“Claudia’s fingerprints are on file.” I felt stupid for not remembering that when I was at the police station.

“That’s good, we can use that.” Renfrew didn’t ask why they happened to be on file, and I was grateful. “We’ll file a missing persons report on your sister. We’re going to have to talk to her.”

“I know.” Something in my chest quivered. I’d been so relieved that Claudia wasn’t dead. Now that reality was sinking in, I realized that the police would start hunting her down. My sister, the magpie who had a thing for shiny jewelry, bad boyfriends, and hard drugs.

“We’ll bring Kaylee Quan in and go over her statement again, and we’ll get Mr. Pete to look at the woman in the morgue. Can you think of anyone else we should talk to?”

“I’ll make a list for you.”

“Can you think of anyone who might’ve seen your sister recently?”

“The neighbor across the hall told me she saw my sister on New Year’s Eve. Only when she talked about my sister, she could have meant this other woman.” As I said it, I realized that didn’t make sense. Sarah Lyons had known who I was when she’d met me; she’d referenced sad parts of my family history. I turned that over in my mind, but Renfrew’s voice broke in.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave for a while. CSU—the Crime Scene Unit—needs to come in and go over the place with a fine-tooth comb.”

“They didn’t do that already?” I asked.

“There was no need to do anything but a cursory examination before. No sign of a crime.”

When she said crime, my legs seemed to give out under me. I dropped into the sofa.

“Are you all right?” Renfrew knelt in front of me so she could look into my face. “You’re really pale. I thought you were going to pass out there for a second.”

“I forgot to have lunch,” I improvised. “Jet lag has me out of whack.” The truth was that my mouth was dry with fear of what my sister had gotten herself into this time. I had no idea how I’d get her out of it.

CHAPTER 6

“Holy hell, Lil. Your sister’s alive!” Jesse’s voice crackled with excitement over my cell phone. “Praise the Lord!”

“Don’t tell anyone,” I admonished, watching the police cars on the street and waiting for them to roll away. I was sitting in the Portuguese bakery next to my sister’s building, nursing an herbal tea and a sweet roll and wondering when my stomach would stop churning.

“Why not? It’s good news!”

“Except for the fact that the police are now looking for my sister in connection with the dead woman that they found in her apartment.”