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“Did you get it?” Ruth asked.

“I did. It’s a sketch from the county sheriff’s department. This looks like Echo.”

“I thought the same.”

Liz slipped her reading glasses on and read the caption. “Sketch of suspect in the vicinity of Lake Terrace around the time of Mick Grotto’s attack on Monday, July fifteenth.” She studied the woman’s thin face, her hair covered by a gray hoodie, but the eyes, the eyes were eerily similar to Echo’s.

She leaned back in her chair. Had Echo lied? Was it possible she not only knew Mick Grotto, but was also behind his attack?

“Are you still there?” Ruth asked .

“I’m here. I’m trying to wrap my head around this. Echo told me she jotted Grotto’s name down on a slip of paper and did some research after finding out he was looking for her. She made it sound legit, although there was one small minor detail she left out.”

“Which was…”

“The phone number that was next to his name. Gloria took a picture of the paper.”

“Gloria has the name and number?”

“Yes.”

“Hold on a sec.” Background music began playing and Liz waited…and waited. Finally, Ruth came back on the line. “Are you still there, Liz?”

“Yeah.”

“I have Gloria on the other line. Can you hear me, Gloria?” Ruth asked.

“I’m here. Why am I on a conference call with my sister? ”

“Because the police are getting ready to release a composite sketch of a person seen in the vicinity of Lake Terrace around the time of Mick Grotto’s attack. I’m sending you a copy.”

Liz knew the exact moment her sister clicked on the image by her sharp intake of breath. “Are you sure?”

“Sure as sugar,” Ruth confirmed. “I hacked, I mean accessed, the county database. They haven’t released it to the public yet.”

“I’m sure Sheriff Nelson will get a copy soon,” Liz said. “Which means he’s going to be on my doorstep again. Maybe I should beat him to it and let him know I think this woman might be Echo.”

“Ack.” Ruth made a buzzing noise. “Negatory. No can do.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re not supposed to know about this. ”

“True.” Liz wandered to the window, staring toward Echo’s place, a sick feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. “I’m supposed to pretend I don’t know, and just wait for the cops to show up and haul her away?”

“Or sleep with one eye open and a gun by your bedside,” Gloria said. “It still doesn’t prove Echo was behind the attack. She may have known the man, may have even lied about it, but there’s no smoking gun or, in this case, bloody tire iron.”

Liz made a choking sound. “Do you have to be so descriptive? My stomach is already queasy.”

“Sorry,” Gloria apologized. “This means we can place Echo close to Lake Terrace around the time Mick Grotto was attacked. She denies knowing him, even though she had his name and a phone number written on a slip of paper inside her home.”

“Which is why I brought you in on the call,” Ruth said. “Liz told me you took a picture of the slip of paper. I was hoping you still had it. ”

“I do.” Rustling ensued on Gloria’s end. “I have it on my cell phone. Hang tight.” Seconds later, she rattled off a number.

“I’m keying it in,” Ruth said. “Hmmm.”

“Hmmm what?” Liz asked.

“It’s linked to a prepaid cell phone. Those types of phones can be traced, but are a lot more time-consuming. It would be hard for me.”

“Why was Grotto using a prepaid cell phone?”

“That’s a good question. Maybe he was still involved in illegal activities and knew it would be difficult for law enforcement to pin anything on him if the phone was confiscated.”

“It’s possible he didn’t have a job or credit and his only option was a prepaid cell phone.” Liz glimpsed Treece’s pickup truck pulling into the driveway. He kept going and she could feel an uneasiness settle in. Was Treece dining with a criminal? Was he in danger ?

“Treece is here. Echo invited him over for dinner.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Gloria said. “Honestly, at this point, our hands are tied. We can’t turn her in because we’re not supposed to know about the sketch. How soon do you think it will be before they release the photo to the public, Ruth?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Could be five minutes. Could be tomorrow morning. I’m thinking they’ll blast it out to all the local law enforcement first and then release it to the public.”

“I’m going to wait for Floyd to get home and talk to him. We could have a criminal living on our property.”

“You don’t know that for sure. The background check didn’t find anything,” Ruth reminded her. “She was clean. The only other thing I can think of is to get her fingerprint. If we do that, I can run it through another database to see if we get a hit. ”

“You mean your other super-secret backdoor database isn’t foolproof?” Gloria teased.

“It’s about as good as you can get. There’s always an off-chance Echo is in the AFIS database but not linked to the other one,” Ruth said.

“AFIS?” Liz echoed.

“Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Fingerprints from crime scenes are routinely cross-referenced.” Ruth went into a long spiel about the database’s features.

Finally, Liz interrupted. “You’re telling me if I can get my hands on one of Echo’s fingerprints, I can give it to you and you can check it through the AFIS to see if there’s a potential match?”

“Yep.”

“Crud.” Liz sucked in a breath. “I spent the entire afternoon with Echo, cooking food. I could’ve gotten it then. ”

“You’re creative,” Gloria said. “I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to secure a fingerprint.”

“Let’s suppose I’m able to get Echo’s fingerprint. I get it over to you. You run it through your system. How long would it take to find out if there’s a match?”

