This story started here.

Stu reached for the phone, removed the handset from the cradle, pressed the speaker button, and dialed a number.

So, we were all aware of the following facts:

1. Stuart Anson had dialed Inspector Ibarra's number without consulting a phone book.

2. Stu did not have an extraordinary memory. To have a telephone number memorized, he must have used it fairly often.

3. As far as we knew, the only time Stu and Ibarra had met was during the college case, which had not involved any telephone communication at all.

4. If Stu had had further communication with Ibarra after that, in his capacity as Jan Sleet's attorney or as U-town's legal representative, he would have told us.

5. Which he hadn't, so it was something else.

6. He was aware that we now knew this, and that was okay with him, or he would have made a show of looking up the number.

7. He was a lawyer, of course, so he wouldn't tell us what this meant.

8. And it would have been rude, to say the least, for my employer to investigate and find out the answer on her own.

"This is Stuart Anson," he said. "May I speak to Inspector Ibarra?"

My employer shook her head as she reminded herself to put this new question aside and concentrate on the case.

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