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that surgery had taken place. Translation—before and after pictures that had not materialized as the paper went to press.
    Readers were invited to call in, write in, or text if they had a sighting of the beautiful model. All sightings when confirmed would receive a year’s free subscription to the paper.
    “Who the hell is Jane Petrie?” Ted asked.
    “I’m checking Google and Facebook right now,” Dennis said, his thumbs flying over the small keyboard in front of him.
    All eyes turned to Pearl. “Do you recognize the name, Pearl?” Myra asked.
    “No. But that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it’s a made-up name, which would make sense if she’s selling confidential information.”
    “That makes sense,” Jack agreed.
    All eyes turned to Dennis, who was mumbling as fast as he was typing. “She’s a nurse. She’s single, and she works out of a registry that fills in for medical help on a temporary basis. She’s twenty-eight. According to Facebook, she says she never married, and that’s by her choice. Frees her up to take a trip to Europe twice a year. She lives in a town house in Crystal City and drives a Corvette. On-call nurses must make good money for her to afford her lifestyle. She graduated from Catholic University with a business degree but said that wasn’t for her, so she then went to nursing school, and said it was very rewarding. She claims to be a health-food nut and also an exercise nut. Those are her words. Her whole life is here on Facebook. And here is her picture!” he said triumphantly. “I’m uploading it to you, Charles. You can put it on the big screen.”
    What the group saw was a smiling, attractive, young woman with short, dark hair sporting a sweatband and doing a stretching exercise with her foot up on a bench along the Tidal Basin.
    “What’s the name of the medical registry?” Myra asked.
    “Around the Clock Medical Registry,” Dennis responded.
    “I know exactly what that is and where it is. Nellie used them for Elias when one of his caregivers would call in sick. No, they do not pay well. Nellie said she felt sorry for them and always tipped well. She did say she liked the people they sent to her,” Myra said.
    “Maybe Miss Petrie is independently wealthy,” Alexis said.
    “Nope. She said her father and mother are schoolteachers. She has no living grandparents and comes from a big family, four brothers and two sisters. I don’t see any extra money there. She must be getting it from somewhere else,” Dennis said.
    “Blackmail?” Espinosa said.
    “Those tabloids pay big bucks for inside information. They might say they just pay a few thousand, but in reality try fifty thousand. We did a series of articles on tabloids about four years ago, right, Ted?” Ted nodded. “Tabloid journalism is nothing like the kind of journalism we practice at the Post, ” Maggie said virtuously.
    Annie sniffed to show what she thought of Maggie’s comment in regard to tabloid journalism. “I think I can personally guarantee this is the last picture and article you will see in that particular tabloid or any other tabloid for that matter. The minute Lincoln Moss finds out, if he hasn’t already, it’s history.”
    Charles weighed in. “I would not want to be Miss Jane Petrie right now. If she hasn’t already been grilled to within an inch of her life, she will be shortly. It’s a good thing, Pearl, that you cleaned out the clinic and sanitized it.” The others nodded. Pearl just looked miserable.
    “Which now brings up the question of did Lincoln Moss find his wife or did his wife leave on her own. The reason I say that is think about this. Amalie and Rosalee have to buy groceries. That’s where the bulk of tabloids are sold. Do any of us really think that Lincoln Moss goes to the grocery store? I don’t. I think, and this is just my own personal opinion, that the ladies saw the paper at the checkout stand and took it on the lam. All on their own. Possibly with the help of