I rang for Mrs Johnson. No, she had no idea, in fact she said, she didn't even know there was a safe. Strange.But she would bring us some tea. Not str...nge, just English.HL started to prowl about the room, whilst I sat looking at it. The room was largely panelled, with built in bookcases, I had already spotted some books that I knew to be worth a considerable sum. The fireplace on the chimney breast was somewhat off centre and the panelling slightly odd. There was a considerable amount of. “Do you have any children?” Ed asked.With pride evident in her voice, Alice answered, “I have three sons. They are Marines actively serving this wonderful country of ours.”“Your husband?” Ed asked.“Hal died two years ago of cancer after a career in the Marines,” Alice said.“I’m so sorry to hear that. My condolences,” Betsy said.Her sentiment was unintentionally lost in its delivery. She had increased the pace of her jumping the rope and had started crossing her arms every other skip.“We had a. " I gasped a little at that."Don't talk," she said, "it must hurt a lot." Need to talk." Save your strength," she said--and rested her hand on mine. "We can talk later." You won't let me," I said. "Tammy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I can't tell you."She didn't say anything, just stared into space.I went on. "It started that way. Find a wallflower and get her into bed. I still don't know why I picked you. Something--there was something. But that's how it started."I realized I was wrong halfway. She was inputting what new information they had on the victims, cross referencing for any similarities that might come up, a job Nick had asked her to do. So far they had nothing, but part of police work was getting into the little details. Sometimes the biggest clue they could have would come out of the littlest of details.So she kept going, even though her head was pounding from being under lighting that wasn't strong enough, staring at a white screen. She was stiff and sore, and hungry, she.