After a while, Alvarez calmed. She sat up straight and ran fingertips across her wet cheeks. “I’m sorry about that. You’re just doing your job. You must hate all…this.”

Coyle shook his head. “Please take your time.”

Alvarez breathed in deeply. “I’m ready.”

“You were talking about poetry. We found a line of a poem written on Ms. Durand’s leg.”

Alvarez smiled. “She was always doing that. On her arm or leg. Or she repeated a line of poetry over and over. Some bit that meant something to her. There was one special line by a poet named Frank somebody: ‘the catastrophe of my personality.’ I’ll never forget the way she said it. She was so…vulnerable, always close to falling apart.”

“When’s the last time you saw her?”

“About a week ago, but I spoke to her over the weekend. Sunday, I think.”

“How was she?”

“She was excited about some paintings she finished.”

“Did she talk about anyone she was spending time with?”

“Guys? With Elise, there were always guys. She tried to make herself available to men, and then when she got them, she was already looking at the next guy. Sometimes she became a caricature of the sexy girl because she didn’t really know what it meant. She had this thing where she wore short skirts and low tops because she thought guys liked that look. But afterwards, after another date with another lame guy, she’d complain to me about how stupid men are.” Alvarez smiled. “She told me once, even the smart ones are stupid.”

“Was there one guy in particular?”

“I never met any of them, except this biker kid a long time ago. For the last six months, she was with an older man. He was married, which seemed like a total disaster. And lately she told me about this new guy. I think she was doing some freelance work for him. She said he was really smart and had a lot of money. He made a fortune in computers or something, and now he doesn’t have to work anymore. He has this big house with a bunch of rooms. And a couple of guys were always with him.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

“No. I saw his car once when he picked up Elise at a bar downtown. It was this new silver thing. I don’t know what kind.”

“Do you remember the body type—SUV, sedan?”

“Sedan, four-door.”

“And you didn’t see the guy’s face?”

“No, it was too dark.”

“Do you know where he lives?”

“In the country somewhere. Must not be too far, because Elise would stay overnight and go to work.”

“You don’t know his name?”

“I don’t think she said.”

“How about the two guys who were always with him? Did she ever describe them?”

Alvarez shook her head.