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sunk before we began swimming. I could see from his expression that he was weighing the options.
    Finally, he made a dismissive motion with his hand. “Fine. Make the call.”
    The only number I had for Tyger was the bike shop he owned. They were closed, so I left a message asking him to call me.
    Behind me, Shane pulled out the rolling white board and cleaned it off. Together we reconstructed, as best we could, a time line of the day Lisa Welch disappeared.
    We worked until the scent of dry-erase markers started giving me a headache and the end result was less than impressive. The police had tracked Lisa’s day from eight AM, when she took her kids to school, up to four PM, when she called her neighbor.  She said she was “running late” and asked if they could pick the kids up from the bus and keep them until she got home at five.
    Lisa Welch was never seen or heard from again.
    I stepped back, looking at the time line.
    “Okay.” I pointed. “She had lunch with her sister Marlene from eleven forty-five ‘til about one-fifteen. Marlene told police Lisa was agitated about something, but wouldn’t say what and didn’t mention anything about her plans for the rest of the day. Lisa paid for lunch, and they went their separate ways. Lisa’s car was found abandoned at eleven that night at the Old Town Mall.”
    “Do we have copies of the financials?”
    I rifled through the stacks of papers Reggie had allowed us to copy and tossed Shane the bank and credit card statements.
    “The police say there were no unusual charges on either the bank card or her Visa.” I continued tapping the dry-erase marker on my chin as Shane leafed through the statements.
    “Apparently, she didn’t pay for lunch either. At least, not with either of these accounts. Where did they eat?”
    I checked Marlene’s statement. “The Brand Steakhouse. Maybe she paid cash?”
    “Pricey place. When was the last time you paid for a seventy-dollar meal with cash?”
    “Good catch,” I stated, impressed. “It might be worth checking with the sister.”
    “Maybe Lisa had a credit card the husband didn’t know about. Especially if she were hiding something.”
    Shane was right. I’d seen that before. It was pretty common with cheating spouses for one to have a secret account. Heck, some had whole secret lives, including houses and cars.
    “I’ll call Marlene in the morning,” I offered.
    “No offense, but after the reaction you got from the husband, maybe I should take a stab at this one. The file says she waits tables down at Club Rouge off Peach Street. I could go work my charm on her.”
    I gritted my teeth. He was right again. Something about him had total strangers ready to spill their life stories to him. Even before becoming a vampire, he’d been charismatic. When you added the otherworldly aura, it was downright unsettling. At least to me. Everyone else found him irresistible.
    “Fine,” I agreed reluctantly.
    Shane flashed a dimpled smile and tossed me the marker he’d been holding.
    “Don’t wait up,” he hollered over his shoulder as he walked out of the office.
    Watching him leave, I hoped I was doing the right thing sicking him on Marlene. The poor girl probably wouldn’t know what hit her.

 

     
    Shane bounced in from Club Rouge just after three AM, looking like the cat that ate the canary. I raised my eyebrow as he talked.
    “…Marlene told me that good old Robert had a history of gambling problems. A few years ago, Lisa discovered some of her grandmother’s jewelry missing. She suspected Robert hocked it to play the ponies, or at least that’s what Lisa told her. Lisa made him start going to Gamblers Anonymous until he had it under control. Also, Lisa did use a credit card to pay for lunch.”
    “There wasn’t anything about this in the police file.” That surprised me. They’d dug into Robert Welch with a fine-tooth comb, even after his alibi cleared him as a suspect.
    “She said she’d totally