Death Loves a Messy Desk by Mary Jane Maffini Page A

again?”
    “Barb Douglas.”
    “Humph. Never heard of her. And I’m on sick leave and not supposed to think about anything stressful, like you know, missing women . But since we’re being all girlfriendy here, you might as well give me a description and I’ll get in touch with the station and see if they can keep an eye out for her.”
    “I have a photo of her. What’s the good of being an organizer if you don’t have what you need with you?” I felt that if Pepper looked at the face of a real person who might be in some kind of real trouble, she might be more likely to make sure the police really did something about it.
    Pepper didn’t quite manage to ditch the bored expression on her face. “Oh fine, let’s see then.”
    “And I was hoping you’d say that.” I slid the photo across the table. “I’m really grate—”
    “Give it a rest,” she said, reaching for her glass of milk. “I’m not saying they’ll find her for you, but you never know.”
    I did notice that she ignored the photo on the table in favor of the milk. I waited. After all, I was glad to be taking tentative steps toward repairing our ruptured relationship.
    I tried not to twitch impatiently.
    Eventually, she shot me a sneaky grin. “Okay. I couldn’t help it. You look so serious. It just screams ‘kick me.’ I’ll look at your dumb photo, not that it will do much good. Most people who go missing do so of their own free will and don’t want to be found.”
    She leaned forward with an “Oof.” We both laughed.
    She said, “Beached whales are us.”
    I said, “But not all of us.” And I dodged the mommy magazine she tossed in my direction.
    “Don’t get overconfident.” She put the glass of milk down on the tray in front of her, which was good, because she’s got a great aim and if she’d playfully tossed that at me, she wouldn’t have missed.
    This time, I picked up the photo and handed it to her. “Here, Mrs. Whale, no dodging the question.”
    She chuckled and glanced at it, obviously humoring me. So when she turned ashen, I panicked and jumped to my feet. “What is it? A pain? A contraction?”
    Pepper glared at me. “If I didn’t have high blood pressure before you showed up, I sure could get it while you were here. Calm down, Charlotte. It’s just the baby kicking.”
    “Sorry, didn’t mean to overreact. I don’t know that much about these things. Let me wipe up that milk.”
    But I did know enough to detect a false note in her voice. After our years together as teenagers, I could always sense when Pepper was lying.
    Pepper’s eyes flicked back to the photo. She frowned. “As I said, there’s not much the police can do when a functioning adult doesn’t show up at work.”
    “Or at home. I know for a fact she’s not there, either. As I said, her landlord is really worried. And there’s the whole thing about the cat.”
    I left out the part where I’d actually gone into Barb’s apartment looking for her.
    “But I have to mention that I saw her on television near the spot where that murder took place. She must have gone there directly from work, because it had just started to rain. She must have found out about the murder, and I think she’s connected in some way with that. And now she’s missing. So that’s why I’m here, really. In case there’s some . . .”
    If I’d expected a dramatic reaction from Pepper, I was disappointed. “I’m sure there’s nothing to it, but I’ll convey your concerns to the right people. You’ll have to leave me the photo.”
    I managed not to say, The one you’re clutching with white knuckles? I knew better than to grill her on that.
    “Sure. That’ll be good. By the way, who’s the detective in charge of the case? I saw him on television, but I didn’t recognize him.”
    “Nick’s working on it.”
    “Yes, I saw him on the news, too.” I chose not to mention that being Nick, he had been blundering around the scene looking even more useless than