two k’s.”

“Bekka what?”

“Bekka Mankell, two l’s.” She licked black lips, allowed her tongue to linger. The tip had been forked surgically. “May I ask you something?”

“Sure,” said Milo.

“How was she—what was done to her?”

“We don’t know yet.”

“You don’t have a body?”

“We have one but it had been lying there for a while.”

“Oh.” Black lips folded inward.

“That kind of thing,” said Milo, “time of death is tough to determine. When’s the last time you saw her?”

Bekka Mankell said, “Hmm … has to be a week.”

“Her being gone didn’t alarm you because it wasn’t a real job.”

“I don’t even have a phone number for her.”

“She didn’t want to give it to you?”

“I didn’t ask. I know it sounds strange to you but I was just doing her a favor. She was sad.”

“Sad how?”

“Mousy, looked at the floor, never at you.” Demonstrating her own skills by locking in again on Milo. “Mousy and afraid of mice. We get them all the time, they live in the walls. First time she heard them scurrying she turned white. I gave her chamomile tea.”

Milo said, “She got used to it.”

“I guess. She never said anything. Never talked much about anything.”

“Shy girl.”

“More than that. Afraid.”

“Of what?”

“I guess life.”

“Okay,” said Milo. “Anything else you can tell me, Bekka with two k’s?”

She continued to look into his eyes. Hers had grown dewy. Without shifting, she took his hand, kissed it. Five times, rapidly. A peck for each knuckle.

He stood there, too stunned to react.

She released him, gave a small bow. “That was for good luck. Evil pervades the world.”

I said, “Have any customers bothered you?”

Continuing to engage Milo visually, she said, “We don’t get much walk-in. Half the time, I keep the blinds drawn and the Closed sign on.”

Milo said, “How do you make money?”

Bekka Mankell smiled. “We don’t, for the most part. Just a bit of mail order—Frankie did some of that.”