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'Hello, Cab,' she replied. 'I tried you twice. Where are you?'

'The Arctic, I think. I'm pretty sure I saw a polar bear. Anyway, the signal comes and goes around here. Are you still at the office?'

'No, I'm home.'

'Good. You work too hard.'

Lala was slow to reply. He knew she was wondering if he would sting her with a joke. Anything to maintain their distance.

'Yeah, well, home's no treat. The neighbor's yipper dog is barking again, and someone didn't take out their trash this week, and the a/c is broken, so it's like a compost pile in the rainforest in here.'

'Florida,' he said.

'Exactly.'

'You're welcome to stay at my place while I'm gone,' Cab suggested.

Lala was silent.

'It's right on the beach,' he added.

'I know,' she replied coolly.

'I know you know. I'm just saying. The a/c works. You could feed my fish.'

'You have fish?'

'Actually, no.'

'Are you drunk, Cab?' Lala asked.

'A little.'

'So what, is this a game or something?'

'No, I'm serious. If you want to stay there, I have a spare key in my desk. You should do it.'

'Thanks,' she replied, 'but I think I'll pass. We both decided that once was enough when it came to my staying at your place. Remember?'

Cab knew he deserved the reproach. He also knew it was easier to open the door to a woman when he was a thousand miles away. 'Sure.' 'Nothing personal,' she said with an edge.

'No.'

'I called to give you an update on this end,' she told him.

'Go ahead.'

He listened to her quietness on the line. They'd both pushed too far. It had become a sport with them, leaving bruises on the other. He half expected her to apologize, but she didn't, and he didn't want an apology anyway. That would just make him feel sorrier for himself.

'You made the right choice,' Lala said. 'Going to Door County, I mean. So far, things are still pointing that way.'

'You mean Mark Bradley?'

'Yes, but not just him.'

'Then who?'

'The boyfriend. Troy Geier.'

'What about him?' Cab asked.

'I tracked down a girl who was at the hotel pool on Saturday night when Glory and Troy were there. According to this girl, Glory was flirting with other boys at the pool, right in front of Troy. I mean, it sounds like she was groping some of them under the water. Troy flipped. He pulled Glory aside, and the two of them went at it. The girl couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but she got the gist. When Troy stormed away, she said he looked like he was ready to explode. Those were her words.'

'Troy didn't strike me as having the guts to stand up to anyone,' Cab said.

'Well, what if he woke up in the middle of the night and Glory wasn't back in their room? We know he'd been drinking, and he was already pretty steamed at her.'

'True enough. Any word from the ME? Was there evidence of sexual intercourse?'

'He can't say yes or no,' Lala replied. 'That's the bad news. The Gulf gave her a salt-water douche.'

'What's the good news?'

'The good news is that two of her fingers were buried in enough sand that the water didn't wash away all the organic material. He found some skin cells, enough to run DNA matching. Including the sample we took from Mark Bradley. We'll need to get a swab from the boyfriend, too.'

'I'll work with the sheriff's department up here,' Cab told her. 'Just for the hell of it, see if we can get a sample from the bartender. Ronnie Trask.'

'Already in process. Mr Trask was glad to oblige in order to clear his name.'

'Good. Oh, there's something else you can do for me. It looks like Glory may have been a witness at a murder scene several years ago. Sounds bad - a husband torched his house with his family in it. The guy's still at large. His name is Harris Bone. Come up with everything you can on him and the fire, OK?'

'Sure,' Lala said. 'Is there a chance this guy was in Florida?'

'I don't know. Once we get a profile, let's start comparing it to hotel guests. Glory saw someone she knew, and she got scared. If it was Bone, she had plenty of reason to run.'

'OK.' She added, 'You want more good news?'

'Definitely.'