“Can you give me the highlights?”

“We knew if they agreed to work with us on this, they would have conditions.”

“How bad is it?”

“It’s the safety issue.”

“The safety issue has been a big concern of mine from the get-go. We’re already pairing up; what else do they want?”

Lisa decided she might as well tell him. “They don’t like the fact that all of us live alone and think we need to do a roommate thing until we turn this over to the MPD.”

She wasn’t sure what she expected when she told him the news, but certainly not the raucous laughter she heard on the other end of the line. It was contagious. Lisa started to giggle. And burst into laughter. God, it felt good!

When they managed to contain themselves, Eric said, “It’s really not a problem. Everyone can stay here; there’s plenty of room. I’ll park my cars at work so all of you can all have a spot in the garage. How much safer could we be? I have to be out of town this weekend, so I’ll feel a lot better knowing the rest of you are together.”

It could work. Lisa didn’t relish living under the same roof as Eric, but he’d been more tolerable lately and it would be a temporary arrangement. Maybe when they told TJ and Jeff, it wouldn’t be as much of a shock, knowing they already had a solution. “That’s very generous.”

Eric went on, “It may be a good idea to have someone watching the house for a few days. What do you think?”

“Seems a little extreme, but let’s talk about it when we get together.”

“It might be better if I just do it, rather than give anyone the opportunity to nix it. At least while I’m gone. Then no one ever comes into an empty house by themselves.”

“You’re probably right. Go ahead and arrange it for the weekend. We can see where we are on the subject when you come back.”

31             

The next morning, relieved to find out Maggie Petersen and her partner were willing to help, everyone reluctantly agreed to the terms set out by the two detectives.

Living together quickly became a new item on TJ’s complaint list—another, Eric’s decision to hire a security guard to watch his estate the weekend he’d be gone. She claimed it undermined her skills, but Lisa wasn’t buying it.

She knew TJ’s confidence had been shaken and suspected she was secretly glad for the additional protection.

Everyone got settled in at Eric’s with a minimum of fuss. TJ claimed the guest room she’d stayed in over the weekend, and Lisa took the maid’s suite over the attached garage, an apartment with two small bedrooms. Accessible from the loft above the kitchen, it also had its own entry from inside the garage. She found it to be a cozy chamber, decorated in a woodsy flavor with pine furniture and dark green fabric. Lisa tossed Phanny’s bed in front of the gas fireplace in the living room. Excited by the newness, the dog ran from room to room, sniffing and exploring.

The master suite on the first floor had his and hers bedrooms, one on either side of two gigantic closets and a shared bathroom the size of a small house. Eric put Jeff in what used to be his wife’s room. Jeff commented the house looked like something belonging in the mountains of Colorado. With log siding, stonework, green-tin roof and leaded windows, the house fit perfectly into the wooded surroundings.

Over takeout food served hastily on the huge, granite-topped island that separated the kitchen area from the living room, Lisa handed out schedules for the next weekend’s interviews.

“There are only about nine left after these. Those are women we couldn’t find current addresses or contacts for. I’m going to call Maggie tomorrow and give her the names. If she comes through with something on them, we can try to get everything done by next Wednesday so we can focus on the short list over the holiday weekend.”

Jeff’s gray eyes narrowed. “Once we have this ‘short list’ won’t we be handing it over to the police?”

TJ scoffed. “We’ll need more than our list to get Milwaukee’s finest off their dead butts.”

Lisa said, “I thought we planned to find some threads connecting the women before we turned over the list.”

Jeff frowned. “If we do that, we’ll be here for weeks.”

Eric stood. “Come on, people, where’s your sense of adventure? We need to keep Maggie and David happy for the time being, but once we no longer need their help, anyone who’s comfortable on their own can leave.”

“Can’t be soon enough for me,” TJ muttered.

Explaining the living situation to Richard could be touchy for TJ, but other than that, Lisa had a feeling TJ would be content right where she was.

The lights were still on in Eric’s house when Danielle drove by a little after eleven. She knew Eric carried his cell phone with him. Panicky, she suspected he’d been dodging her calls. Their time together had been so special. Was there another woman?

Gripping the steering wheel with wet palms, she slowed enough to see; the house sat too far back from the street to make out anything other than the lights. Ridiculous, driving by his house. She was acting like a teenager.

Obviously, he wanted to take things slower than she did. She’d foolishly thought that by keeping him at arm’s length for a while before she’d finally agreed to go out with him, he’d be positively enchanted with her after she said yes. So much for my stupid plan.

She turned around, once more driving slowly past the grounds. From that angle she could see any cars in the driveway. When a dark shadow moved toward the house, she stopped the car, looked again and saw nothing. It must have been her out-of-control emotions playing tricks. She took a deep breath and headed for home.

Fearing sleep would be elusive, Lisa put on a robe and slippers, then went back downstairs to sit by the fire for a few minutes until the sleep aid she’d swallowed took effect. As she descended, she realized Eric’s house held no aroma of his disgusting cigars—apparently he kept his habit outdoors—or had a smoking room somewhere.

Surprised to see TJ sitting on the sofa and staring into the fire, Lisa sat down next to her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Never would have guessed things would end up this way. And we still have a long way to go.”

“It seems to me we’ve accomplished a lot.”

TJ sighed, eyes staring at the glowing embers of the fire. “You’re right. Suppose I’m not done beating up on myself.”

“That’s not like you, TJ. Will it help if I give you permission to be officially done beating up on yourself and let it go?”

TJ laughed. “Go ahead—work some shrink magic on me.”

The request for help took Lisa by surprise. “Well, absent any magic or time for therapy, I could take you through a relaxation exercise.”

“I’m ready to try anything. Gotta snap outta this.”

Lisa had TJ put her head back, her feet up on the ottoman, then close her eyes and take deep measured breaths until she felt at peace and relaxed. Then she talked her softly and slowly through a visualization of TJ confident, proud, and focused on all the wonderful things she’d accomplished.

When she finished and eased TJ back to their conversation, TJ started giggling.

“I don’t believe it. I wanted to crawl in a hole until all of this got over. I feel great. You did work magic.”

Amused, Lisa said, “Slow down. What we did is just a way to deal with stress. You’ll need to do it more than once, and you can do it without me anytime you like. The trick is to relax as much as possible and stay focused.

“I’m glad we had a chance to talk. I haven’t had much time with you.”

TJ rose from the sofa. “Neither has Richard. He thinks I’m staying with my sister for a few days to help with the kids.”

“Do you do that often?”

“Yeah, sometimes when she’s having a hard time. It ain’t easy raising two kids alone. Well, you know how it is.”