“Yep.”

“Tell him he’s a lucky man and, by the way, I hate him.” A cherubic smile and then he was gone.

Dance finished her wine—this would be it for the evening, she decided—and returned to her room, laughing to herself. Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kathryn Dance.

Maybe, just maybe she could get used to that.

It was now nine-thirty, hardly late, but she was exhausted. Time for yet another shower and sleep.

But that too was interrupted. Her phone rang once more and she didn’t recognize the caller ID number. Let it go?

But the investigator within her decided to answer.

Just as well. It turned out that the caller was Edwin Sharp’s former girlfriend.

Chapter 31

SALLY DOCKING WAS her name.

Deputy Miguel Lopez had tracked her down in Seattle and left a message to contact Dance, who now thanked her for calling.

A hesitant, melodious voice. “Like, sure.”

“I’d like to talk to you about Edwin Sharp.”

“Oh, Edwin? Is he okay?”

Odd question.

“Yes, he is. I wonder if you could answer a few questions for me.”

“I guess. But, like, what’s this about?”

“You were in a relationship with him, correct?”

“Yeah, for a while. We met in February a year ago. We worked in the same mall. We started going out and moved in for a few months. It didn’t work out. We broke up around Christmas. What’s … I mean, I’m kind of curious why you’re asking.”

Sometimes you can be too evasive and the subjects clam up. “He’s been showing some inappropriate interest in someone here in California.”

“He has? Really? What’s that mean?”

“We’re looking into whether or not he’s guilty of stalking.”

“Edwin?” She sounded genuinely surprised.

Dance jotted this impression in her notebook.

“Have you heard from him lately?”

“No. It’s been months and months.”

“Sally, tell me: Did he ever threaten you?”

“Threaten? No, never.”

“Did he ever threaten or show excessive interest in other women that you know about?”

“No. I can’t even picture it.”

“Did you ever see him engage in any obsessive behavior?”

“Well, like, I don’t know what you mean exactly. He got pretty intense, maybe you’d call it obsessive. He’d get into something, like totally get excited about a Wii game or some fantasy author and he’d buy all their books.”

“How about people, stars, musicians?”

“He liked movies. Yeah, he went a lot. In theaters, not on TV so much. But his big thing was music, yeah. He really liked Cassie McGuire and Kayleigh Towne and Charlie Holmes and Mike Norman—you know them?”

“Yes, I do.” The latter two, Dance noted, were men.

“And then this band from Seattle, the Pointless Bricks. I know it’s a stupid name but they’re really, really good. Edwin totally loved them. If he was going to see somebody in concert he’d get tickets way ahead of time and make sure that his schedule let him get away. He’d be at the concert hall like three hours early, even if he had reserved seats, and he’d stand in line afterwards, hoping to get an autograph. And he’d get their souvenirs on eBay. It was a waste of money. I mean, to me, that’s pretty obsessive.”