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Liz tilted her head. “What is it?” she repeated.

“Mick Grotto.”

“What about Mick Grotto?”

Gloria waved the paper she was holding. “His name and a telephone number are on this slip of paper that blew off Echo’s end table.”

Liz’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Gloria handed it to her.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of Liz’s stomach as she stared at the name and number. “She knows him.”

“We can only assume.”

Liz carefully placed the papers back on the table .

Gloria, with cell phone in hand, slipped past her and snapped a picture of it.

“Why are you taking a picture?”

“You never know when we might need it to…” Gloria’s voice trailed off.

“Turn it over to the authorities.” Liz clutched her gut. “I told you she was acting weird the day he came around. As soon as I mentioned his name, Echo took off out of here, telling me she forgot something at the farm. I found out later from Floyd that she never went back there.”

“Which means she went somewhere around the time of Grotto’s attack.” Gloria tapped her chin. “How long was she gone?”

Liz thought about it. “She left in the afternoon and returned while Floyd and I were making dinner. She was gone for at least a couple of hours.”

“Which would give her plenty of time to meet Grotto in Belhaven, beat him up and come back home. ”

“I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the thought Echo is involved,” Liz said. “Floyd and I pointblank asked her about him. She claimed she hadn’t heard about his attack and, of course, didn’t know who he was.”

“How did she react when you told her about the attack?”

“She seemed shocked.” Liz blew air through thinned lips. “There’s a connection. Think about it. He’s an ex-con from Detroit. Echo is from Detroit. She doesn’t want to be on the farm’s payroll, doesn’t seem interested in what would be the perfect job for her with the Montbay County Police Department. We’re not getting the entire story.”

“I wonder if Ruth has found anything yet.” Gloria dialed her friend’s number, and she picked up right away.

“Hey, Ruth. I’m still at Liz’s place. We were wondering if you found anything on Echo. ”

“I was getting ready to call you. I’m hitting a brick wall.”

“How?”

“Locating her previous address, former employers, that kind of thing.”

“But you have found her?” Gloria asked.

“Yeah. I have her date of birth. It’s like she was born and then pffft. Nothing, nada, zip.”

“She exists, but has no history.”

“In a nutshell.”

“Maybe we should run over there and try to help,” Liz whispered.

Gloria nodded. “Liz was wondering if maybe the three of us put our heads together, that we can figure out why you’re not finding anything.”

“I’m home,” Ruth said.

“We’re on our way.” Gloria ended the call and waved the phone in the air. “Ruth is waiting for us. What about at the farm? Did Echo fill out a job application?”

Liz snapped her fingers. “I’m sure she did. I’ll swing by there and grab a copy on my way to Ruth’s.”

Gloria left first, promising to meet her there. Meanwhile, Liz climbed into her SUV for the trip to the farm. Floyd’s niece Audrey handled the administrative side of the business and, as luck would have it, was working when Liz arrived.

“Hey, Liz. I haven’t seen you around in a while,” Audrey waved her into the office. “I heard the new place is keeping you busy. Maybe one of these days I’ll stop by to check it out.”

“Don’t bother,” Liz said. “At least not yet. It’s a dump. ”

Audrey chuckled. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Trust me, it is.” Liz switched her cell phone on and pulled up some pictures of the house she’d taken to remind her of the “before.” She handed the phone to Audrey. “Scroll right.”

Audrey’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a thingamabob above the front door. What is it?”

“I’ll show you.” Liz tapped the screen to enlarge the picture and handed it back.

“It’s a…” Audrey made a choking sound.

“Gargoyle, or should I say ‘garboyle,’ as in a garbage gargoyle. I took a hammer to it just in case it had some sort of bad luck associated with it and had it hauled away in the first dumpster load.”

“I have to admit, I probably would have done the same thing. The eyes are creepy.” Audrey shivered. “You don’t think the place was cursed because of it, do you? I mean, with the dead designer lady and all. ”

“Now that you mention it, I can’t rule it out. I almost set our temporary home on fire last night cooking grilled cheese sandwiches.”

“Maybe you should sell the place and find somewhere else to live,” Audrey said.

“As weird as it sounds, the charm house is growing on me.”

“Charm house?”

“Chateau slash farmhouse,” Liz said. “That’s my nickname for it.”

“I like it,” Audrey laughed. “If you’re looking for Floyd, he’s way out back.”

“Actually, I was hoping I could get a copy of Echo Quigley’s job application.”

“Sure.” Audrey unlocked the filing cabinet behind her. She removed a cream-colored file folder and handed it to Liz. “There’s not much in there, other than her application and a picture of Echo’s driver’s license, which has her old Detroit address.”

Liz flipped the folder open and studied the meager contents. “I would like a copy, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.” Audrey’s brows knitted. “Is there a problem with Echo?”

“No. I just figured it wouldn’t hurt to keep a copy along with her rental agreement.”

“Oh. Sure. Yes, I can understand.” Audrey slid the sheets of paper into the feeder tray and pressed the print button. She finished copying both and handed them to Liz. “Treece and Echo have been hanging out a lot lately.”

Liz remembered how Floyd’s son had offered to help Liz haul some furniture to Echo’s home right after she moved in and had noticed a spark of interest between the two. “You don’t say.”

Audrey shrugged. “Maybe I’m just being nosy and trying to play matchmaker. ”

“Or maybe not.” Liz thanked Audrey for the papers, tucked them into the side pocket of her purse, and headed out.

Gloria was already at Ruth’s place when Liz arrived and met her at the door. “Were you able to get your hands on Echo’s job application?”

“I was.” Liz patted her pocket as she followed her through the breezeway and into the kitchen where Ruth stood waiting.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee or iced tea?”

“No. I’m good. Thanks for offering to help get information on Echo.” Liz handed the folded sheets to Ruth. “The fact you’re having trouble finding any information on her is a red flag. ”

“If you ask me, she’s intentionally flying under the radar or someone is helping her fly under the radar,” Ruth said.

“Because…”

“Good question. Let’s see if we can figure out if you have a tenant in trouble or a tenant who is trouble.” Ruth began humming under her breath. She slid her reading glasses down and flipped her laptop open. “Her driver’s license lists an address in Detroit, so that checks out with what she told you.”

“Maybe there’s a glitch in the system and we’ll find everything we ever wanted to know about her,” Liz said.

“We’ll start by using her former address. 11721 Presque Street, Detroit, Michigan. It looks like a duplex or some sort of multi-family property.” Ruth clicked through the links. “There’s something about the place, a news story from last year.”

“Which would have been around the time when Echo still lived there. ”

Ruth double-clicked on the link to access the news story.

“What does it say?” Liz squinted her eyes, struggling to read the headline.

Gloria leaned over their shoulders. “No wonder Echo moved.”