Keith had launched into another story about his upcoming trip to Indianapolis, but I found myself tuning out, my attention going back and forth between him and the family on the TV screen. The news returned, and the anchors began to go through their stories.

A car accident on I-94 that left two people dead and one in critical condition.

A jewelry store robbery up in Evanston.

“I’m glad I’m not going to share a room, though. We only had three rooms reserved, and there are four of us going.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said, still zoning out.

I sat up straighter when the anchor spoke again, and suddenly, a blue bar appeared across the bottom of the screen with the headline for the next story.

Body found in Gold Coast apartment.

It didn’t really stand out to me, not more than any other “body found in X neighborhood” stood out to me these days. Terrible, sad, tragic, but sadly, far from unique.

I watched it with half my attention as Keith continued to talk.

“Luckily, Erin and Alison wanted to share, so the rest of us get our own rooms.”

A body was found late last night in the 100 block of West Oak Street in the Gold Coast.

“I don’t know what we would’ve done if they didn’t, but I have a feeling I would’ve gotten my own room, no problem. There’s gotta be some perks to this, right?”

The woman has been identified as a resident of the apartment building where her body was found.

“Paula?”

The television cut away to a woman standing behind a podium in a room full of police officers. She was African American and looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, with huge brown eyes and curly hair pulled tightly back from her face in a low ponytail. She was staring out at the crowd in front of her, addressing them with a sort of ease that you had to be born with.

I watched as the detective linked her fingers, placed her hands on the podium, and stared assertively into the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming,” she said. “We responded to the incident at three o’clock this morning. The victim has been identified as Beverly Brighton, a Chicago-area lawyer. We are treating this as an open homicide. We’re looking into all aspects of the case and would encourage anyone with any information whatsoever to come forward to help bring justice for Mrs. Brighton.”

Chapter 22