"Hope you don't mind room temperature," he said, and then shot an oops look at Heat. But if Cecily made the connection to her boss's state in the next room, she didn't let on.

"Cecily," Nikki said, when she finished a sip of water, "I know this must be very traumatic for you."

"You have no idea." The assistant's lips began to tremble, but she kept it together. "Do you realize this means I have to find a new job?"

Nikki's gaze slowly rose to Rook, who stood facing her. She knew him well enough to know he wanted his water back. "How long had you been with Ms. Towne?"

"Four years. Since I graduated Mizzou."

"University of Missouri has an intern program with the Ledger," Rook injected. "Cecily transitioned from it to Cassidy's column."

"That must have been quite an opportunity," said Nikki.

"I guess. Am I going to have to, like, clean all this up?"

"I think our crime scene unit is going to be busy here for most of the day. My guess is the paper will probably let you take some time off while we do our thing." That seemed to mollify her for the moment, so Nikki pressed on. "I need to ask you to think about something, Cecily. It may be difficult at this moment, but it's important."

" 'K…"

"Can you think of anyone who wanted to kill Cassidy Towne?"

"You're kidding, right?" Cecily looked up at Rook. "She's kidding, right?"

"No, Detective Heat doesn't kid. Trust me."

Nikki leaned closer in her chair to draw Cecily's attention back. "Look, I know she was a lightning rod and all that. But over the past days or few weeks, were there any unusual incidents or threats she got?"