I CONNECTED TO the office database and dug up the number of a half-demon phone company exec who helped us whenever she could, repayment for Paige getting her out of a Cabal commitment uglier than any cell phone contract.

“Lina,” I said when she answered. “It’s Savannah Levine. Can you check a phone record for me?”

“Absolutely. Do you have the number?”

I gave it to her, then said, “I need to know if any calls were placed from that number on the night of November 18 last year.”

“There’s one.” She rattled it off. “Do you want me to check the source?”

“No, I recognize it. Any other calls after that?”

“No.” Keyboard tapping chattered across the line. “But there is one from the second number, made just over an hour later to a cell phone.” She gave me the number. “Do you want me to check with the cell company for the registered owner?”

“Maybe not. Hold on.” I pulled up my contact list and entered the number. “No, seems I already know it.”

I thanked her, then signed off and told Adam what I’d found.

“Shit,” he said.

“Do you remember what caliber of gun was used in the murders? Thirty-eight, wasn’t it?”

“Right.”

“The kind of gun a guy in Columbus might keep under his mattress, wave around when he’s drunk, get confiscated if it’s not properly registered ...”

He frowned, but didn’t ask, just drove as I explained my theory.

PAULA AND KAYLA were at home, Paula clearing away the breakfast dishes as Kayla got out her books for the first lesson of the day. I introduced Adam. Kayla sized him up.

“You’re a private eye?” she asked.

“I don’t look like one?” he said.

“No.”

He laughed. “How about Savannah? Does she?”

“More than you.”

“It’s all about the edge,” I said. “I have one. You don’t.”

“All right,” Adam said to Kayla. “Forget the lock-picking lesson, then.”

“Lock-picking?” she said.

He took a lock-pick gun from his pocket and her eyes rounded.

“I was going to give you a lesson while Savannah talks to your grandma,” he said. “But if I’m not proper PI material, then I wouldn’t be a proper teacher ...”

“What’s this?” Paula said, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

I introduced Adam as my coworker and friend, then said, “I need to talk to you alone, Paula. Is it okay if Adam takes Kayla outside, shows her how to use the lock pick?”

She looked at Adam. “I don’t think—”

“Please, Grandma?”

“They’ll be right at the front door,” I said. “If we sit in the living room, you can see them through the window.”

“I suppose so ...”

They left. We went into the living room, and Paula positioned her chair where she could see the front steps as they worked on the lock.