Running on Empty by Sandra Balzo

someone you know.'
    A chill crept up AnnaLise's spine. 'The floater is a local?'
    Dr. Stanton looked taken aback at the term 'floater'.
    'Sorry,' the reporter said, flushing. 'I cover the police beat for my newspaper back
     in Wisconsin. The... term is part of their vernacular.' And Mama's, as well — not
     that AnnaLise would mention that.
    'Understood,' Dr. Stanton said. 'We use terms in medicine that would sound pretty
     callous to lay people, as well.'
    He nodded toward emergency personnel hefting a human-sized tarpaulin up to the deck
     surface. 'But to answer your question, the victim is relatively new to town.'
    'How new?'
    'Just a few weeks. You wouldn't know him.'
    AnnaLise was getting a bad feeling about this.
    Stanton said, 'The only reason I do—'
    'Is that he's renting an apartment from you,' AnnaLise finished for the doctor as
     they watched Ichiro Katou's body sling being gently laid onto a gurney.

Chapter Ten
    'I'm so sorry,' said AnnaLise.
    Knowing that Bobby would be at his mother's house by now, she'd biked back to Bradenham
     where she found both of them.
    As she broke the news, the rays of a noon sun shimmered on the choppy surface of Lake
     Sutherton, almost as though the small waves were 'dancing' in strobe lights.
    'This seems very odd.' Mrs. B was sitting on the oversized chaise longue where AnnaLise
     had found her the first time that day. Bobby, at AnnaLise's request, had taken a seat
     next to his mother. 'Mr. Katou — despite his use of that cane — seemed otherwise a
     healthy young man. How did he drown?'
    Mrs. B had taken the news in her stride, in keeping with both her general attitude
     toward life and her specific attitude toward Katou. Lips closed in a straight line,
     projecting neither sympathy nor satisfaction.
    Bobby, on the other hand, seemed devastated. 'How could it have happened? And when?
     Geez, somebody has to notify his family. He told me his grandfather died of cancer
     earlier this year, but that's all I know.'
    'Easy, my dear.' His mother patted his hand. 'I know Mr. Katou and you were friends,
     but you cannot be expected to—'
    'If not me, then who?' He yanked his hand out from under hers. 'I don't know if Ichiro
     had any other ties in this country. He told me it was his first trip to the US.'
    Yet somehow, AnnaLise thought, he ended up in Sutherton. A nice small town, yes, but
     she couldn't fathom it as the debut destination for most foreign tourists.
    'I didn't see him at Sal's last night,' AnnaLise said. 'Did he truly plan on coming
     or did you tell Sheree that to...?'
    'Get her off my back?' Bobby shook his head. 'No. Ichiro said he'd come later, after
     you and I had a chance to catch up.'
    'Ohh,' AnnaLise said, feeling badly, 'I'm sorry. He certainly could have joined us.'
    'I told him that, but he said — ' Bobby cracked a grin for the first time since AnnaLise
     had broken the news — 'that my "occupation" was good, because he had to something
     else to do.'
    Like what, AnnaLise wondered. Taking a swim? Going for a boat ride? Hiking the lake
     trail? At that time of night, who knew?
    'Could you tell...' Bobby hesitated. 'I mean, do they know how long he'd been in the
     water?'
    'I didn't really see... anything.' Talk about your uncomfortable conversation. As
     a reporter, AnnaLise was used to asking the hard questions. She certainly should be
     able to do a better job of answering them.
    Regroup, girl. Bobby deserved to know as much as you do. Or, admittedly in this case,
     as little. 'I was in the parking lot when they pulled the body... pulled Ichiro from
     the water, so I couldn't really see anything beyond stick figures. I did talk to Nicole,
     who was today's runner on the boat. She saw something in the water as they approached
     the north launch after making their rounds with newspapers and alerted Cap'n Bob.'
    The reporter was editing herself, leaving out the fact that the body had apparently
     been dragged aways by some extrusion from the hull of