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the time. But after she left, I started thinking about it. Why would someone like that go punching Elise for no good reason? Hell, you look at the way he was dressed and you frankly have to wonder what they would have even been doing at the same bar. Nah, if you want to know the truth, I think it was probably that guy she was hanging around with when I kicked her out. God bless her if she really did go live with him.”

“Do you remember who that was? The man she was hanging around with?”

Karen shook her head. “Sorry.”

“What about the guy on the TV?” Anita asked.

“Now that I do know. I see him on the news pretty regularly. His name’s Christopher Bell. But like I said, I don’t think he had anything to do with it anymore. She just told me it was him because I was pestering her for more information about what happened. Guess you shouldn’t always listen to your first instinct, right?”

Liam and Anita sat in the car outside Barking Good, the engine running. Liam briefly wondered if Karen and Elise had built their friendship on their shared love of animals. He held his hands up to the vents to warm them up. “We need to figure out who she was hanging around with,” he said. “Who else can we talk to?”

“I think we should go see Christopher Bell,” Anita replied.

“Why? You heard Karen. There’s no way he had anything to do with this.”

Anita was holding onto the bottom of the steering wheel, perhaps just because it was somewhere to put her hands, and tapped her thumbs against the worn plastic. “I’m not so sure. When we were growing up, Elise would sometimes say these quiet little things that, if you weren’t listening, you’d miss. They were always the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“I remember once when we were children Dad brought all us kids into the living room and demanded to know who took ten dollars out of his wallet. Elise swore up and down it wasn’t her and Dad believed her. He ended up blaming one of our brothers instead. Dad grounded him, sent him to his room, and a little while later I saw Elise . . .”

Anita stopped talking for a few seconds. She was looking straight at Liam, but he could tell that the only thing she actually saw was in her memory. “She was standing in the hall right outside our brother’s bedroom. She didn’t know I was there. She gently placed one hand on his door. I wasn’t sure why at first. Then she whispered, ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ and I understood. It was like she just needed to say it, whether anyone heard her or not.”

“So you think that’s what happened here?”

“I don’t know. But it sounds a lot like it to me. If it was Christopher Bell who hit her, maybe if we find out what she did to piss him off we’ll know a little more about the kinds of things she was up to when Karen kicked her out.”

Anita didn’t go so far as to say that finding out what Elise was up to might lead them to their killer. But Liam was sure she was thinking it. And what the hell, since it sounded like it could have been the truth, why not talk to Christopher Bell?

Liam Parker

Liam and Anita entered a tall glass building. He nervously handed his fake ID over to the security guard in the lobby while at the same time, Anita handed over her real one. The moment of truth had come. Although the ID looked good to him, was it going to pass muster when it mattered? Nervous energy thrummed in his legs, ready to turn into momentum, to send him running, if it didn’t.

Standing behind the security desk in her gray and black uniform, the security guard typed his information into her computer, registering the visit, and handed it back. She then directed them to elevator six, which she had authorized to provide access to Ellison Trust.

When the elevator doors opened onto the Ellison Trust lobby, Liam and Anita found themselves standing less than twenty feet from the receptionist. She was a young woman with picture-perfect makeup, sitting behind a sleek oak desk with a glass top. The Ellison Trust name had been etched into black marble behind her. Moving almost as one, Liam and Anita crossed the porcelain tile.

The receptionist looked at them, appraising Liam’s oversized army jacket and Anita’s leather with disgust. Liam gathered they did not look like the firm’s usual visitors. She did her best to smile and said, “Welcome to Ellison Trust. How can I help you?”

“We’re here to see Christopher Bell,” Liam said.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, we don’t. But we only need a few minutes of his time.”

“We don’t usually see people without an appointment. Would you like to make one?”

“This is urgent,” Anita said. “Go get him.”

“Miss . . . ?” The receptionist hesitated, waiting for Anita to provide her name. Anita shifted her weight onto one hip and crossed her arms over her chest. The receptionist continued, “He’s not in right now. So I couldn’t go get him even if I wanted to.”

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Liam asked.

“I do not.”

Anita nodded at Liam in a way that suggested they step back from the receptionist so they could talk privately. “What do you want to do?” she whispered.

“If you’re sure he’s our best lead—”

“I am.”

“I guess we need to wait.”

The receptionist watched them have a seat in a pair of leather chairs in an otherwise empty lobby. She rolled her eyes, then her phone rang, diverting her attention.

Liam and Anita sat in silence for nearly twenty minutes. Liam knew what Christopher Bell looked like from TV and none of the men who came in or out could be mistaken for him.

In that forced moment of calm, where Liam had a chance to think not about where the next clue led,