'So why do you need a lawyer, Jim?'

Jim again was at a loss for words. Spencer's impatience and suspicion were reaching critical mass. 'Jim!' Spencer exclaimed. 'What do you want to do, spend two nights in jail? We can keep you here for forty-eight hours while we're investigating her death. Is that what you want? Are you going to be a lawyer? A politician? The future president? Future presidents don't go to jail, Jim!'

Spencer finally sat down. Jim was upset and couldn't continue.

'Tell us,' Spencer said, with beseeching intensity. 'Get yourself together. What are you afraid of if you didn't kill her? Tell us what you did that Tuesday night.'

'Tuesday? God, nothing. I told you. I never left my room,' Jim said quickly.

'Can you prove that?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, can you prove you never left your room?'

Jim said, his hands shaking, 'No. I mean how could I prove something like that? I was in my room till the next morning. No one was with me.'

'Did you talk to anybody?'

'In person?'

'In person, on the phone, anything.'

'No. I was awake for a while. I started to pack and then went to sleep. I didn't see or hear anything.'

'See or hear anything like what?' Spencer said suspiciously.

'I don't like anything. I don't know.'

'You're saying after eleven at night when you stormed out of the lounge, no one can vouch for your whereabouts?'

'I was asleep, for God's sake! Who can possibly vouch for that except for me?'

Will said gently, 'So what you're saying is you have no alibi.'

Jim looked so distressed that Spencer took pity on him. 'Okay, okay. What about the next morning? What did you do?'

'The next morning, the snowstorm ended, so I packed the rest of my stuff and went home.'

'What time did you leave?' Spencer asked.

'I'm not sure.'

'Must be hard for you to make your classes, never knowing what time it is,' said Spencer.

'I have a watch, I just don't like wearing it. Don't wear any kind of jewelry,' Jim added.

'Did you see Kristina Wednesday morning?' Spencer was certain Jim hadn't.

Jim shook his head.

'Did you see the dog?'

'Yes, the dog was in her room. He wasn't happy to see me. Didn't even get up from her bed.'

'How did the room look?'

'You know '

'I don't know.'

'Messy.'

'What did you do with the dog?'

'Nothing. I petted him and left.'

'Was it unusual for Kristina not to be in her room?'

Jim shook his head. 'Not unusual at all.'

'Did you knock on Albert's door?'

'What for?' said Jim, a little rudely.

Spencer studied Jim levelly, with an unhurried, cold gaze. 'I don't know. To say good-bye to your friend? To ask if he'd seen Kristina?'

'No, I didn't do that.'

'Didn't, or wouldn't?'

There was a pause. 'Didn't.'

'So you left.'

'That's right.'

'You were gone for how long?'

'Until Sunday night.'

'I trust you had a good Thanksgiving,' said Spencer acidly.

'It was okay,' said Jim.

'When you came back, what did you do?'

'What do you mean? Like, did I unpack?'

'Like anything. I don't care much if you unpacked. I care more if you went to see Kristina.'

'I did, yes.'

'And?'

'And what? She wasn't there.'

'No, of course not,' said Spencer. 'The snow had already fallen.'

Jim stared at Spencer quizzically.

Spencer wanted to reach across the table and grab Jim by the shirt collar and shake him. Thank God Will was there, because Spencer's Irish temper would have gotten the better of him. That's why he needed Will, whose steady hand on Spencer's back was like counting to ten and breathing deeply.

Getting Jim to talk was difficult, but more important, Spencer felt Jim was hiding something. There was something Jim Shaw was not telling Spencer, and the anger swarmed inside Spencer's chest. Spencer wanted to warn Jim that things could get real bad for the smart-aleck guy who thought he was being clever, real clever, by keeping information on a dead girl away from Spencer O'Malley.

'Jim, tell me, so you came to see her, and she wasn't in. How did the room look to you?'

'I don't remember. Probably the same as before.'

'Yes, probably,' said Spencer sarcastically, and Will touched him on the arm lightly to calm him? support him? ease him? Spencer needed to be eased.

'Was the dog there?'

'No, the dog wasn't there.'

'Okay, so the dog was there on Tuesday night, but wasn't there on Sunday. What did you make of that?'

'I thought someone might be walking him.'

'Someone like ... Kristina?'

'Maybe. More likely Albert.'

'You all take turns walking the dog?'

'Yeah, something like that.'

Spencer stared at Jim for the longest time. He really wished the self-righteous bastard would realize that any minute he was going to be caught. Couldn't he at the very least give Spencer some respect, considering the imminent outcome of the questioning?

Spencer was waiting for Jim to continue, but Jim had obviously answered the question and wasn't about to open his mouth until he was asked another.

'Jim, did you go see if Albert had the dog?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'Because if Albert was walking the dog, obviously he wouldn't be in his room.'

'I see. So what did you do?'

'Nothing. I went downstairs to my room.'

'Did you wonder who the dog had stayed with for four days?'

'Of course not. I thought he'd stayed with Kristina.'

'But you just said her room looked exactly the same as when you saw it Wednesday morning.'

'Look, I didn't pay careful attention. What do I know? It was messy both times. I didn't really study the room, you know.'

Spencer went on, 'Then what did you do?'

'Went back to my room. Called Kristina's room right before I turned the lights off.'

'And?'

'And? She wasn't there.'

'Okay,' Spencer drew out, scratching the underside of the table with his fingers, while Will took copious notes. Spencer had stopped taking notes because he was too busy watching Jim. 'That brings us to Monday.'

'Monday,' Jim repeated. 'I don't remember Monday very well.'

'Tuesday?'

'No,' Jim said weakly. 'Not Tuesday either.'

'Wednesday. That was just yesterday. Do you remember that?'

'Not well,' said Jim.

Spencer noticed that Jim would not look up from his hands, which lay flat on the table.

'Okay, let's go through this step by step. Literally. Okay?'

'Sure,' said Jim.

Spencer pressed on. 'Did you see Kristina on Monday?'

'No.'

'Did you know Monday she was already dead?'

'No, of course not!'

'Tell me do you know how she died?'

Jim was looking at his hands again, placed flat on the table. 'No,' he said. 'I don't know how she died.'