The pizza deliver gal made heroic effort to get the pizza to us while it was still hot. Lucy and I made a equally an equal effort to ignore the the pizza until it was cold. Lucy had taught me the joy of cold pizza with Tabasco sauce. It was a great way to eat pizza.

While the pizza got cold she and I discussed the disappearance of Mattie Hollis. "Did Mattie have a job?" I asked.

"Yes she worked for the county. She was some kind of worker in the social services office. Not a social worker but some kind of glorified clerk."

"So she at least had a working knowledge of how things work with government agencies."

"Is that important," Lucy asked.

"Probably not, but you never know what will be important. What you do is look at all the pieces of the puzzle, then move them around and hope that they fit somehow." I suggested.

"Even if you have to take a hammer to them?"

"Even then," I agreed. I waited a couple of minutes then continued with a different thought. "We need a cover story before we start asking bureaucrats questions."

"What kind of questions can we ask?" Lucy wanted to know.

"We want to know who her friends were. After that it is one on one questioning on a more personal level."

"Why don't you let me do the initial interview with her supervisor. I can tell her a bit of the truth."

"Like what?"

"That my friend is interested in Mattie's husband. The Supervisor should be willing to tell me which of Mattie's coworkers might know things."

"Okay, you do that and I'll try to come up with some BS for her parents. I'm sure they have an opinion."

"Mine sure as hell would," Lucy suggested.

"Were there any hits on her credit cards or cell phone?" I asked.

"Nothing I could find."

"Did Ed cancel any of the cards or keep them open to see if she would use them?"

"As far as I could tell he didn't do anything with them, why?"

"Because If he closed them early on, it might indicate that he knew she wouldn't be needing them." I looked into Lucy's eyes and saw that she grasped the implication right away.

"You think she is dead." It was a statement of fact not a question.

"I think it is the most probable thing. It isn't the only possibility but it is the most likely at the moment."

"If she is dead, then Ed most likely killed her?" Lucy asked.

"Well statistically yeah," I admitted. "To prove me wrong we have to find some trace of Mattie after she went missing. So you think you could run that, friend of mine is dating the prick, number on the investigating officer? Just to see what he knows."

"Oh I think I can use my new found feminine wilds on him," She said with a huge smile. Even I noticed she was a lot more sexy since my return. She probably had been while I was gone as well. She had learned how to turn the few extra pounds into, if not an advantage, at least a neutral thing.

"I am sure you can bewitch him just fine," I suggested. Then I added,"Well, I need sleep. Are you staying or going?"

"We might need a blanket it's supposed to be chilly, do you have one or should we go to my place."

Rather than answer I pulled a wool blanket from the floor of the corner closet. "GI surplus," I informed her.

I had to admit that the new bed was more comfortable than the floor had been. Eveb so nothing much happened. Actually I think we were both a little embarrassed after the 'thank you' night at Becky's house. We did get reacquainted with each others body. More touchy, feely than anything else seemed to be in order.