It was a dark and stormy night.  An off duty cab drove past and
splashed mud and water on his already soaked pants and shoes.  He
rounded the corner of the old building where he worked and noticed
someone leaning against the stone wall in the shadows.  His initial
fear turned to panic when the other person approached him, and to pain
when the knife was thrust in his stomach, then twice in his back as he
slumped to the ground.

By morning the rain had stopped, and the day was partly cloudy with
highs of 21.  Pavacic hated taking orders from Commissioner Grinspy.
Even though he was several years Pavacic's junior, nobody was
surprised when he was appointed commissioner, since his older brother
Eitan was the Mayor of Green Hill.

So it was that this morning was not a pleasant one for Pavacic.  Two
years ago he would have been thrilled to be put on a case like this.
Far from cut-and-dried, he had a body with no ID, no witnesses and no
weapon.  This sort of thing used to thrill him and is what made him
want to be a detective so long ago.  But just the fact that Grinspy
was in charge and had assigned it to him annoyed him to no end.

When he arrived at the corner of White and Main, Officer Rawn filled
him in.  "We've had an ID.  Seems he worked in this building here."
Rawn motioned to the First Union Bank building as he handed Pavacic a
folder. "She IDed him as one Zander when she showed up for work this
morning," he went on, pointing to a woman who sat on the hood of one
of the nearby cruisers.  He pointed out another man who stood nearby.
"That's the guy who found the body.  He made the call at 7:30 from
that phone booth, says he was just out for his morning jog."

"Thanks, Rawn." Pavacic surveyed the scene. "You do good work,
hopefully they'll make you commissioner some day soon." He made his
way over to the jogger first. "I'm Detective Pavacic, GHPD, and you
must be," he said as he checked the notes Rawn had given him, "uh,
Mr. Elyaman."

"Yeah," answered Elyaman, obviously already tired of the events of the
morning. "How much longer do I need to stay here?"

"You say you were out jogging this morning when you came across the
body?" asked Pavacic, ignorning the question.

"Yeah."

"And you immediately called 911 from that phonebooth?"

"Yeah.  Well, I saw he was bleeding and rolled him over.  He looked
pretty bad."

"OK, thanks.  Is that your home address?" Pavacic showed him the notes
that Rawn had taken him.

"Yeah," answered Elyaman.

"OK, here's my card.  I'll let you get to work.  If you have anything
else to add, call my office.  Thanks for your help." Pavacic turned
his attention to the woman who had given the ID.  He had hardly given
her a glance when Rawn first pointed her out, but now he was struck by
her beauty.  My starlight, my music, my rose he thought.  He quickly
checked the information he already had.  Miss Gsytam.  Strange name,
he thought, but he quickly memorized her phone number.

"Miss, uh, Gehs, uh," he started.

"It's pronounced `Gloria'," she said.

"Uh, right," he said, embarrassed. "I'm Detective Pavacic, GHPD.  I'd
like to ask you a few questions.  You were acquainted with the
deceased?"

"Yes.  We work, er, worked in the same office," she said, but her face
betrayed to Pavacic's skilled and paranoid eye that she wasn't telling
him the whole story.

"Do you have any idea what he would be doing here in the rain late
last night?" he went on.

"Oh, he would work late into the night.  It wasn't strange for him to
stay until 5, maybe 6 a.m.  He was probably just on his way home." She
tried to stay calm, but Pavacic noticed that her hands were shaking
and her eyes were slightly glazed.  He thought it best to let her
recover before pressing her for more.

"Is this your correct address?" he asked, once again referring to the
notes in his folder.  She nodded. "You can go now, but I'll need to
talk to you later.  If you need to add something before we get in
touch, you can call my office," he said, handing her his card and
feeling a little big guilty, even though it was perfectly routine.

Pavacic now went to inspect the scene more closely.  The coroner had
already moved the body, but the sidewalk in the chalk outline was
stained by blood, and all around there was a reddish colouring where
the rain-diluted blood had run.  Officer Mohajer was supervising as
photographers walked around the crime scene snapping pictured.

"Coroner puts death between 4 and 5 this morning by loss of blood.
The victim was stabbed three times, once from the front just below the
ribs and twice in the back.  No weapon was found.  The victim wasn't
carrying any ID, but that lady identified him," Mohajer said, pointing
to Gsytam as she headed towards the entrance of the First Union Bank.

"Yeah, I already got that," interrupted Pavacic. "So no wallet?  Then
it could have been robbery." But then why stab twice in the back, he
thought to himself.

"Not likely," went on Mohajer. "The deceased was wearing a gold tie
pin and a Timex Ironman with Indiglo.  Also, he had $172 in cash in a
billfold in his right pocket." He handed Pavacic another report.

"Thanks," said Pavacic as he looked it over.  This was no robbery or
random killing, he was now quite sure.  Whoever was responsible must
simply have wanted Zander dead, and must have known about his habit of
working late.  Pavacic was clearly going to have to have another talk
with Miss Gsytam.  The case was starting to look interesting, he had
almost forgotten about having to deal with Grinspy. "You do good work,
Mohajer," he said as he headed back to his car. "Hopefully they'll
make you commissioner sometime soon."