“Did your father ever mention Eleanor Lavelle?” she asked. “What she was like as an employee? What sort of work she did for the company?”

“She was one of three administrative staff who worked in the office,” Catherine said. “I suppose her duties would have included filing, answering the telephone, dealing with customer inquiries, things like that. I believe she did the job well enough, and she was very popular with Tav-Con’s clients. Quite a vivacious young woman, according to my father.”

“A good employee, then? No problems that you know of?”

Catherine looked uncomfortable and took a long drink of wine before answering.

“My father thought she was personally involved with another member of the staff,” she said finally. “Whenever the construction workers came into the office, she would be a little flirtatious with them, and he suspected the flirtation had spilled over into what he felt was an inappropriate relationship with one of the men. He never said who the man was or why he thought they were seeing each other, but he did ask for my advice on the matter.”

“And what did you say?”

“I told him to stop being such an old bore and let them get on with it. Unless he caught them in flagrante on work premises, I didn’t see how it was any of his business. Lots of people meet their partners at work. Then the woman became pregnant and left the company to be a full-time mother, so the situation resolved itself. The next time I heard her name mentioned was on the news.”

Jessica nodded. She couldn’t think of anything more to say, so she finished what was left of the iced tea and stood up. “Thanks for your time, Catherine. You’ve been very helpful.”

“No problem at all. If you think of anything else you want to ask, just give me a call.” She produced a business card from a pocket in the dress and handed it to Jessica. “I’ll see you out.”

Back in the truck, Jessica pulled her cell phone from the glove compartment and switched it on. Once the screen came to life, a text from her IT contact in New York appeared. It wasn’t good news. He could tell Jessica who John Doe’s internet service provider was and that the email had been sent from somewhere in the Los Angeles area, but that was about it. A dead end.

Jessica sighed and hit the redial button and tried the Hollywood Station again, but Jason Pryce was still unavailable. She left another message for the detective, again stressing how important it was that she speak to him as soon as possible. Then she eased the Silverado through the gates back onto South Oak Knoll Avenue and followed the GPS instructions to return to Eagle Rock.

Jessica had been on the Arroyo Seco Parkway for about five minutes when she first noticed the black SUV in her rearview mirror.

10 AMY

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