“Weird?” said Milo.

Mindy Jacobus-Grieg’s fine-boned hand clutched the pen tighter. Closing the door behind her, she moved several feet down the hall and settled a lean rump against pale green plaster. The decor was photos of med school deans and famous benefactors at black-tie galas. Some of the angels were showbiz types, and I searched for Tony Duke’s face but didn’t find it.

“Hearing Shawna’s name again,” she said. “It’s been over a year. Has something finally – Did you find her?”

“Not yet, ma’am.”

Ma’am made her flinch. “So why are you here?”

“To follow up on the information you gave during the initial investigation.”

“Now? A year later?”

“Yes, ma’am-”

“What could I tell you that I didn’t already say back then?”

“Well,” said Milo, “we’re new on the case, just doing our best to see what we can learn. And you were the last person to see Shawna.”

“Yes, I was.”

“Just before she left for the library.”

“That’s what she said.” She glanced down at her left hand. The third finger was circled by a gold wedding band and a one-carat diamond ring. She rubbed the stone – reminding herself she’d made progress since then?

Milo said, “Newlywed?”

“Last June. My husband’s a rheumatology resident. I dropped out temporarily to help pay some bills – Does Shawna’s mom know you’re back on the case?”

“Are you in contact with Shawna’s mom?”

“No,” she said. “Not any longer. I did stay in touch for a while – a few months. Agnes – Mrs. Yeager – moved to L.A., and I tried to help her get adjusted. But you know…”

“Sure,” said Milo. “Nice of you to help her.”

A tiny pink tongue tip darted from between Mindy’s lips, then retracted. “She was pretty destroyed.”

“Any idea where she can be reached?”

“She’s not working at the Hilton anymore?”

“Beverly or Downtown?”

“Beverly,” said Mindy. “That’s not in the file? You must be missing a bunch of stuff. That other detective – the old one. He seemed a little… Is he your friend?”

Milo smiled. “Detective Riley? Yes, he did tend to get a little distracted.”

“I never felt he was really paying attention. Anyway, that’s where Agnes worked. I was just thinking about her on Christmas. Because Shawna’s birthday was December twenty-eighth and I knew her mom must be going through hell. I would’ve invited her to my parents’ house, but we all went to Hawaii…”

“What did Mrs. Yeager do at the Hilton?”

“Cleaned rooms. She needed something so she could stay in L.A., and she couldn’t find any decent waitress jobs. The U let her stay in a grad student dorm for a few weeks, but then she had to leave. She didn’t know the city at all, almost ended up near MacArthur Park. I told her to stay as far west as she could, and she found herself an apartment near La Brea and Pico – Cochran south of Pico.”

“So she stuck around.”

“For a few months. Maybe she moved back home – I don’t know.”

“Back to Santo Leon,” I said.

“Uh-huh.” She rolled the pen between her fingers.

Milo said, “So the last time you saw Shawna was that night she said she was going to the library. Remember what time that was?”

“I think I said eight-thirty. It couldn’t have been too much earlier ’cause I was out with Steve – my ex-boyfriend.” Tiny smile. “He had football practice until seven, and I used to pick him up and we’d have dinner in the Coop and then he’d walk me back to the dorms. Shortly after I got back, Shawna left. I studied for a while, went to bed, and when I woke up she still hadn’t returned.”

“Was the library a usual place for her to study?”

“I guess.”

“You’re not sure?”

The hand clutching the pen tightened. “In the papers – the campus paper mostly – they said no one remembered Shawna in any of the libraries. Trying to make out like Shawna had lied. But the libraries are huge, so what does that prove? I had no reason to doubt her.”

Footsteps and laughter caused her to gaze down the hall. A group of people in suits passed, and someone called out her name. “Hey, guys,” she said, flashing the sunny smile, then turning it off as she faced us. “Is that it?”

“When Shawna left was she carrying books?”

“She’d have to be,” said Mindy.

“She’d have to be?”

“Even if she wasn’t telling the truth about studying, she would’ve covered herself, right? I mean, with no books, I’d have said something. And I didn’t. So, sure, she must’ve had books. I would’ve noticed if she hadn’t been.”

“Logical,” agreed Milo. “But do you specifically recall seeing books?”

Blue irises bobbled. “No, but… why do you doubt her?”

“Just trying to collect as many details as I can, ma’am.”

“Well, no way I can give you details after all this time, but the logical thing was she had books. Probably psych books. That’s all Shawna read, she was really into it – psychology, medicine. All she did was study.”

“A grind,” I said, remembering the phrase she’d used with Adam Green.

“Not in a dorky sense. She was just serious about her grades… Do you think she could still be alive?”

Milo said, “Anything’s possible.”

“But unlikely.”

Milo shrugged.

Mindy shut her eyes, opened them. “She was so beautiful.”

“If Shawna did make up the story about going to the library, what do you think she was covering for?”

“I don’t think she was covering, and if she was I wouldn’t have the faintest.” The pen slipped from her grasp. She moved fast and caught it.

“Could she have been hiding the fact that she had a boyfriend?” said Milo.

Mindy licked her lips. “Why would she hide that?”

“You tell me,” said Milo gently.

Mindy edged away from him. “I have no idea.”

“Did Shawna have a boyfriend, Ms. Jacobus-Grieg?”

“Not that I knew.”

Milo consulted his pad. “Funny, going over the file, I copied down something about a boyfriend… For some reason I thought that came from you.”

“No way. Why would I tell anyone that?”

“Must be a mistake, then. Oh, well.”

The smooth skin behind Mindy’s ears had pinkened. Milo began paging through his pad. Blank pages. From where Mindy stood, she couldn’t see that. “Here it is… ‘Possible boyfriend.’ ‘Maybe older guy.’ Per MJ.” Looking up, he favored Mindy with an innocent look. “I assumed ‘MJ’ was you, but maybe something got scrambled.”

“Probably.” The flush had spread to Mindy’s jawline.

Milo kicked the wall lightly with the back of his shoe. “Let’s talk theoretically, okay? If Shawna did have an older boyfriend, any idea who he coulda been?”

“How would I know?”

“I just thought, the two of you living together, being close-”

“We lived together, but we weren’t close. Anyway, it was only for a couple of months.”

“So you guys weren’t real friends?” I said.

“We got along but we were different. For one, I was older. A screw-up landed me in a room with a freshman.”

“Different worlds.”

“Exactly,” said Mindy, relieved at being understood.

“Different how?” asked Milo, smiling.

“I’m social,” she said. “I like people, always had lots of friends. Shawna was more of a loner.”

“Interesting trait for a beauty queen.”

“Oh, that – well, that was back in Santo Leon.”

“Didn’t count?”

“No, no, I’m not putting it down – it’s just I gathered that back home Shawna was pretty important, but up here she was just another freshman. I went to Uni, had tons of friends here from high school, she didn’t. I tried to – She didn’t make too many of her own friends. I mean she probably would’ve – it was only the beginning of the quarter.”

“Not too social?” I said.

“Not too.”

“So back in Santo Leon she’d been a big fish in a small pond, but in L.A. she had trouble distinguishing herself.”

“Yes – I mean she was beautiful. But kind of… country. Unsophisticated. Also, her basic personality was – I don’t want to say stuck up, more like private. She did like to keep to herself. Like when Steve would come over, Shawna would ignore him or leave – She said she wanted to give us space. But…”