“I, uh, I haven’t told Stefan about this theory I have. I don’t want him to get his hopes up...or hate me...or think I’m crazy.”

“That makes sense. Do you have a picture of her?”

“I never saw her in my life. I have no idea what she looks like. Stefan might.”

“So you could ask him for a picture of her.”

“I could, but I don’t want to tell him. And maybe him having a picture is a long shot. There’s no reason he would have kept it, unless... I don’t know, the picture included Belinda too.”

“Why don’t you think that over?” Pete Sunday said. “As for the box, you can’t just pop these things in the mail, as you know. I’ll come to get it myself. Would that be okay?”

“You could just send someone else, someone junior. It’s a long way.”

I heard a beep and a shuffle. “From what I see here, it looks like about...mmm, twenty-two miles.”

“It’s nearly two hundred miles, detective. It took me three hours.”

“Well, I’m driving to work right now, it’s about a half hour drive, pretty drive, we live right on Red Cedar Lake near the winery. That winery is a beautiful place. Wine isn’t bad either.”

He was having some kind of chuckle at my expense. This seemed odd, and a little out of character, until I typed “Red Cedar Lake” into my phone. He really was twenty miles away. “You moved,” I said. “You took the job in Dane County...”

“Just a few weeks ago. Changed jobs. Got married.”

“Do you like it?”

“I never realized how simple and easy my job was before. The things I did once a year up there, I’ve had to do in my first week here. People here seem more determined to harm each other, you know?” he said. “They’re not all cases like Belinda McCormack. But people are bashing away at each other every night.”

“True thing that,” I said.

“It’s exciting for sure, but we’ll see.”