Catch a Falling Knife

her to introduce us to some of her friends.” I had trouble getting that speech out and when I had finished I held my breath.
    “I think it’s excellent that you’re approaching this problem from the other side of the coin, so to speak.” Mr. Hoffman was smiling again. “Of course Elise would never consider such a thing. She is very supportive of my work, however, and I’m sure she would be glad to help you. Would you like to contact her?”
    Yes, yes, I cried, silently, but outwardly I merely said yes. I pulled a small notebook and a pen out of my purse. Mr. Hoffman gave me Elise’s phone number. “What’s her address?” I asked, in an offhand manner. He gave it to me and I started breathing again. Well, why shouldn’t he give us information? We were just two harmless old women.

Chapter 9
     
    “Mr. Hoffman doesn’t know much about his daughter,” I said as we drove back toward downtown Bethany.
    “You don’t know that,” Tess said. “There’s no reason he would discuss a sexual harassment charge with strangers. Particularly since the proceedings are confidential.”
    “Even if that’s true, she’s his little angel and would never work in a strip club.”
    “Again you’re making an assumption. You haven’t proved that Elise Hoffman is the Shooting Star.”
    Why did Tess always throw cold water on my theories? Maybe her role in my life was to keep me honest. At least I had found out the name of Mark’s accuser without him telling me. Of course it was pure luck, but as a statistician I can tell you that if you want to succeed in life it helps to be lucky. But I would have found out her name in due course, anyway.
    Now it was time for action. “I’m getting hungry,” I said. “If you can stand the noise and confusion, let’s eat lunch at the Crescent Heights College cafeteria. It’s a small school and there’s a chance we’ll see Mark there.” Or Elise.
     
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    We didn’t see either Mark or Elise at the cafeteria, but we did get some tasty pizza. They don’t serve pizza at Silver Acres and I have been known to talk my younger relatives and friends into going to a Pizza Hut upon occasion.
    After we had eaten I asked Tess if she wanted to take a stroll on the campus, but she declined. She is not a stroller. I said, “Let’s go find Elise’s apartment.”
    Tess gave me her look that means she’s on to my schemes and said, “She probably won’t be there.”
    “No, but at least I’ll know where it is. For future reference.”
    “You’d better be careful about contacting Elise. You could get Mark into more trouble than he is already.”
    “I know that. I’ll be careful. I’m always careful.”
    Tess snorted. But she assumed her duties as navigator and guided me to the apartment building. It had one story and all the apartments faced the street. We found Elise’s number with no trouble and I parked on the street in front of it.
    “I think I’ll go ring the doorbell,” I said.
    “Big surprise,” Tess said.
    I rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. I returned to the car.
    “Well, what should we do now?” I asked.
    “We wait,” Tess said. “I know that’s what you want to do. I blocked out the whole day for you so it’s no problem with me. We missed pool aerobics this morning. I knew we’d never make it back for the Bridge Club. In fact, I brought along a book to read.” She pulled a paperback copy of a Sue Grafton mystery out of her purse. She started reading mysteries after we solved a murder last summer. “We’re two detectives on a stakeout.”
    But Tess’ idea of a stakeout was to read a book, not to watch for anything. I had to do that. After a few minutes I knew the meaning of boredom. And then Tess fell asleep, leaving me completely alone. This was not a glamorous job. I had trouble staying awake, myself. Several times I dozed off and woke with a jerk. After an hour I was ready to give up.
    I heard a car pull up behind me and stop. I glanced in my rearview mirror. I got a quick look at the face of a young woman. It wasn’t Elise, but it looked familiar. She got out of the car and I could no longer see her face in my mirror. She walked around the back of my car and up the sidewalk to Elise’s apartment. From the back she reminded me of the girl from the Administration Building, the way she had looked as she had run away from me after telling me about Club Cavalier. What was she doing