Marty Givens, her next-door neighbor on the ground floor, was great at taking notes and carefully reported to her.
Sometimes Stacey smiled and nodded while listening to Marty when her mind was really just about anywhere else. The college professor meant well, but the woman had a habit of going on and on and not getting to the point.
The front door could only be opened with two keys. Stacey turned one, then the other.
On entering, she was startled by Marty, who had been hovering just behind the front door.
“Hey!” Stacey said. “Marty, are you all right?”
“Oh, yes, just nervous. There’s a horrible murderer out on the streets. But you know that. You’re with the FBI, aren’t you? Still... Billie Bingham! Oh, the scandal that will rip through this town. I mean, that’s one thing. But...oh, my God! She was so horribly murdered. And after the other two. I’m scared. Just to think someone so sick is out there!”
“Is that why you were looking out the front door?” Stacey asked.
“Well, Myrna and Joseph Martin are in already, as are Cory and Amy Wang and their little boy. I suppose I was waiting for you to come home.”
“There’s an alarm system on the door,” Stacey reminded her. “I think that when it’s all locked up at night, you’ll be just fine.”
“Easy for you to say. You do guns and all that. I’m a single woman who barely knows how to swat flies.”
Marty was what one might have called an old-maid schoolteacher in previous centuries. She was in her midfifties and far tougher than she imagined. Her students were in awe of her. She could control a college classroom with a single look, so Stacey had been told.
“You always keep your phone near you. And trust in our system and our police.”
“And you, when you’re home. Which is almost never.”
“I’m a rookie, Marty. I have to put in my hours.”
“Of course, of course, I know that. But tonight, tell me that man was a date. Such a face—oh, my God! I’d never be afraid of anything with him around. Handsome, yes, but fierce...and yet I’ll bet he can smile, too. Right? Date? You must have some free time.”
“I’m sorry, Marty, no, that was not a date. He’s my partner. For now.”
“Oh! Well, I am sorry.”
“So am I,” Stacey muttered dryly.
“Oh, are you not allowed to date?”
“That’s not what I meant... Never mind. Marty, we’re locked in. Alarm is set. And I’m here. You can reach me in two seconds. I’m so sorry. I have to get some rest. I have an early morning.”
“Oh, of course, dear. I am so, so sorry!”
“No, you don’t need to be sorry. But I do need to go in now.”
“Yes, of course! Good night!” She went to her apartment.
Stacey walked down the hallway to her door.
She’d seen the old floor plans. Her part of the house had once been the music room, dining room and pantry. The original kitchen had been outside. It was long gone, as were the old stables and smokehouse. There was only a small yard behind the building now, backed by another, newer building that offered more modern condos.
There was only one door to her section of the house. The pantry had been turned into a small kitchen, the dining room into her bedroom, and the music room into her parlor. Though only three rooms with a small bath created out of a section that snaked out into the hallway, it was about fifteen hundred square feet and very comfortable as far as Stacey was concerned.
It was still a little strange to be on her own. She’d gone from home to a dorm to an apartment she’d shared with three other girls, and then she’d gone into the academy where she’d also had a roommate. She loved living alone...and she hated it.
There was no one here. Well, she could have kept chatting with Marty in the hallway. She liked Marty. She just wasn’t in the mood to deal with the woman’s nervousness. Though, that made her feel bad, and she hoped she had assured Marty.
She really didn’t think Marty was in any danger.
Her organs weren’t as viable as those belonging to a younger woman.
“I could be wrong. I could be way off base, going in this direction because of the investigation Dad was involved in years and years ago,” she said aloud to a small Victorian mirror on the wall by the entry.
She groaned, still staring at herself. “A cat! I need to get a