“The system is amazing,” Ruth said. “It can search up to a million records in about a minute.”

“We’re talking about getting results within hours, not days or weeks,” Gloria said.

“Absolutely. A couple hours, tops. The only problem is, I need to run it through Leonard first. I don’t have that level of NASCA security clearance, at least not yet.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Liz promised. “In the meantime, we’ll have to wait for the police to release the sketch.”

“If they do and Nelson recognizes Echo, you might not have to worry about it. He’ll haul her off to jail. If they determine she’s behind the attack, I’m guessing she won’t be back,” Ruth said.

“I can’t believe it’s her.” Liz studied the sketch still on her computer screen. The similarities were uncanny. It had to be her. “I’ll work on getting the fingerprint.” She thanked her sister and Ruth and ended the call.

Liz drifted to the doorway. Treece’s truck was parked alongside Echo’s compact car. How on earth could she get her hands on Echo’s fingerprint, and was it even worth the effort?

Surely, it was only a matter of time before the cops showed up looking for her. If her tenant was a bad person, she had Liz—and Floyd—fooled. She’d seemed genuinely down on her luck, in need of a helping hand, one that the couple had so generously given her.

Were they in danger? What if Echo was some sort of psycho? Would she come after Liz and Floyd? Try to break into their RV in the middle of the night? She thought about the arson and the fact Echo’s Detroit rental had burned to the ground.

Had Echo been behind the fire? She’d never mentioned it to Liz or anyone else, at least not that she knew of.

Liz climbed onto the bench seat and pressed the smoke detector’s test button. It wailed for several long seconds, refusing to stop. She jabbed the button, pressing hard, but the alarm continued blaring loudly. If anything, it grew even louder.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Liz clamped her hands over her ears, scrambled off the bench seat, and ran to the house to track down a screwdriver. She flew out of the house as Lucy’s Jeep turned into the driveway.

Her friend sprang from the vehicle and jogged toward her. “Did you set off the smoke alarm again?”

“I was testing it and now it’s stuck,” Liz said .

“Do you want me to try shutting it off?”

“Please. I’m not having much luck.”

Lucy darted inside. She wedged the tip of a flathead screwdriver beneath the edge. She popped the lid off and plucked the battery out.

The blaring stopped.

“Lucy to the rescue.” Liz’s shoulders slumped. “I couldn’t get that thing to shut off.”

“The battery probably needs to be replaced. If it’s corroding, the alarms are a little more sensitive. Do you have more?” Lucy handed her the old battery.

Liz rummaged around in the junk drawer, removed one from the battery pack, and handed it to her.

Lucy popped it into the slot, replaced the cover, and pressed the test button.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The beeping stopped.

“You’re good to go.” Lucy stepped down and dusted her hands. “I left a message for you earlier. We need a decision on the half bath sink and toilet so I can get them on order.”

“Half bath?”

“Yeah. It was at the top of your reno list,” Lucy reminded her.

“You’re right.” Liz placed a light hand on her forehead. “What do you have?”

Lucy trekked back to her Jeep and returned with iPad in hand. Picking out the lower level guest bath was easy. Simple and sleek, yet elegant was the theme, and Liz signed off on both.

“Thanks. I won’t take up any more of your time.” Lucy placed the iPad back in the bag, eyeballing the food on the counter. “That looks tasty.”

“Echo and I spent the afternoon whipping up a Greek feast. Echo invited Treece to dinner, and I helped her cook. ”

“Yummy. Speaking of Echo, have you heard anything else about the guy, Mick Grotto?” Lucy asked.

“It’s a mess.” Liz briefly filled her in. “Echo drove to the store. We were cutting it close and in a hurry. She ran a red light. A cop pulled her over, and I found out that she’s been driving around with an expired license.”

“I’ve done that before.”

“My gut tells me she’s hiding or hiding something. She doesn’t want to apply for a county job, doesn’t want Floyd to put her on the payroll, hasn’t changed her address and now this Mick Grotto, ex-con, shows up and is linked to her.”

“Echo seems like a straight shooter,” Lucy said. “Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation.”

“There’s one more thing. Check this out.” Liz showed her the composite sketch still on her computer screen.

“This looks like Echo. ”

“If it is, someone spotted her not far from where Grotto was attacked. Ruth thinks the local authorities are being notified, and then they’ll release it to the public.”

“And as soon as Sheriff Nelson gets his copy, he’ll be here looking for Echo.”

“Bingo,” Liz said. “Ruth couldn’t find anything on Echo as far as a criminal record. If I can get my hands on her fingerprint, she’ll run it through the AFIS database to see if there’s a match.”

“Automated Fingerprint Identification System. I know all about it,” Lucy said. “It’s crime scene stuff they hang onto to see if, down the road, they pick someone up and can run it through to get a match.”

“Yep. The only problem is, I haven’t come up with a plan on how I’m going to get Echo’s fingerprint,” Liz said.

Lucy tapped her lower lip, her eyes drifting to the mobile home on the hill. “I might have an idea.”