“It’s been more than three days,” Alice said, sounding hopeless. “They’re not going to find her, are they?”

“Nobody is giving up,” A.L. said.

“At some point, we’ll have to, though,” Alice said.

“That point is a long ways away,” A.L. said. “I think we’re done here now.”

Alice stood. “I appreciate everything you’re doing to find out who is responsible for this. I really do. And I’m sorry if I impeded that effort.”

A.L. could almost see the wheels churning in Rena’s head. Is Alice truly sorry? Or is she simply acting contrite but continuing to be less than forthcoming with the whole truth?

“Thank you, Alice,” he said.

When they were back in the car, Rena sighed. Loudly. “Every time I’m ready to be really pissed at her, she claws her way back.”

“Into your heart?” A.L. asked.

“Not my heart. But into some quasi acceptance zone.”

“You accept her explanations?”

“I accept her logic.”

A.L. nodded. “Yeah. Me, too. We need to keep looking. Who haven’t we talked to yet? Let’s go through the list one more time.”

“Can I do that with a cup of coffee in my hand?” Rena asked.

“Christ, Morgan. Do you do everything with a cup of coffee in your hand?”

“Just about. Some things are more awkward, though.”

That got her a quick smile. And he did drive directly to one of her favorite coffee shops. Which was surprisingly busy even though it was early evening. “Guess this proves that lots of people drink coffee at all times of the day,” she said as they stood in line.

A.L. looked around at the relatively young crowd. “Most of these people were having Bloody Marys for breakfast with beer chasers.”

“It is Wisconsin and lots of them are probably students.”

“That reminds me, how is Gabe doing with his classes? Is he happy to be a student again?”

“I think he loves it,” she said. “I heard him say the other day that everybody should go back to school in their forties, that our minds are so much more open to learning.”

A.L. thanked the young man who handed him two coffees. He carried the cups to a small table in the corner. At the next table were two men, both wearing light blue scrubs. He suspected they were from the hospital three blocks east.

“You know, we never actually talked to Kara Wiese’s husband,” he said.

“Right. We did get verification that he was working on Wednesday.”

“We did. But I think I’d feel better if we actually spoke to him,” A.L. said. “If he’s working today, he’d be just finishing up his shift. Want to take a quick run down to the hospital, see if we can get lucky?”

“We desperately need to get lucky,” Rena said. “Emma needs us to get lucky.”