"Sorry. I was..." Rae stumbled pathetically. She then took out her card and handed it to Sarah. "If you think of anything, please call me. Thanks for your help."

She didn't wait for an answer from Sarah. She just turned and walked down the steps and out of sight.

Sarah looked at the card. "Security Consultants Inc., hmm." She sighed and tapped the card against her bottom lip. "There's more to you, Miss Jefferson, than you would like anyone to know. This may be interesting."

Sarah walked back to University Hall and ran into Betty. "Well, Sarah, who was that sullen woman?"

Sarah smiled and poured two cups of coffee and put one in front of Betty. She explained, and Betty's eyes widened in amazement.

"No! Amy Davis is missing, and this Jefferson woman is investigating. How mysterious," she said as she put the steamy cup to her lips. "She was quite attractive."

Sarah raised an eyebrow and ignored the remark as she drank her coffee.

"I said she's..."

"I heard you, dear."

"Well, don't you agree? An attractive investigator-"

"She's not an investigator."

"-who is looking for a missing young woman? How does she know young Davis?" Betty asked.

Sarah raised both eyebrows up and down and rolled her eyes wickedly.

Betty giggled with delight. "Honestly? How interesting. She must have great stamina to keep up with Amy Davis all night. However, I think she's too old for her. Miss Jefferson's more in your ballpark, Sarah dear."

Sarah gaped at her. "Betty Whitfield, you're a wicked old woman. Stop that." For some reason, Sarah felt bad for Rae Jefferson. She looked tired, and the tiny sleepless circles stole the sparkle from the captivating blue eyes. She glanced at Betty's smiling face. "I said stop that."

However, Sarah couldn't get the image of Rae Jefferson out of her mind for the rest of the day.

Rae met with Jane and Pam later that afternoon and explained Mike Porter to them.

"Know him?" she asked as the waitress brought their drinks. Pam and Jane exchanged glances. Rae waited patiently, toying with her gla.s.s. Pam picked up her drink and nearly drained its contents. Jane played with the straw.

"Okay. Ground rule time," Rae said, causing both women to look up. "You know I want to help find Amy, correct?"

Jane nodded. Pam didn't move. "Okay. Then you mustn't lie to me. I can't do a thing if you do. And one word of advice-if the police get more involved in this, you'd better come clean with them, as well, because right now, you both look as guilty as sin," she said firmly. "Now how do you know Mike Porter?"

Jane sighed and looked at Pam, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "He and Amy dated a few times. Amy broke it off, and he got a little miffed. I think something else was going on, but Amy always clammed up on us." Jane stopped as she noticed Pam's scowling look of disapproval.

Rae noticed it, too. "She dated this joker, and now she's missing? You don't think that was something to tell Lieutenant McGrath?"

"It was in the spring, and he hasn't been around since," Pam said defensively. Jane stared down at her hands.

"Well, your Professor Connelly thought she saw them together last week. s.h.i.t, why didn't you tell the police?" she asked almost angrily. "d.a.m.n it."

"Hey, this is really none of your business, Jefferson. You know her for one night, and now you're storm-trooping all over the place," Pam said heatedly.

"You know you're really p.i.s.sing me off, Pam. She's your good friend and you can't put two and two together? Even if this Porter fellow is nothing, he was sure something last week," Rae said through clenched teeth.

Jane put up her hands. "If you two don't stop this p.i.s.sing contest! Really, you're worse than two men."

An awkward silence fell around the table.

"There's no need to be insulting," Rae said seriously, though her lips twitched lightly.

With that, Jane started laughing, and Rae smiled reluctantly. And even Pam grudgingly smiled.

"Okay. Let's call McGrath and at least give him his name." Before she could make the call, her cell phone went off. It was Sarah Connelly.

"Miss Jefferson, I was just wondering if you were free for dinner tonight. I spoke with a few people today about Amy."

