"I think she has five."

"Exactly. He looks like a minister," Lily added, pointing to a man in a dark suit.

"That's one of Solomon's men," I said, recognizing him. I never had much interaction with the man, but I knew he worked in the risk department. It was on the floor above the private investigators' office where I formerly worked. I guessed Solomon had all eyes on the case today, since Lancaster Friedland could afford it, especially if we caught their insider trader at the same time as our stalker. I still harbored a hope that the two were really one person. "Solomon offered me my job back."

"I'm not surprised."

"Why? It's not like the agency has suffered in any way by my absence."

"Of course, it has! You were the only pretty one there."

"There's a nice looking woman in Risk."

"Do you think Solomon sexually harasses her too?"

"No!" I fixed Lily with my sternest look and she recoiled. "Just askin'," she said. "Don't hurt me. So are you going back to work for him again?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It's been harder than I thought to work alone, and I don't have any more cases lined up after this one."

"Maybe Juliet's friends will hire you. She must know a lot of people with money who have skeletons in their closets. Even if she doesn't, word will get around."

"I don't think the mortgage company will wait for word to get around."

"You can always pick up some shifts at the bar."

"Thanks, but no. That feels like a slide backwards."

"Even if it's my bar?"

"As soon as I left the temporary jobs, I worked really hard. I don't want to go back to casual work. I want to do this. I want to be a PI."

"Then take Solomon's offer and be a PI with a salary and a dental plan."

"Maybe I should."

"Did he ask you about his other offer?"

I sighed. "No."

"Have you spoken to him about it?"

"No, but I've thought about it a lot."

"That's not the same thing; and you know it, Lexi. Quit stalling and give the man an answer. It's not fair to keep him hanging."

"I'm not stalling. I'm thinking."

Lily stopped dead at the corner of the street. "Sometimes, Lexi, you think too much."

"No one's ever said that to me before." I looked around, catching sight of one of Solomon's men in a car at the intersection on the block opposite. I waved and Fletcher waved back. "Let's go this way," I said, indicating the opposite direction. "Penelope said she walked along here the night someone broke into Juliet's house."

"Yeah, you said she took a shortcut through the alley at the rear. Don't you think that's weird?"

"Taking a shortcut? No."

"I think it is. Since when do we ever walk in an alley at night?"

"This is Bedford Hills. It's not exactly Frederickstown," I said, echoing Penelope's words right before she was loaded into the ambulance.

"Even so, it's practically ingrained into us to never walk somewhere isolated."

"Yeah, it is strange; but Penelope was shot. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"All the same..." Lily and I paused at the entrance to the alley. We both gazed into the neat service road, bordered by tall fences and electronic gates.

"How did she plan on entering the house?" I wondered out loud. "There's no entry to the rear of the house, except via the garden gate, and that was locked. Plus, knowing your friend is already scared, you wouldn't go tap on the kitchen door, or would you?"

"Hell, no. You and I would scream the place down. Is there another access to Blossom Road?"

"Not that I recall. Let's walk the alley. Maybe we'll come up with an idea that makes sense. Penelope mentioned something about a side access. Maybe she intended to take that route around front."

"How is Penelope?"

"She's okay. They're keeping her in the hospital for a couple days just to make sure she recovers without complications. She was lucky."

"Is she coming to the wedding?"

"I don't know. Juliet and Rob invited her. I'm going to call the hospital again to check on her."

"We could give her a ride."

"That's generous of you."

"I thought we could keep an eye on her."

"We already eliminated her as a suspect." I speed-dialed the hospital and asked to be put through to Penelope's room. "Solomon interviewed her and she claims the person who shot her was a man, but she didn't get a good look."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Cera checked out this morning," said the nurse who answered when I asked for Penelope.

"Are you sure? I thought she was supposed to stay in today. She came in with a gunshot wound."

"She was healing very well; and the doctor was quite pleased with her progress."

"Okay, well, thanks." I hung up, turning to Lily as I stopped. "Apparently, she left already."

"That's good news!"

"Penelope said she was in agony last time we spoke. She must have improved substantially."

"Maybe a near death experience gave her a new lease of life," suggested Lily, adding darkly, "or maybe she was milking the injury?"

"Why would she do that?"

"She's the only one who stuck by Juliet when all her friends and her employer abandoned her, yet she's not getting any of the praise and credit. Maybe she wants a little attention for herself."

I could understand that. It was a selfish thing if that were the case, but it was human. "I felt sorry for myself when I got shot too. Let's walk this way and see if we can find that alley Penelope claimed to have used."

"Do you know which is Juliet's house from the back?" Lily asked as we turned from the sidewalk, walking in the general direction of it. All the crime scene tape was gone, but the trash hadn't been emptied yet, judging by the full cans at the rear gates.

"I think it's that one," I said, pointing to a flutter of white ribbon attached to a fence. I jumped up and down, trying to see over, and caught a glimpse of pennants hanging across the yard. "Yes, it is."

"Is that blood?" Lily asked, pointing to a small dried pool on the ground.

I shuddered as we stared down at it. "Yes."

"I expected more."

"Penelope got lucky. I didn't see an alley. Did you?"

"Maybe it's further ahead," Lily said, pointing as she moved off, leaving me to survey the fence as my cell phone buzzed. I ignored it as she called, "There's more blood over here."

"There shouldn't be."

"Maybe it's yours?"

"No, I didn't go over there. I stopped right here when I saw Penelope." I jogged over to Lily, following her finger as she pointed to the scattered spray of blood spots. Judging by the flattened grass, something heavy was very close to the spatter. "This must have been partially concealed by a trashcan. No wonder we didn't see it in the dark."

"There's blood on the trashcan too. Ohmygosh! Lexi, I think it's a fingerprint."

We both leaned down, peering at the smear. I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a picture of what did look very much like a bloody fingerprint. Grabbing a glove from my pocket, I slipped it on and lifted the lid. A rancid waft drifted upwards and we recoiled. Gingerly, I reached inside and pulled out the first trash bag, heaving it next to the fence. We peered inside again. "I see something," I said, snapping another picture, this time of a scrap of black fabric. I reached in, tugged it and it slipped free.