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he knew about her. Maybe he had made a slip. Maybe he had told her and Defino something he had intended to keep to himself.

8
    I N THE MORNING she called Wally Shreiber, the PI Mrs. C. had hired. “Good morning,” she said. “Jane Bauer here. I have two questions.”
    â€œJust two?”
    â€œAt the moment. Do you know anything about the little Chinese girl from the laundry who delivered Stratton’s clean clothes?”
    The silence was her answer. “A Chinese laundry?” he said finally.
    â€œA couple of blocks from Stratton’s apartment. He dropped off his dirty clothes and they sent them back clean. Their daughter, who was only nine or ten at the time, carried it up to him.”
    â€œWhere’d you hear about this?” he asked, as though it were more important for him to learn where he had failed than to follow up a lead.
    â€œVale, the super, mentioned it. We interviewed the girl’s parents with a translator yesterday and then talked to the girl separately. Stratton invited her into his apartment.”
    â€œHe didn’t let the pizza guy in.”
    â€œThat’s what makes it interesting. He liked her, sat and talked with her, gave her a quarter tip.”
    â€œI never heard anything about it. What’s it telling you?”
    â€œNothing at the moment. I just wondered if you knew about it.”
    â€œSorry.”
    â€œAnd a woman named Bee-Bee who was sometimes with Stratton when the laundry came.”
    â€œDoesn’t ring a bell. Hold on.” There was a rustling of paper. “She’s not on my list. Who told you about her?”
    â€œThe Chinese girl. She’s about eighteen now, goes to college. She works in the store when she’s not in class.”
    â€œWell, you found something I missed. I hope it leads somewhere. What did you think of the super?”
    â€œArrogant.”
    â€œThat’s the guy.”
    â€œWell, thanks anyway.”
    â€œKeep me informed.”
    She promised she would.
    MacHovec wasn’t at his desk and she remembered he was going to try to find out if Stratton had been under the wing of Social Services. Sean would probably stretch out his research to encompass the whole morning, so she didn’t expect to see him till much later. At noon they had an appointment with the psychiatrist.
    â€œGordon, I had a thought last night.”
    The typing stopped. Defino was dressing up the Fives so they used a lot of paper. “More’n I had.”
    â€œHow did Larry Vale know that the Chinese girl was delivering laundry to Stratton? He couldn’t see where she was going.”
    â€œHm.”
    She picked up the phone and dialed Vale’s number. It rang three times and his machine came on. “This creep doesn’t want to work too hard,” she said, hanging up. “In the afternoon you can’t disturb him and in the morning he doesn’t take calls.”
    â€œLet’s go down and shake him up.”
    Vale was there and not happy to see them again. “Was this trip necessary?” he asked as he opened the door.
    Standing in the small foyer, Jane said, “How did you know the little Chinese girl was delivering laundry to Stratton?”
    â€œWhat do you mean? I saw her come with a brown paper package.”
    â€œHow did you know she was taking it to Stratton, not someone else?” Defino said. “You follow her up the stairs?”
    Vale didn’t look happy. “No, I—” He thought a moment. “I asked her,” he said. “I saw her coming to the building once—I was outside, coming home myself—and I asked her where she was going. She said she was going to Mr. Stratton’s apartment to give him his clean clothes.”
    â€œShe told you that,” Jane said.
    â€œYes. So when I saw her again, I just assumed.” He shrugged.
    Jane walked into his living room, uninvited. The windows were about street level, the floor