Returning to his apartment that early morning at two-thirty, Corey thought about the four females and their interviews—all corroborating the basic facts in the case but also emphasizing Henley's involvement in some 'project' she was participating in on the East coast. He remembered the evasiveness of the Johns Hopkins department chair when he contacted her.

But now the whole business of the 'secret society' the young women were members of, also stuck out as a significant development in the case—both details he felt were now significant to share with his chief of investigations. The Hopkins project going on in Baltimore was something he knew was worthy of more investigations, if the Chief would just give him the go-ahead to pursue it further. The fact that all the four young women were probably intimately involved with Henley in one way or another, also added an element of social entanglement to the case, implying some possible jealousy motivation.

As the young detective disrobed and got into bed, exhausted by as yet another full day and night, he could not stop wondering about the FBI's deflective behavior in the case—refusing to go into any significant detail with him or Mattingly concerning Henley's laptop contents, and particularly her studies. Odd also, was their insistence that he and his partner personally interrogate the witnesses in Vegas as her contacts with the hope of gleaning anything new. Was this just a ploy to get the two of them out of the way and possibly off the track about Henley's 'top secret' involvement with 'sensitive' research in the East?

Drifting off to sleep, Corey's mind began to ponder what his upcoming weekend with Elora would be like in San Diego. He had only one more day before this three-day excursion to the West coast would begin, and truly no real idea what his current love interest had planned. Nevertheless, her surprise anniversary trip would be a great and much needed diversion from the Marlow case, which as time went on, and without any real progress, had become consuming.

* * *

Waking at eight-forty-five that morning after the alarm on Cory's cell phone failed to go off, he realized he had switched off the sound while at the gentleman's club earlier that morning. Picking it up and looking at the small screen, he could see he had received three calls during the night and a text message. Two of the calls were from Mattingly and there had been one unknown number. Mattingly's text message read:

Corey—hope you're alright. Got a call around 4 this morning from one of Henley's friends you interviewed. Jaelyn Coe from Scottsdale. Says she got a text message from Henley herself last night! Sort of a distressed thing. Said it was short but desperate. I'm including Jaelyn's number here. See you later at the office. Call me when you're up.

The number Bill gave in the text as Jaelyn's was the same as the unknown call made to him around four AM. The event was riveting. It brought Corey out of his sluggish state. He immediately made the call to the unknown number, now known to be Jaelyn in Arizona.

"Hello?"

"Miss Coe? Good morning. This is Corey Jeffers."

"Oh. Yes, Lieutenant. I'm so glad you called back!"

He could tell the young woman was still stressed and shaken.

"My partner says you got a message from . . . Henley last night?"

"Yes. Well . . . I really believe it was her. It wasn't from her phone . . . and she didn't write much. But the text was pretty convincing. Something she knew I would understand."

"Alright. Interesting . . .what was the message?"

"It simply said, Tattoo Kisses."

"And you think the sender of that message was Henley?"

"Very certain, yes. I 'm so . . . shocked. So . . . hopeful now!"

There was the sound of crying.

"Sorry, Lieutenant . . . I'm just . . ."

"OK. What were the two words agian, Jaelyn? Because it was from a random phone . . . And no voice. How can you be . . ."

"No! It's something very personal between us. No one else would know it."

"Can you explain that to me?"

"Alright. This is so personal . . . But . . . OK. Just when I got out of high school. . . when Henley and I first became lovers . . . physically. I got a tattoo. On my right breast. It's totally hidden. It was made for her. And says in script, "Henley my love."

"I see."

"Whenever we were intimate . . . even over the next years, she would kiss me exactly there on that tattoo . . . and tell me "Your Henley is here." No one else could possibly know that, Lieutenant. Only her and me!"

Corey was silent.

"But still, Jaelyn. That could just be someone who . . ."

"No! I'm certain now. 'Tattoo Kisses' was a desperate message from her. To let me know she's alive. Obviously not under safe conditions . . . but alive somewhere! Don't you see?"

"Alright. Today I'll secure permission to trace that message back to the sender's phone for a location. You're speaking to me now from Scottsdale, right?"

"Yes. From my home and my cell phone."

"Don't delete any messages or future calls you get. And please, Jaelyn, don't share this information with anyone . . . not even the FBI. Alright? At least not for now.

"OK."

"As of now, and as small as it is . . . it's the only warm clue we have to go on."

"Yes. I know. And I'm just so excited . . . and relieved! I really feel it's her!"

Again, the sound of tears of joy.

"Look Miss Coe. I want to share that enthusiasm with you. But before that happens, there's a lot that has to be done. Understand?"

"Yes! Do you really think she can be located from that, Lieutenant?"

"To be honest, it's looking to be a longshot. But neither one of us are giving up on this. Keep me posted immediately of anything else you receive. Hopefully there's more messages to come."

"I'll do that. . . And please, let me know what you learn from tracing that call."

'I'll do that. Good morning, Miss Coe. We'll be in contact."

Corey dressed quickly, skipping a shower and even his coffee that morning, hurrying out to his office to meet with Mattingly at the precinct station.

* * *