Free Galaxy's Edge Magazine: Issue 2, May 2013 by et al. Mike Resnick Page A

Howard Goldwyn branch for her arrival at the date and time specified.
    I was not disappointed. Her designer women’s suit and expensive sunglasses gave her away against the backdrop of working-class readers who lined the aisles and sat at the computer terminals. I was off in a corner, a hard-bound Audubon edition on Phoenicopteridae displayed prominently. I saw her before she saw me, but when she saw the cover on the book, she bee-lined over and sat down.
    “Who are you, and what’s happened to Elly?”
    “I am a family friend,” I said, keeping my voice low to match hers. “And I am very sorry to say that Elly is dead.”
    The woman’s hand shot to her mouth, the small purse in her other hand nearly falling to the floor.
    “My God!” she said, genuinely and horribly startled.
    “I need your help,” I continued. “I used to be a police officer, and I’m handling this matter privately for Elly’s family. I was hoping you could tell me about some of the last conversations you had with Elly when she was at the Aerie. Did she seem afraid of anyone, the last few times you were with her?”
    “No,” said the woman, slowly removing her sunglasses and reaching for a handkerchief in her purse. Tears had begun to flow down her face.
    “Did she say anything about anyone at work? Someone who might have been bothering her?”
    “No,” said the woman.
    “Did you and Elly have any trouble? Maybe, a fight of some kind?”
    “We weren’t like that. Elly was…she was pure . And beautiful. More beautiful than anything or anyone I have ever seen. Graceful and poetic, yet young and playful in the way only…I don’t think I can explain it, Mister…”
    “Rodriguez,” I said. “Of the Los Taltos firm, out of Thousand Oaks.”
    “I’ve never heard of them,” she said.
    “Not many people have. We’re small, because it allows us to be discrete. Please know that anything you tell me today is in the strictest confidence.”
    She nodded, blowing quietly into the handkerchief.
    “So there was nothing amiss?” I said. “Nothing at all?”
    “No.”
    “Then what stopped you from seeing Elly last month?”
    The woman blew her nose one more time, and collected herself.
    “I did it for Elly’s sake. I could tell I was falling in love. Literally and truly. I was going to cross lines that would destroy Elly if I didn’t take myself away. And I couldn’t live with that. So one day I simply stopped making appointments.”
    “And you never saw her again after that?”
    “No.”
    I sat back in my chair, trying to figure out what to ask next.
    “Mister Rodriguez, who would hurt that girl?”
    “I don’t know,” I said honestly.
    We sat for several moments, the woman staring at the tabletop. Then she looked up at me, her red eyes mournful.
    “There is one thing,” she said.
    “Yes?”
    “Last time I was with Elly, she seemed distracted. Bothered. I asked her what was wrong, and she said her brother had called her from East Los Angeles, asking her to come home. She said they’d had an argument on the phone, then she’d laughed it off like it was no big deal. She and her brother had never gotten along, or so she said.”
    I mentally filed this away and waited for the woman to continue.
    When she didn’t, I finally stood up.
    “You’ve been helpful,” I said. “If you remember anything else, please contact me using this text address.”
    I handed her a plain white card with a number on it.
    “Again, strictest confidence,” I assured her.
    She took the card and put her sunglasses back on.
    “Mister Rodriguez,” she said.
    “Yes?”
    “If you ever do find out what happened, please let me know?”
    “I promise,” I said. And meant it.
    ***
    Josefina’s apartment was even messier than the last time.
    “Antonio and Elvira never argued,” she said as she handed me a cup of hot, lightly-sugared coffee. It was early morning, and she was just going to bed, while I was just getting ready to head back to the