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at ten o’clock.
    The
detective greeted us with a quick glance at his watch. The prepared speech was
succinct. “Our department did a thorough investigation, just like we do with
any suicide. Any death of a young person requires an autopsy. The coroner
confirmed our findings. I’m sorry. The case is closed.”
    “Did
Payton have a will?” Carly asked.
    He
looked at her with an almost humorous sneer. “That’s the family’s business.
Again, it’s not unusual for a young person not to have a suicide note, or a will.”
    Sterling
considered the facts that weren’t sitting well with her. “But her cat. She had
her cat groomed right before she died. Her mother found it with a fresh bow
around her neck.”
    I could
see the grimace erupting from the otherwise reposed face of the detective. He
answered, “Ma’am, maybe she wanted to make sure the cat had a good home. Made
it presentable, you know? It’s nothing else, I assure you.”
    “But she
didn’t sign her email to me,” I said.
    “Ma’am.
I get that it troubles you. But give me some credit. I know a thing or two about
these things. Your friend was about to commit suicide. She wasn’t thinking
about email etiquette. You need to get that.”
    His
voice and a second glance at his watch signaled the end to our brief meeting.

 
    “THE
ONLY THING I KNOW is that we need to get inside Payton’s house,” I said, as we
made the turn on Speedway heading west of town.
    “Indulge
me. Tell me why, again?” Sterling hiked up her skirt and placed her bare feet
on the dashboard above the passenger seat.
    “I don’t
know why, but I called both her parents. Her dad never returned my calls, but
her mom said someone would meet us with a key.”
    Carly
crouched forward from the backseat. “Someone?”
    “A
friend, I guess. You have to remember their son disappeared a couple of years
ago. This must be too much for her, losing her last child. She said she walked
through Payton’s house once, right after they removed her body. She took the
cat and a few framed photographs and said she doesn’t plan on ever returning,”
Sterling said.
    I slowed
the car down, looking for the turn. Carly and Sterling sat in silence. A
funereal aftermath seemed to consume the air in the rented SUV.
    “Her mom
told us to take anything that may be special to us. She said she didn’t know
what that may be but—”
    “All
very sad,” Carly said. “I feel sick we don’t know her mom better, after all
these years.”
    I’d only
been to Payton’s house a few times, but I was still in awe as we entered
Saguaro National Park, greeted by dense towering cacti standing like regal
guards. My old idea of a forest populated by pine trees was challenged every
time I saw the majesty of these armed and god-like living structures.
    “This
looks familiar,” I said as we neared a pocket of homes that were somehow
allowed to be built, years ago, in the middle of the national park.
    The
voice of the Garmin need not have announced that we had arrived at our
destination. Payton’s home was the most quaint and charming on the short dirt
road. The rows of dead potted plants made it the saddest, too.
    The
driver’s window of the car parked in the driveway seamlessly rolled down. The
man asked us our names, then handed Carly the key and started to drive away. He
stopped and backed the car up, jumped out and opened the back seat door.
    “I
almost forgot,” he shook his head. “Mrs. Doukas wanted you to have this. She’s allergic.”
    The man
handed me an animal carrier. Inside, Teddy sat huddled in the far corner.
    “Just
great,” I said, as the man screeched all four wheels out of there, leaving
behind a blanket of dust. I turned to Sterling.
    “Don’t
look at me. I don’t do animals except under the covers, and Carly is a dog
person.”
    Carly
unlocked the door and shuffled inside. I preferred to stand for a moment on the
small flagstone patio. Taking it all in. Shoring up my spirit. I