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.I’d forgotten how many things there are to do in that city and I think we did them all – Chinatown, cable car rides, the street performers, seafood on the pier.It was really fun, but when I came back I was shocked to hear that Scott Monroe had been murdered.He was one of my favorite people.I took a lot of classes from him, including a meditation class for stress relief.I’ll probably think of him every time I sit down to meditate.”“I couldn’t agree more.I can’t figure out why anyone would kill him.Scott was a genuinely fine man.”“He was in here several times in the last couple of weeks.One time he was making a deposit and a beautiful young redhead woman ran into the bank and rushed over to him.I seem to remember her from some of the classes I took out at the White Cloud Retreat Center.Anyway, he shushed her and told her he’d talk to her later.I remember him saying something like, ‘This has got to stop.Please don’t follow me or take any more pictures.You can come to my classes, but that’s it.’ I thought that was kind of strange.I almost had the feeling she’d been waiting for him, you know, kind of like she might be a stalker.I’ve seen a couple of movies lately about women who stalk men and for some reason, that’s the first thought that came to my mind.Something else that occurred to me when I heard about Scott’s death was wondering if this woman would find some other man to stalk.I know that sounds farfetched, but she was really intense.Obviously, she made quite an impression on me.”“I think I know the woman you’re talking about,” Kelly said.“If it’s the one I’m thinking of, she was in the coffee shop today and she was really broken up about Scott’s death.Did Scott come in here a lot to do his banking? I would have thought someone at the Center would take care of the business end of things so Scott would have more time to teach and pursue his spiritual interests.I know he wasn’t particularly interested in the day-to-day operations of the business.”“It struck me as kind of funny, too.Usually all the banking is done by the business operations director of the Center, John Williams.He’s been coming here a couple of times a week ever since the Center opened and still does.No, when Scott was here recently it seemed like it was different.He was concerned about some checks that had been drawn on the Center’s bank account by his brother, Luke.When Luke started working at the Center, Scott brought him in one day and put him on the account.It was almost as if Scott thought Luke was paying for things that Scott didn’t know anything about.I could be wrong, but that was certainly my impression.”“Interesting.Well, I suppose since Scott didn’t like being involved in the business operations of the Center, he probably didn’t know everything that was being paid for out of the Center’s bank account.Well, I’ve got a few more errands to do before I can call it a day.Glad your vacation was such a success.See you later, Patti.”Lady jumped in the back seat as soon as she saw Kelly walking up to the minivan.Kelly stopped at the market and then the bakery, both of which were far busier than usual.Because she was running late, she knew Mike would begin to worry about her.She took her phone out of her purse after she’d parked in front of Deidre’s apartment building and called him.“Mike, I know I’m running a little late, but I have one more stop to make and then I’ll be home.I should be there within thirty minutes or so.Loves,” she said in a voicemail message she left on his phone, thinking that he must be running late as well.When she finished leaving the message, she took the slip of paper with Deidre’s address and apartment number on it as well as her wallet from her purse and walked up the steps of the old brick building across from city hall that had recently been converted into an apartment building.There were three floors in it and Deidre lived on the top floor in unit 305.Kelly walked down the long hall to her apartment.Even though the door was slightly ajar, she didn’t feel comfortable walking in.She knocked on the door.When Deidre didn’t answer the knock after a minute or so, she pressed the buzzer located on the wall next to the door and said, “Deidre” in a loud clear voice.A few minutes later when Deidre still hadn’t come to the door, Kelly stepped into the living room and stood there in total shock.She looked around in disbelief.Every inch of wall space in the small apartment was covered with pictures of Scott and some were even full life-size blow-ups of him.Strangely, there were also pictures of feet, presumably Deidre’s, but some looked like men’s feet.She remembered what Roxie had told her about Deidre photographing her feet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]