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as two students. She'd never considered that she might be losing money. I'd done an analysis and found that the break-even point was six students. Unless I had more than six paid students in my classes, I wasn't making money.

    One of my staff had signed up Alice without paying. Against the rules. I looked to see whose initials were on the sale. KP. Kym Pellicano. It figured.
    I went out to where Vangie was closing the drawer. She'd counted the cash and was putting the credit card slips in order. "Do we have any open tabs?" I asked. With this computer system, we could keep an open sale and add to it until the customer was finished or until the end of the class. Maybe Alice had paid tonight.
    Vangie looked at the cash register screen and shook her head.
    I said, "There's an unpaid student in the class."
    Vangie raised her thick eyebrows. "Who signed her up?"
    "One guess"
    Vangie made a disgusted sound. I let her stew for a moment. I knew she would do what needed to be done.
    "Would you please go collect from her?" I asked.
    Vangie frowned. "I hate having to ask for money after the student is already in the class. It's embarrassing. Most of the time the customer forgets they haven't paid and then I feel like a bill collector."
    "I hear you. I'll go with you."
    She paused on her way to the classroom, and hesitated. Her brown eyes clouded and she cracked a knuckle. "Did you see the body?" she said quietly.
    "Yeah."
    A heaviness filled the air between us.
     
    "Anyone we know?"
    I shook my head. "Just a random guy."
    "Okay." Vangie turned and walked away, her shoulders looking lighter than they had a moment ago. She liked to pretend she was a tough street kid, but underneath she believed in unicorns. Or maybe Puff the Magic Dragon.
    I followed her back down the hall. The kitchen door was closed. I couldn't hear Shore, so Zorn must have a different student in there-maybe the granny whose lipstick was pumpkin orange.
    We entered the classroom, which was quieter than I'd expected. Once inside, I could see why. Officer Wong was standing in the corner watching the group, killing any conversation. Most of the students had already packed their gear. They were seated quietly at the tables, tote bags refilled, sewing machines covered, tools put away. Tim Shore had hauled out his backpack and was stuffing his fabric into it with angry movements.
    Ina was trying her best to amuse the customers, telling tales about the peccadilloes of famous quilters she'd taken classes from, but most were paying her no attention.
    "I can't tell you her name, she's too famous," she was saying. "She brought her Shitza-poo-poo everywhere, even putting him in a basket on the podium while she gave her lecture. He barked through the whole thing. She didn't even notice. After the first fifteen minutes, I had such a headache."
    Vangie went over to a woman with a name tag that read "Alice" and whispered in her ear. The customer got red-faced and got out her credit card. Vangie left to ring up her class fees and complete the charge. Both she and Alice were feeling awkward, a situation Kym had created. I felt another wave of irritation.

    I called for the class' attention. All heads turned to me expectantly. "I am sorry about the inconvenience," I said.
    "You need to talk to the police. They're not letting us move our cars," my tablemate said.
    I looked to Wong. He shrugged. Police investigations trumped comfort.
    The lipsticked granny called out. "How are we supposed to get home?"
    I had to do something. "Let me go ask Detective Zorn. Maybe he can tell me how long it's going to be."
    I crossed to the kitchen. The door was open, and I waited for Zorn to finish talking. A curly-haired brunette had replaced Tim Shore. As soon as I realized more flirting than questioning was going on, I broached the room.
    "Listen," I said. "Is there something I can do to move things along? I mean, my customers need to get home"
    "I'll talk to them," he said, watching the student leave. It