Stu nodded his head, his large ruddy nose bobbing up and down like a fishing lure. Lee was hooked.

“Ok, so don’t ask me who told me this, all right?”

“What does that mean?” Lee eyed him suspiciously. It wasn’t like Stu to stall on the details.

Stu tugged his tie, loosening the already sloppy Windsor knot enough to unfasten his collar button. He fanned himself with his dingy fedora while Lee pierced him with her gaze, silently compelling him to continue.

“Um, she’s dead and all, right.”

“Yes. We know that already. Pills. Why, weren’t they her pills?”

“Oh, they were her pills. The CSI ’s found a valium bottle with a current prescription label on it.”

Damn, Lee thought. He has good sources. I didn’t even know that yet.

“Only,” Stu continued, “here’s the thing. Coroner says her blood is clean. The pills didn’t kill her. She was hanged.”

“What? So she died before she absorbed any valium?”

“No. See, that’s the weird part. Coroner says the pills were put in her post mortem.”