"I can safely say," Clark said, "that I didn't set foot outside the house again until this morning, when I took the kids to school. Detective, this is beginning to sound pretty serious. Do you have any idea why Johnson was killed?"

And suddenly, she found her attention riveted.

Clark's head came up in a way she found very familiar. He got to his feet with an impression of restrained haste and made a direct line toward the short flight of stairs that led to the elevator.

"I expect you can read about it in the paper, ma'am," Wolff said. "Excuse me." He rang for the elevator again and the doors opened almost immediately.

Ellen looked after him for several seconds, feeling stunned. It seemed as if the "meeting" Clark and this Candy woman had been involved in was genuine, after all. Maybe whatever was going on wasn't what she had thought it was. On the other hand, what was a society columnist doing involved in a murder investigation -- or Clark, for that matter? Of course, her son-in-law was an investigative journalist, so maybe that wasn't so far-fetched, but the police were hardly going to be voluntarily involving a reporter unless there was a more direct connection.

Clark's head came up in a way she found very familiar. He got to his feet with an impression of restrained haste and made a direct line toward the short flight of stairs that led to the elevator.

Ellen stood perfectly still, hoping he wouldn't notice her. With single-minded attention, Clark went up the steps, one hand groping for his tie in a familiar gesture. Never glancing at her, he disappeared through the door to the stairs. The door swung shut behind him.

So, he did it at work, too? Ellen stood looking at the door for several seconds, frowning slightly. She'd focussed on his unexplained absences, but it had never occurred to her before that the particular behavior she had just witnessed was pretty strange, whatever the reason.

He laughed. "They don't call her Mad Dog Lane for nothing. Tell her I'll have that list of employees from the Valentine's Ball ready by this evening."

Ellen managed to smile at him, although the expression seemed stiff and unnatural. "I will."

The keys were gone. She must have dropped them somewhere.

For a moment, she couldn't believe her bad luck. That key ring had been a gift from Sam, and on it she had her penthouse key, the key to the Lane condominium and the key to Lois's and Lucy's houses as well as the key to the Taurus.

"The vehicle has apparently been vandalized," the man said. "A witness reported seeing a man slashing the tires."

holding her hand. Didn't Lois see how suspicious that was? They had been married for nearly twelve years.