“There was a similar incident a couple months ago,” Frost told Tejada. “A woman had a psychotic episode at a wedding reception. She shot herself. Like Brynn, the behavior seemed to come out of nowhere. I’ve been trying to find some overlap in their lives, to see if they had a connection that might explain what happened to both of them. So far, I’ve come up empty.”

Tejada nodded. “I remember that incident from the news. Brynn and I talked about it.”

“What did she say?”

“Just that it was scary and bizarre. We both assumed what you did, that it must be drugs.”

“And did she mention anything that might suggest a connection between the two of them?”

“I’m sorry. No.”

“The thing is, Mr. Tejada, this behavior usually has an explanation, but friends and family often miss the clues. Then they look back and remember little things that seem important in the wake of what happened. Was there anything like that with Brynn?”

Tejada was silent for a long time. He crossed his arms and stared at his shoes. Lawyers didn’t give flip answers. Frost knew that because he had a law degree himself. He’d also worked with a lot of lawyers in his years with the police, and if there was one thing he liked about them (among the many things he didn’t), it was that they never answered a question without thinking about it.

Finally, Tejada said one word, but it was something that Frost didn’t expect.

“Cats,” he said.

Frost cocked his head. “What?”

“Do you like cats, Inspector?”

“I do, in fact,” Frost replied.

“So do I. I have four cats.”

“Okay,” Frost said, not understanding.

“Brynn was scared to death of cats,” Tejada went on. “When I first met her, she couldn’t spend five minutes in my condo. She hated cats, couldn’t stand being around them. People who don’t grow up around cats often don’t understand them, but this was a deeper phobia with Brynn. When I asked her about it, she told me that she’d had a bad experience with a feral cat as a teenager. She was bitten multiple times. She had to undergo a painful round of rabies shots.”

“I don’t understand the connection,” Frost said.

“You wanted clues, Inspector. You wanted something unusual. This is the only unusual thing I can think of.”

“That Brynn was scared of cats?”