Catch a Falling Knife

explained how we drove around the block and found Elise there when we returned.
    “Why did you want to talk to Elise?”
    That was a good question. What had I hoped to accomplish? Blackmail? I decided to stick to the bare facts. “I wanted to talk her into dropping the harassment charge against Mark.”
    “Did Elise admit to being the Shooting Star?”
    “The subject didn’t come up.”
    “What did you talk about?”
    “I told her how much damage she was doing to Mark.”
    “And…?”
    “She said she was sorry.”
    “And that’s how it ended?’
    “At that time, yes.”
    “What do you mean by ‘at that time.’”
    “Elise left me a voice-mail last night.”
    “What?” Detective Johnson jerked his head up so fast I was afraid he would hurt himself. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
    “Because I had so much to tell you. Would you like to hear it?”
    “Of course.”
    Detective Johnson listened to Elise’s voice-mail, turned to me and said, “Has Pappas heard this?”
    “I don’t think so. As far as I know, he hasn’t been here since yesterday morning.”
    He listened to it at least half-a-dozen times. Then he said, “Don’t erase that. I want to have the our lab make a permanent copy of it.”
    Our voice-mail is centralized so there was no tape that Detective Johnson could take with him.
    Mark walked through the door with a cheery, “Hi, Lillian.”
    Detective Johnson heard him and came around the corner from the den where the phone was located. I said, hastily, “Mark, this is Detective Johnson. Mark Pappas.”
    “Detective?” Mark asked as they shook hands. “Is something wrong?”
    “Have you been at the college today?” I asked.
    “Uh, no.”
    “Have you heard the news?”
    “Not really.”
    “Let’s not play games,” Detective Johnson said. “Elise Hoffman was murdered last night.”
    I could tell from the way Mark’s face crumbled and how he grabbed my small bureau for support that this was the first time he had heard about Elise.

Chapter 11
     
    I didn’t have a chance to speak to Mark until much later. I had volunteered to leave my apartment while Detective Johnson questioned him. I went to Tess’ apartment, taking King with me, and called Albert and Sandra. I told them Mark had shown up, but that I didn’t know where he had been. I told them about the message from Elise. Sandra seemed to be more interested in trying to refute a possible murder charge against Mark than that Elise had said she was going to drop the harassment charge. I was relieved to hear her talk like that. I promised to keep them informed.
    Tess and I ate an early dinner in the dining room while the questioning continued. It was close to 8 p.m. when Mark called me and told me that Detective Johnson had left.
    Mark looked so haggard and wrung out when I returned to my apartment that I was afraid a breeze would blow him away. His face had scratch marks. For one awful moment I wondered if Elise’s fingernails had done that. No, it couldn’t be. I immediately got my thoughts under control and went about fixing something for him to eat, especially after he told me that he had only eaten once since yesterday. Mark was a three-meals-a-day person. Minimum.
    “Go in and sit down, Mark,” I told him when he offered to help me. “You look completely beat.”
    “No, I need to talk to you, Lillian,” he said.
    He wouldn’t be persuaded to relax so I got him a beer from the refrigerator.  Beer was another food item I had stocked up on when Mark came to stay with me.
    “I guess you know by now that the murdered woman is the one who filed the charges against me.”
    I said yes, figuring that a long explanation at this point was inappropriate.
    “I swear I didn’t know she had been killed until I walked through that door.”
    “I know,” I said. “It was obvious from your reaction.”
“I want to tell you what happened to me.”
    “That’s not necessary.”
    “But you’re wondering where I’ve been for the last 36 hours,” Mark said. “You’ve probably been worried about me. After, all, I didn’t call you or anything.”
    “You can tell me later. I assume you’ve told the story to Detective Johnson. That’s what counts.”
    “I tried to. But he doesn’t believe me. And there’s no reason why he should.”
    “Okay, you’d better start at the beginning.”
    “I left here yesterday morning, fully intending to go to work.”
    He had left before I had.
    Mark took a sip of