“Thank you, Mrs. Quan.” Tariq sounded as if she’d just offered him tea. “That will not be necessary.” He crouched next to her. The merciless, icy calm in his voice made me shiver. “This is how we will proceed. I will ask a question. You will answer. I do not make threats.” His voice got even quieter. “And I do not like to be disappointed.”

“Please don’t hurt me!”

“Would you like to begin?” Tariq asked me, but I shook my head. “Very well. Mrs. Quan, you had the misfortune to come upon a dead body this week. Whose was it?”

“Cl-Claudia Moore.”

“Wrong answer,” said Tariq.

“That was what she called herself, I swear. I found out later that it wasn’t really her name, but that was what she called herself.”

“Did you ever meet another woman who went by that name?”

“No. Never.”

“Perhaps a woman with dark hair and pale skin, a great beauty. She would be approximately the same height as the woman who called herself Claudia Moore. Her eyes are as green as emeralds.”

“No,” said Kaylee.

“She might have been introduced under another name.” Tariq’s voice was calm but his hands were balled into fists.

“Claudia never introduced me to her friends. We met at our health club.”

“Think harder,” Tariq insisted.

“I want you to tell me what your friend told you about herself,” I said. My voice surprised me; it sounded unconcerned, almost faraway, as if I were asking about a movie she’d seen. “What did she say about her family?”

“She was from Massachusetts. Sometimes she went to see her family there.”

“What family?” I asked.

“Her parents, I think. Or maybe just her dad.” Kaylee sniffled a little. “She didn’t talk much about stuff like that.”

“What did she talk about?”

“Her weight. She told me she’d lost fifty pounds. She said she didn’t have any pictures of herself because she used to be a fat chick. She loved to shop.”

“Was that what you did together, work out and go shopping?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What else?”

Kaylee swallowed hard. “Nothing else.”

“That is a lie,” said Tariq. “What did I say about that?”

Kaylee stifled a sob. “I had an affair with her. Please don’t tell my family. They would disown me.” She took a couple of gasping breaths. “I only went to her place a few times, I swear.”

“Why did you go right over after you flew back from Hong Kong?” I asked.

“I’d been stuck with my family for nine days,” said Kaylee. “I just wanted to see her. I missed her.”

“You wrote that card we found in her apartment.” I remembered the words. I’m going to miss you like the devil over the holidays. Only nine days until I see you again. “What did the M on the card stand for?”

“Mingmei. My Chinese name.” Kaylee seemed to be crying softly now.