Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg

was a box of papers taken from his desk, and Kennicott spent an hour reading through them. Half of them were notes about playing bridge.
    He went through Torn’s laptop, her Palm Pilot, her handwritten diary, her cell phone records, her Visa receipts, and every other scrap of paper, including notes stuck to the fridge, her mail, and the trash, each of which Ho had meticulously collected and cataloged.
    Kennicott’s chart grew, and a picture of their life emerged. It was remarkably patterned. Every weekday started at precisely 5:05, when Mr. Singh could be seen on the video arriving at the Market Place Tower. In his statement Singh said that at 5:29 he’d meet Brace in the doorway of 12A. Brace always left the door halfway open and always came to meet Singh with his mug in hand. Torn was never up at that time.
    Brace called the radio station every day at 5:45 to confirm that he was awake and to talk to the show producer about any breaking stories. At 6:15 the lobby camera caught Brace walking out the front door. He arrived at the studio by 6:30 and was on the air by 8:00. Theshow finished at 10:00, and Brace would spend an hour in story meetings for the next day’s show. He could be seen walking back into the lobby at the Market Place Tower every day at about 12:30.
    Torn’s mornings were equally predictable. The underground video showed her getting into her car on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays just after 10:00. On Thursdays she left at eight. Her diary showed that she had an 11:30 or 12:30 riding lesson most days at King City Stables, which would be just under an hour’s drive. At about 2:00 she came back to the apartment. The lobby video showed her leaving again, by foot, every day at about 2:30, always casually dressed. Her Visa receipts showed her shopping at various neighborhood clothing boutiques or houseware stores. Her library card showed her going there twice in the final week of her life. She returned through the lobby daily between 5:00 and 6:00.
    Brace must have slept in the afternoon, because he wouldn’t leave again until about eight at night, when he and Torn would walk through the lobby hand in hand. It was the first time all day that they were on video together. They would come back at about ten. Kennicott cross-referenced Torn’s Visa accounts and traced their dining habits—always at one of the local restaurants, always someplace that was moderately priced. They were certainly not living the high life.
    There was only one day of the week where the pattern was broken. Mondays. Torn wasn’t seen leaving the building in the morning, and she came home about four o’clock in the afternoon. It wasn’t difficult to figure out why.
    Kennicott’s partner, Nora Bering, had interviewed Torn’s riding instructor. He read the statement of Gwen Harden, the owner of King City Stables:
    Kate was a very good student, a natural rider. Great balance. Tremendous competitor. Kevin was very supportive. Loved to watch her ride. Never missed once when she was in competition. She rode every day except Saturday. Sundays she’d do an all-day cross-country ride and stay up with her parents. They live just down the road. Mondays she’d take a double class.When she didn’t show up this morning, I was surprised. It wasn’t like her not to call in if she was going to miss a class.
    This was the last thing Bering would do on the case. She had a six-month leave coming, and she was going back home to the Yukon to visit her dad. “Only me,” she’d joke with him, “taking my holidays in the Arctic in the winter.”
    The only exception to this pattern Kennicott could find for the whole month was the Wednesday before, December 12. Torn appeared on the video that day at 1:15, in the lobby, not the parking garage. She was dressed in a business suit and high heels, and she carried a long envelope in her hand. She spoke briefly to Rasheed and then waited for about five minutes in one of the overstuffed lobby chairs, looking