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“I mean—she’s doing all this investigating on company time, effectively on your dime. Shouldn’t she be conducting her investigations on her own time? Just a thought.”

Dan smiled.“You think she’s taking advantage of me? Playing me for a sucker?”

Kimberly held up her hands.“I’m just wondering how this all works, Chief. I’ve only been here two days, so I have no idea what the procedure is, but I see Odelia, your star reporter, spending all of her time doing something that’s not connected with the paper, so naturally I’m wondering…”

“Look, Odelia’s investigations invariably lead to front-page articles that are read by lots and lots of people,” said Dan. “So even though it may look as if she’s off doing her own stuff on the company dime and on company time, in the end it translates to good copy and even better circulation numbers.”

“Okay,” said Kimberly with a shrug. “Just thought I’d ask, that’s all.”

“No, that’s all right,” said Dan. “I can see how this must look to you. But I can assure you that I know what I’m doing, Kimberly, and so does Odelia.”

“Hey, it’s your paper,” said Kimberly, and returned to her spot at the reception desk. Dan had given her an article to write on the theft of ten chickens from a man named Farmer Giles, and as she reread her copy she wondered how foolish Dan could be to let his only reporter run around chasingsome nonexistent killer while he let prime talent like her languish on chicken theft stories.

It just didn’t seem fair somehow.

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Odelia waved when she caught sight of Rose. The girl looked happy to see her, and immediately came running over. School was out and dozens of students were streaming through the school gates. Odelia had parked herself right next to it, along with a small throng of waiting parents, and when Rose joined her they decided to go for a short walk to the nearby park.

“So what have you found out?” asked Rose, whose cheeks were red and who looked better now than when Odelia had seen her last.

“Not much,” said Odelia as they took a seat on a park bench and watched the never-ending flow of human traffic. Kids playing in the playground with their moms and dads keeping an eye nearby. People walking their dogs. Joggers keeping up the pace. “Oh, before I forget, I’ve got something foryou.” She handed Rose back her phone and the girl grabbed it like a lifeline.

“Thanks. I missed this.”

“I thought you would have.”

“Any news on who sent me those creepy messages?”

“Not yet.”

Rose nodded, and immediately checked what texts she’d missed.

“I just talked to Daphne’s friend Grace Ojala,” said Odelia. “To see if Daphne was where she said she was.”

“And? Was she?”

“Yeah, looks like she was.”

“Daphne would never do anything to hurt my dad,” said Rose as she shoved her phone into the pocket of her jeans jacket. “Whatever her faults, she was devoted to him.”

“I also talked to your dad’s business partner at the bank. His co-manager.”

“Mr. Knight.”

“Yeah. Looks like they were in the middle of some big dispute. Mr. Knight wanted to invest in a particular business deal, but your dad was dead set against it. Now that your dad is gone the deal is likely to go through.”

“That’s suspicious, isn’t it?”

“It depends. In this case I think it is, especially since the person profiting from the deal is a shady businessman. So now we have two people who stood to gain from your father’s death.”

“So are you going to tell the police to arrest them?”

Odelia smiled.“It’s not that simple, Rose. It’s not enough that you have a suspicion about a person. You have to prove that they actually did something wrong.”

“So can’t you go out and prove it? That’s your job, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” she said. “I’m a reporter dabbling in crime detection. I’m not a professional detective and I’m not a police officer. So I don’t have access to a lot of the stuff that the police have. Though I am working on another angle. The night your dad was killed a car pulled out from in front of your house—at least according to your neighbor.”

“Mrs. Bird. She’s a weirdo. I wouldn’t listen to her if I were you.”

“She seems pretty sure in this case. Couldn’t give us a lot of detail but we’re checking traffic cameras at a nearby intersection to see if we can’t figure out who was driving that car.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have access to that kind of stuff?”

“I don’t, but my boyfriend does.”

Rose glanced over.“It must be fun to have a cop boyfriend. And especially one as handsome as yours.”

“It is a lot of fun,” she confirmed. She patted the girl’s knee. “I also talked to your boyfriend, by the way.”

“Oh, God,” Rose muttered, and looked away. “What did he have to say?”

“Well, he seems to think that your dad was under a lot of pressure.”

“He thinks I’m full of crap,” said Rose.

“He didn’t say that.”

“No, he told me. He literally said I’m full of crap. But I’m not. I know my dad, and he would never do this.”

“What about the note he left?”