looked down at my right leg. The top part of the leg is marked with a fine spider's web of red lines. My Lycra running shorts stopped at mid-thigh, and the web was clearly visible if you looked at the right leg with attention. That's the leg that gives out, every now and then. That's another reason I need to run, to keep that leg strong.
"What happened to you?" he asked. "I've never seen marks like that." He was quite clinical.
"I was hit by lightning," I said.
He made an impatient movement, as if he'd read that and just recalled it. Or maybe he simply didn't believe me. "How'd it come about?" he asked.
I explained the circumstances. "I was doing my hair. I had a date," I said, remotely remembering that detail. "Of course, I never went out with that boy. The blast blew my shoe off and stopped my heart."
"What saved you?"
"My brother, Tolliver. Gave me CPR."
"I've never met anyone before who was hit by lightning and lived to tell about it."
"There are plenty of us around," I said, and I went out the glass door, towel still clutched in my hand.
"Wait," he said behind me. "I'd like to talk to you, if I may."
I turned to face him. A woman stepped past us, ready for her own workout. She was wearing old shorts and a T-shirt dingy with age. She glanced at us curiously. I found myself glad to have a witness.
"What about?"
"I was there, in Nashville, for a while. That's why I got this assignment."
I waited.
"I really want to know how you knew ahead of time that Tabitha was in the graveyard."
"I didn't."
"But you did."
"If you're not in charge of the investigation, I don't have to talk to you, do I? And I can't think of any reason I'd want to."
"I'm Agent Seth Koenig." He said that as if I should have heard the name.
"I don't care." And I got into the elevator before he could, pressed the door close button, and smiled as he took a surprised step toward me, realizing I was actually leaving.
After I showered, I knocked on the door to Tolliver's room and told him what had happened.
"That bastard. That was an ambush," Tolliver said.
"That's putting it a little strong. It was more like a strategic approach," I said.
Tolliver recognized my description of Seth Koenig. The agent had been in the exercise room when he was, sure enough. "He thought you would recognize his name, huh?"
Tolliver said thoughtfully. "Well, let's see." Tolliver's laptop was already plugged in. He Googled the name and got several hits. Seth Koenig had been present at a few hunts for serial killers. Seth Koenig had been a heavy hitter.
"But all those are in the past," I said, reading the dates. "Nothing in the last four years or so."
"That's true," Tolliver said. "I wonder what happened to his career?"
"And I wonder why he's here. I haven't heard any suggestion that Tabitha's abduction and death was part of any serial killer's pattern. And I think I'd remember if another girl had shown up buried in a cemetery, miles away from her abduction site, buried on top of somebody else, right?" I thought that over. "Actually, other than her burial, there's nothing distinctive about Tabitha's case. That in itself is pretty awful, when you think about it."
Tolliver wasn't in the mood to discuss the degeneration of American society as exemplified by the emergence of the serial killer as common occurrence. He just nodded.
"He's different," I said. "Seth Koenig."
"Define."
I shook my head. "He's pretty intense, pretty deep. Not your regular law enforcement type."
"You hot for him?"
I laughed. "Nah. He's too old for me."
"How old?"
"Probably in his early forties."
"But in good shape, you said."
There are times when I just don't appreciate Tolliver's teasing. "I'm not talking about his body. I'm talking about his head."
"Can you pin that down a little?"
"I think..." I hesitated for a long moment, uneasy about putting my idea into words. "I think he's more than professionally interested. Maybe obsessed."
"With you," Tolliver said, very levelly.
"No, with Tabitha. Not her personally." I struggled to express what I felt. "He's obsessed with the puzzle of it. You know, how some people spend a large part of their lives rehashing the Lizzie Borden case? How futile that is, because all the people involved are dead and gone? But there are still books appearing all the time about it. I think that's how Seth Koenig is about Tabitha Morgenstern. Look at his work record. He