“Hello?” Eric Pederssen answers the phone on this mid-January Sunday afternoon in his sleek, chrome-and-black leather condo on the tenth floor of the one and only high-rise in downtown Ravenspond. His Siamese cat, appropriately named Siam, sleeps in his lap on the sofa where Eric is going over some notes.
“Detective Pederssen?” a young female voice inquires.
“Leila MacIntyre? Is that you?” he replies while stroking the cat. He smiles, thinking about the intelligent young woman who was so helpful on the tragic missing teens’ case last summer, close to his heart. “How are you?” Turning to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the heavy snowfall, he adds, “I know your whole family has had a tough year.”
“I’m fine,” she begins. “But I’m concerned about a new fellow Bessie is hanging arou
