Allison tapped each of their glasses with her own. She was trying to drink more milk for calcium and eat more leafy greens for vitamin K—the existence of which she had only learned about this week. As a result, her dinner tonight was a Cajun Cobb salad and a glass of milk. McMenamin’s, which wasn’t exactly known for restraint, had dressed the salad in about a half cup of blue cheese dressing.
Her newfound hunger sometimes shocked her, especially since it alternated with bouts of nausea. Three hours after breakfast this morning, she had felt an overwhelming urge to eat. She ended up in the third-floor cafeteria, tucked away in a corner, her back to the empty tables, wolfing down an egg sandwich and a hashbrown disk. What if the baby’s fingers had been forming right at that moment? What if the knuckles were being made, and the only nutrition her body had to work with was junk?
Nicole’s smile was rueful. “Yeah, it may be an honor, but it’s not going to be easy. We’ve got no crime scene, no evidence, no clues, no suspects, no ransom note, and no verifiable sightings.” She popped another fry into her mouth.
Cassidy shook her head. “I’m like you, Nic, trying to work this thing when there is no new information. This morning I had the cameraman down on his knees so we could get a dog’s-eye view. Since you guys found the dog, it was supposed to be like what Jalape?o would have seen when he was with Katie. Did you guys get any clues from it?”
Allison didn’t bother asking where Cassidy had come across that little tidbit. She had sources scattered throughout the city. Sometimes she knew things before Allison and Nicole did, which came in handy.
Earlier that day, a woman had been walking her dog near Chapman Elementary when she had spotted the black Lab without a collar. With the help of a dog treat, she coaxed it into her van. She thought it looked like the dog on the Converses’ flyers, so she took it to an animal shelter. Luckily, Jalape?o had been chipped.
“There was something dark matted on its flank, but the dog was filthy—fur stuck together, burrs, cuts on its paws,” Nicole said. “Everyone got all excited. But it turned out to be canine blood, not human.”
“I’ve been trying for an interview with the woman who found him, but Channel Eight’s got her all sewn up.” Cassidy took another sip of beer.
“What would you guys have if you didn’t have nonstop coverage of this?” Nicole said. “Maybe some actual news?”
Cassidy snorted. “We’ve talked about this before. Everyone sitting at this table depends upon crime for her livelihood. We don’t make the bad guys. We catch them!”
Have joking, half not, Allison said, “But the media distort everything.”
“Right. Just like all cops are trigger-happy and all lawyers are sharks.” Cassidy laughed. Nothing ever seemed to get to her. “The media are not creating the problem. We’re reporting it. There’s a difference.”
As the counter guy set down Cassidy’s food, Nicole said, “In about fifteen minutes, could you bring us a black-and-tan brownie and three spoons?”
After he nodded and left, she turned back to Cassidy. “Are you sure there really is a difference?”
“Hey, her parents have begged for coverage. They want everyone to know what Katie looks like, what a good girl she is. They think it will help.”
Allison pushed the remains of her salad away. “Sometimes I worry that this much coverage just gives people ideas. Now any sicko who wants his own little piece of the six o’clock news knows that all he needs to do is go out and get his own girl.”
Instead of taking offense, Cassidy dropped her eyes and smiled a private smile. “That’s what Rick says, too. He says I’m just encouraging them.”
Nicole pounced. “Rick! So you’ve got yourself a new man? You’ve been holding out on us, girl!”
“This one’s a cop. So he understands the hours. He gets that when a story breaks I’ve got to go.”
“Where’d you meet him?” Allison couldn’t imagine what it would be like to still be dating. She and Marshall had been together since they were sophomores in college.
“I interviewed him when that 7-Eleven clerk got shot, and afterward we ended up going out for coffee.”
Nicole arched an eyebrow. “So is he fine?”
Cassidy licked her lips. “He is very fine. He reminds me of a fox, or maybe a wolf. He’s got these pale blue eyes and dark brown hair and a very muscular body.”
Nicole made a show of fanning herself.
Despite complaining that all the good men were taken or gay, Cassidy managed to find dates every place she went. Dates, yes. Long-term boyfriends, no.