Mendez shook his head. “You had to see this girl yesterday. She was a nervous wreck. She’d never have the cojones to stab anyone, let alone do what was done to her best friend. And then put those breasts in a box and send them to Milo Bordain? She couldn’t even look at a crime-scene photo without puking.”

“Do we have her phone records?” Dixon asked.

Hamilton shook his head. “Not yet.”

“What have we found out about Marissa Fordham’s alias?” Mendez asked.

“Melissa Fabriano?” Hamilton shook his head as he consulted his notes. “Nothing. No criminal record in the state of California. I went back to the authorities in Rhode Island—on the off chance she really was from there. They didn’t have anything on that name.”

“So the vic had no criminal record on either of her names,” Trammell said.

“Not that I’ve found so far.”

“Why would a person with no criminal record need an alias?”

“She had to be hiding from somebody,” Mendez said. “If not the baby’s father, who?”

Nobody had an answer for that.

“Damn, this job’s a lot harder than it looks,” Campbell complained, breaking the tension with a laugh.

“What about Gina Kemmer?” Trammell asked. “Is that her real name? Does she have a record somewhere? If the two of them go back some years, maybe that’s how we find out about our vic.”

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Hamilton said. He looked to Dixon. “When are we going to get computers?”

“When they become necessary and free,” Dixon said. “There’s nothing wrong with your ear and your finger. Use the damn phone.”

“Speaking of phones,” Vince said. “Any hot tips on the reward line?”

“Oh, yeah,” Campbell said. “There are at least five women in the county who believe the killer was their ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, ex- married lover.”

“A psychic called to say she would find Marissa’s killer for us if we would only pay her the reward up front,” Trammell said.

“If she was really psychic, she would have known better than to call,” Dixon said.

“It’s a big waste of time, but Mrs. Bordain got one of her civic groups to man the phones,” Hamilton said. “It’s not costing us anything in man hours—unless we get a lead that’s worth chasing down.”

“Anything from any of Ms. Fordham’s gentlemen friends?” Dixon asked.

“Most of them had alibis for the night of the murder,” Campbell said.

“Who doesn’t?”

“Mark Foster was home alone. Bob Copetti was out of town—we haven’t corroborated that yet.”

“Steve Morgan was allegedly out of town,” Mendez said. “Has anyone followed up on that?”

No one had.

“What about Darren Bordain?” Vince asked. “He knew the victim and Gina Kemmer.”

“What’s his motive supposed to be?” Dixon asked.