Rae raised an eyebrow and agreed to meet her. As she closed the cell phone, she noticed Jane smiling slightly.

"Professor Connelly going out for dinner?"

Rae blushed against her will. "Is that bad?"

"Well, she never goes anywhere. She's at the university all day and at the library at night. Hmm." She sighed happily, and Pam laughed.

"You two need a hobby. Good night, children. I'll call you later."

Chapter 5.

Rae sat at the bar and ordered a gla.s.s of wine as she waited for Sarah. She looked at her watch and noticed she was only ten minutes early. Why was her stomach fluttering? She instinctively reached into her pocket and took out the old Zippo cigarette lighter. Though she no longer smoked, she still loved the cla.s.sic lighter. She toyed with it absently.

"I need food," she said out loud and looked around. She knew this place. Matt's Cafe. It was gay-owned and had just opened about six months earlier. So I did hear correctly, and Sarah does walk on my side of the street, Rae thought, chuckling. She glanced toward the door and saw her.

Sarah Connelly had just come in; she smiled and kissed the hostess on the cheek. Rae found herself smiling slightly as she watched her. The track lighting above the hostess table accentuated Sarah's short curly auburn hair. From where Rae sat, she could see the streaks of silver shimmering through her dark hair as she absently brushed a curl or two off her forehead while she laughed. Rae's jaw clenched convulsively as she tried to ignore the captivating figure before her.

Two or three women saw Sarah and waved her over to their table. Sarah waved and greeted them. Rae continued watching as Sarah said something, and the whole table let out a hearty laugh, which Sarah joined. She then looked at the bar and saw Rae. She smiled and waved, made her excuses to her friends, and walked to the bar.

"Good evening, Miss Jefferson," she said lightly as she sat.

"Rae, please." Rae felt awkward. She didn't like it.

"Then you must call me Sarah." She flashed a brilliant smile that made Rae blink in surprise.

What the h.e.l.l is this? she thought as she picked up her winegla.s.s and took a drink.

Mercifully, the bartender walked up to them. "Sarah, how are you? Haven't seen you in two weeks," he scolded her and playfully slapped her hand.

This surprised Rae as Jane said Sarah spent all her time at the university or the library.

"I'm sorry, Matt. Time gets away from me. Hey, you're the owner. What are you doing behind the bar? Never mind. I'll have whatever Rae is having. Thanks, sweetie." Then she turned to Rae. "So how was your afternoon? Any new leads?"

"New leads?" Rae repeated.

"Well, if you're on this case."

"Whoa, whoa. Sarah, there is no case, and if there were a case, I wouldn't be 'on it.'" Rae took a drink of wine, not knowing why she was getting so rankled.

"Okay," Sarah said slowly, almost apologetically.

Matt set the gla.s.s of wine down, and Rae waited until he walked away. "I'm sorry," Rae said and explained Mike Porter. Sarah listened wide-eyed but said nothing. "So I told them to call the lieutenant and tell..." She stopped and looked beyond Sarah, who noticed her look and turned around. "s.h.i.t," Rae mumbled and drank her wine.

Sarah seemed totally confused as she glanced back at Rae. "Who is that?" she whispered, leaning in closer to her.

"Lieutenant McGrath, what brings you uptown?" Rae motioned for the bartender.

McGrath smiled and stood between them. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"How did you know I was here?" Rae asked, noticing Sarah as she looked back and forth, probably trying to keep out of whatever this was.

"We learned a good deal at the police academy. Just how you learned from Naval Intelligence, Commander Jefferson," he added proudly.

Sarah raised an eyebrow but still said nothing.

"Okay, I was in the navy. Make your point, Lieutenant," Rae said patiently. McGrath gave her a cautious look, then looked at Sarah.

Rae made the introductions. "Sarah Connelly, Lieutenant McGrath, one of Chicago's finest."

"Well, I thought I'd let you know that we have a set of prints that wasn't from any of you women. We should have results in a few days. Nothing appeared to be missing, so her friends can go and clean up the apartment. We're through."

