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by in the blink of an eye. Mostly sucked up by social media, scouring each woman’s overlapping followers for any real connection. I’d broken the two hundred into groups of fifty. Sandra knocked on my door just as I’d finished the first fifty and found nothing significant.
    “Yes?” I said as Sandra poked her head around the door.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Daughtry are here.”
    “Thanks. Show them in.”
    I stood up, wiped my hands down my thighs and met the nice looking couple in their mid-fifties in the middle of the room. Handshakes all round.
    “Please, have a seat,” I said, holding my hand out to the couch in the corner.
    “How can we help you find out what happened to our daughter?” Mr. Daughtry said, taking his wife’s hand.
    “Tell me about Jane. What was she like as a child?”
    He frowned for a second then smiled and nodded. “Happy. She was a happy kid. Liked to sing a lot.”
    Mrs. Daughtry laughed at a memory. “She was always singing. We thought she’d be a singer but as she grew older, she developed a love for numbers.”
    “And that led her to the FBI?”
    “Yes,” Mr. Daughtry replied.
    “She didn’t want to be an agent?”
    “No.”
    “Did she carry on singing?”
    Mrs. Daughtry said, “Yes, at family events. She wanted to audition for American Idol a few years ago but never did.”
    “Do you know why not?”
    “She was still in college when she thought about auditioning. I think her workload was quite high. Her degree was important to her.”
    “Boyfriends?”
    “She didn’t talk much about boys,” Mrs. Daughtry said. “Except for Matthew. She adored him.”
    “Do you know why they broke up?”
    “She never said much about the breakup.”
    “Have you spoken to Matthew?” Mr. Daughtry wanted to know. “We never met him, but she talked about him all the time before they broke up.”
    “I haven’t spoken to him yet. But I will … he’s next on the list.” I considered how to ask about him without causing the parents concern.
    Lightly. Tread gently.
    “I’m hoping that between you two and Matthew, I can get a clear picture of the woman Jane was. Also an idea of anyone in her life I should be aware of.”
    “Matthew would probably know more than us,” Mrs. Daughtry said. “He would know her friends. I don’t think Jane stayed in touch with many of her old high school friends. None of her friends attended George Mason University.”
    I wrote George Mason in my notebook. “Are you staying in The District tonight or heading back to Maryland?”
    Mr. Daughtry said, “We’re going home. We have arrangements to make for … Jane.”
    An hour later I was no closer to learning anything from her parents that struck me as a jumping point for the investigation, apart from the ex-boyfriend and that she went to George Mason in Virginia. But I did know she’d been a much-loved daughter. I gave the parents my business card and escorted them out.
     

Four
    Into The Night
    My phone rang at seven in the morning. Welcome to Tuesday. A warm arm snaked around me and pulled me back under the covers. I listened to the caller tell me there was a new crime scene, possibly linked to yesterday’s.
    “Send the address to my cell, I’ll be there soon,” I said and hung up. I dropped the phone over the side of the bed and curled into Mitch. “I have to go.”
    “Soon,” he said, kissing my neck as his fingers caressed my thigh. Warmth trailed slowly upward across my hip and onto my stomach. For a split second, I saw our future: bright and happy. Everything I’d denied myself thus far in life.
    “Hey,” he said. My eyes opened as his thumb brushed moisture off my cheek. “What’s wrong?”
    I smiled and brushed away another rogue tear. “I just …” My voice crumbled. I tried again. “I just never knew I could love anyone as much as I love you.”
    He leaned over, his warm lips touched mine. No words. His kiss grew firmer and deeper. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Safe. Loved.