“It’s very important you think hard,” he said as she returned to the couch. “Was there anything at all you saw or heard at any point yesterday that might be of interest? Maybe somebody in the area who caught your attention? What about in recent days or weeks? Anybody around here who might have raised your suspicions? Or just given you one of those feelings. You know what I’m saying? A feeling right here.”

He pointed at his gut, which she suspected used to be much more formidable than it was now. She based this on the sagging skin along his jaw. He used to be heavier.

“No,” she said. “This is a quiet street. Certain types don’t frequent this neighborhood. Now, the young man in the other apartment on my floor, he’s a doctor at Bellevue. He smokes pot and must get it from somewhere, but I don’t for a moment think he buys it right around here. More likely in the vicinity of the hospital, which isn’t the nicest area. The woman in the apartment directly under this one, which, of course, faces the street just like mine… .”

“Neither one of them were here last night.”

“She’s not friendly, and I started to say that she has a boyfriend she fights with a lot. But he’s been coming around for over a year, so I doubt he’s a criminal.”

“What about workmen, servicemen, anybody like that?”

“Now and then the cable company.” She looked at the window behind her computer. “There’s a satellite dish on top of the roof, which I have a good view of, and on occasion I’ve seen someone up there doing whatever it is they do.”

He got up and looked out the window at the flat roof of the building where the police car was parked. His suit jacket was taut across his shoulders in back, and it wasn’t even buttoned.

Without turning around, he said, “I see an old fire escape. Wonder if that’s how the servicemen get up there? You ever seen anybody climbing up the fire escape? Don’t know how you’d get a satellite dish up that ladder. Jeez. Not a job for me. Couldn’t pay me enough.”

He looked out the window, at the darkness. This time of year, daylight was gone by four.

“I don’t know about the ladder,” she said. “Can’t think of a time I’ve seen anybody climbing it, and I suspect there’s some other access to the roof. You’re thinking the burglar got in through a roof access? If so, that’s of great concern. Makes me worry about this building.”

She looked up at her plaster ceiling, wondering what might be on the other side of it.

“I’m on the second floor, and that certainly would make me vulnerable to an intruder, I should think. They must lock access doors.”

She was working herself into quite a state over it.

“This building has an old fire escape, too, you know,” she said.

“Tell me about the lady who gave you the puppy.”