Rae toyed with her lighter once again. "You found nothing odd? Nothing?"

He gave her a wary grin. "What are you thinking, Commander?"

Rae shot him a look, then smiled. "Former commander. I'm retired, and I'm not thinking of anything really. How do you know nothing's missing? Someone had to know what was in her apartment," Rae said logically.

"Miss Whiting and Miss Rodriguez stopped over there earlier this evening. We went through the entire apartment. Nothing was missing, just tossed around."

"As if someone was looking for something or making it look that way," Rae said absently.

Sarah still sat there, watching. She looked over at McGrath, who was studying Rae.

"Now who would want to do that?" he asked.

"I have no idea, that's your job. Now if you don't mind, we were just about to have dinner."

McGrath backed up and nodded. "Well, have a nice dinner. If there's any news or if I need to question you, we'll be in touch." He nodded to Sarah, then walked away.

Finally, Sarah took a breath and noticed Rae watching McGrath as he walked out of the restaurant. "Well, that was interesting. My, Miss Jefferson, you sure know how to impress a woman."

Rae flashed a grin. "It's all uphill from here."

Sarah laughed out loud and held up her winegla.s.s and touched it with Rae's gla.s.s.

They chatted over dinner. Rae saw the curious look and knew Sarah wanted to ask about her time in the navy. Rae knew she was not forthcoming in her short answers. She continually drank her wine, nearly leaving her dinner untouched. She noticed Sarah had no problem eating her pasta. At one point, she looked up to see Sarah smiling as she regarded her.

"You're a conundrum, Commander."

"Really? How so?" Rae picked up the lighter.

"One minute, you're quite charming, and the next, you're miles away. You fumbled-adorably, I might add-when asked about your life with the navy, only giving brief answers. You did not elaborate on anything and joked about most of it." Sarah took a drink of wine before continuing. "You don't like to talk about yourself, do you?"

"Do you?" Rae countered, trying to ignore the adorable comment.

"Yes, what would you like to know?" Sarah asked with a challenging grin as she ate her pasta. "I'm an open book."

Rae narrowed her eyes at her and gave a rude snort. "No such thing."

Sarah now watched her as she ate her meal. "Not everyone has something to hide."

Rae shot her a look and started to say something, then stopped. "I'm not hiding, I just don't... I mean, I..." she stammered helplessly, not being able to remember a time when she floundered so badly with another woman. She didn't care for this at all. "So tell me who you talked to today," she said professionally, trying to change the topic.

Sarah gave her a smug grin. "Okay. We'll get back to your navy life another time." Sarah continued to grin. "And I know that sounded like a threat." She held up her hand before Rae could come back with a retort. "I saw a couple of students talking to Mike Porter. He seemed on edge to me, but maybe it was my imagination. Anyway, one student I recognized. Molly Eastman, Liberal Arts. The other fellow, I never saw before."

"You said you talked with someone."

Sarah's smile widened, her gray eyes sparkling as she leaned in. "Yes," she said eagerly, as if settling in with a good piece of gossip. "I pa.s.sed Molly later in the day. I made sure I was in the Liberals Arts building. I made up some reason to be there," she said, almost proud of her covert actions.

"Did you have to come up with a reason? Can't you pretty much go where you want?" Rae asked.

Sarah gave her a deflated look. "Hey, who's telling this story?"

"Sorry. Continue," she said, smiling for a moment.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, I asked her if she knew Amy. I told her about the tutoring appointment she missed. She seemed to hesitate, stumbling over her words, and said she hadn't heard from Amy or Mark."

Rae leaned in. "Who's Mark?"

"I have no idea," Sarah said slowly.

"Did you ask her?" Rae patiently prodded.

Sarah gave her a sick look and sat back. "No," she admitted. "She was in a hurry, and I would have felt stupid chasing her down the hall."