Page 12 of Little Last Words

“Jack, but everyone calls me Becker.”

“I’m Georgiana, and this is Chief Rex Foley of the San Luis Obispo Police Department.” I tipped my head toward Becker’s empty curbside. “No young female house guests this morning?”

He stared at me with a blank look on his face, as if taken aback by the bluntness of my comment.

“Not today,” he said. “I’m doing a cleanse.”

“I’m sorry, you’re what?” I asked.

“A cleanse of the female kind. My therapist suggested it. He thinks I’m … well, it doesn’t matter what he thinks now, does it?”

“It might.”

“I see you pass by in the morning from time to time, and based on the comment you just made, it’s not hard to guess what you must think of me.”

“And what might that be?”

There was an awkward pause, and he seemed to realize the more he said, the more he stuck his foot in it.

“You were saying…” I said.

“Look, I was married for several years. The wife and I, we just split last year. It’s a long time to be with one person. I guess I was just … ahh, trying to find myself. Not now, though. On a cleanse, as I said.”

“Cleansing the palate of college-age beauties, eh,” I said.

He narrowed his eyes. “I appreciate women of all ages. And hey, don’t knock it. It’s not a bad life.”

It must not have been an ideal life either or his therapist wouldn’t have suggested a hiatus.

Foley moved his hands to his hips. “As unamusing as I find this conversation, you can’t be here, Becker. I need you to go on home.”

“Before I do, I’d like to know what’s going on here,” Becker said.

“Why are you so interested?” I asked. “Did you know the woman who lived in this house?”

“Penelope? Yeah, I’ve seen her around. She hasn’t lived in the house long. Why?”

“I’m just wondering.”

“Is she all right?” Becker asked.

“When’s the last time you saw her?”

He tapped his tennis shoe on the pavement.

A nervous tic ... or was it something else?

“Last time I saw her was a couple of days ago, I guess,” he said. “Is she all right?”

“When you saw her, did you talk to her?”

“I may have said hello, bantered back and forth for a minute. I don’t remember the conversation. You’re not going to tell me what’s going on, are you?”

“Nope,” I said. “We’re not. Where were you last night?”

“Not here.”

“Care to elaborate?” Foley asked.