“And then, when the first attempt didn’t work, she put ephedra in Ms. Grenthaler’s IV bag?”

“She was at the hospital yesterday afternoon,” I pointed out. “We left at the same time, but she mentioned that she had left her gloves in Sara’s room. Sara had just taken a painkiller when we left, so she was probably asleep, and Barbara managed to get drugs into her IV. And then maybe it took a while for the drugs to work their way into her system and have any effect. I’m pretty sure that Barbara’s on some sort of diet pill. I saw her taking something this morning, and she’s obsessed with weight loss.”

Why was it that what had seemed to make perfect sense in my head sounded so flimsy when I laid it out for someone else? I had the same feeling I’d always had as a child when I’d been sent to see the school nurse. I could have been puking my guts out, but she still made me feel like I was faking. I shook my head to clear that memory but now that I was actually telling my story to a trained professional, it did sound pretty absurd.

“Look,” I went on, “I know it sounds implausible. But having Sara out of it while her son’s making a run for her company makes it all a lot easier. Barbara had motive, means and opportunity.” I’d read my share of Agatha Christie novels, after all.

“It’s an interesting idea, and I’ll look into it. Now, let’s move on to the other case. Who’s the perp in that one?”

I was having a bad day, and this time there was no smile to take the edge off his tone. I stood up. “I am not, I repeat, not, a hysterical female. I wouldn’t be here if I thought I was wasting your time.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Please. Ms. Benjamin. Sit down. I don’t mean to make light of your hypotheses.”

I didn’t sit down. “Listen, buddy.” I had no idea where the “buddy” came from. “I’m not here for my health. You may be fine and dandy with Jonathan Beasley running around killing prostitutes willy-nilly, but I think some of the area’s concerned citizens might be a little upset about it.” I had even less an idea as to where I’d come up with “fine and dandy” and “willy-nilly.”

Now his lips were pressed together, as if it were the only way he could contain his laughter. After a long pause, he seemed to trust himself to open his mouth. “You think that Professor Beasley is the prostitute killer.”

“Yes, I do,” I said in my most confident and authoritative voice. And I used the same voice to tell him about watching Jonathan load a body into the trunk of his Saab, as well as my theory about his potential motivations.

“You really saw a foot poking out of the duffel?” O’Connell asked me.

“Yes. Caucasian. With red toenails.” I gave an involuntary shudder.

“Caucasian?” he repeated, arching an eyebrow.

“I watch Law & Order. Isn’t that the term I’m supposed to use?”

“And the bag seemed heavy?”

“Beasley’s a pretty strong guy, but he was having trouble lifting it, like it was unwieldy.”

“Okay. I’ll check into it.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“And the thing about Barbara Barnett? You’ll check into that, too?”

“I’ll check into that, too,” he affirmed. “And in the meantime, we’ve still got a guard at the door of Ms. Grenthaler’s hospital room and UHS has beefed up their security protocol.”

He seemed to be taking me seriously, but I hadn’t forgotten his barely suppressed laughter. “I’ll be going then,” I said in my most haughty voice and headed for the door.

He called after me. “Listen, Ms. Benjamin. Rachel. Wait.”

“What?” I asked, spinning around to face him. There was nothing smug or supercilious about the expression on his face. If anything, he looked embarrassed.

“I-I owe you an apology. I didn’t mean to be rude. And I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression. I do appreciate all of this information. It’s just that I’m really, really tired. We found another body last night. I’ve been up for two days straight, and I’m sort of on edge.”

This, of course, made me feel guilty. “Oh. That must be hard.”

“It is. And we have hardly any leads, and you wouldn’t believe the phone calls I’m getting. When they’re not nutcases confessing to crimes they didn’t commit, they’re city officials threatening to have my job.”

“Oh,” I said again.

“And here you are, trying to do the right thing, and I was being a jerk.”

“No. You weren’t.” Well, he had been a little bit of a jerk, but it was hard to blame him. Even I had found my story to be outlandish. “I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“I probably deserved it.”

“I probably was a little hysterical. I’ve had a bad couple of days, too.”

“Either way, I owe you one.”

We looked at each other, mutually sheepish. Then I had an idea.

“I know how you can make it up to me.”

His phone rang, and he apologized to me before picking it up. “Sorry, they wouldn’t have put it through if it weren’t important.” I didn’t point out that I had said my call was urgent and that they hadn’t put it through. “O’Connell, here.” There was a pause while he listened to whomever was on the other end. “Uh-huh…uh-huh.”

My cell phone rang, so I picked it up.

“Rachel? It’s Edie. Edie Michaels.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m here with Sara, in her room at UHS. And we found another letter.”

“In her room?”

“Yes. It was in the folds of a magazine I brought her. Only somebody must have put it there after I gave it to her. I bought the magazine at Out of Town News yesterday evening before I picked up the pizza, and then I came directly here. I’m sorry to bother you, but Professor Beasley didn’t answer his phone, and I called the police and they said Detective O’Connell was in a meeting.”

“I know, he’s actually meeting with me, but he’s on a call right now.” I looked over at O’Connell, and he was still occupied with his phone. Then I heard the beep that indicated I had another call coming through. “Edie, can you hold on?”

“Okay.”

I fumbled with the handset for a moment before finding the flash button. “Hello?”

“Hi. It’s me.” It took me a second to realize it was Peter.

“I’m on another call,” I said abruptly. “I’ll call you back.”

I pressed the flash button again and returned to Edie.

“Listen, Edie, I’ll tell O’Connell about the letter, but it’s probably nothing to worry about.” If Barbara Barnett was behind the attacks on Sara, it looked like her Stalker was only Creepy and not Violent. “Can you hang out with Sara for a bit longer?” I checked my watch. I was due to meet the Caped Avenger in a half hour, but then I would go to UHS. I wanted to check on the security for myself, and I also needed to update Sara on everything that was going on with the company. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t alone in the meantime, just in case Barbara Barnett decided to pay a visit.

“Sure.”

O’Connell and I finished our calls at the same time. I told him about the new stalking letter as he escorted me back to the reception area. His brow furrowed. “I’m not happy about that.”

“Not happy about what?” asked Hilary brightly, rising to greet us.

O’Connell looked at me, and I nodded at him. He turned to her, and his smile was only slightly stiff. “I need some coffee,” he said. “I’ve got to make a couple of phone calls first, but if you can wait until I’m done, maybe you could come with me and we could do that interview you mentioned?”