BY LATE AFTERNOON it finally caught up with me that I hadn't gotten even an hour's sleep for the second night in three days.

I also started to feel that I was missing something impor-tant about the case. I was sure of it.

I called Cindy and Claire together. I'd been so focused on finding Hardaway, I'd missed something else.

Claire had spent the day in the morgue with the grim task of trying to identify the victims of the Rincon Center blast. There were sixteen dead so far, and more to come, unfortu-nately. She agreed to meet for a few minutes across the street at Susie's, our familiar corner table.

The minute I hit the street on the way to Susie's, I could feel the anxiety, see it on faces. Claire and Cindy were wait-ing for me inside.

"The note about Jill is the key." I told them my latest the-ory as we sipped our tea.

"The note said she was part of the state," Claire said, looking puzzled.

"Not that one. Cindy's e-mail. It said, `This one wasn't like the others....' "

"This one was personal," Cindy finished it off.

"You're thinking Jill had some personal contact with this guy?" Claire blinked. "Like what?"

"I don't kno............