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him—they’ve known him forever. They just don’t think we’re a good fit. It kind of seems like everyone feels that way about him.”
    I shrugged but thought Beth should listen to her parents and everyone else more.
    “All right, last question, and then I’ll drop it. What’s you and Karen’s secret?” Beth asked.
    “Secret to what?”
    Beth tucked her hair behind her ear. “You guys have been together a long time. You two seem about as happy as can be. How do you stay happy and deal with each other?” Beth stared at me as if I was going to give her some life-altering advice, which I definitely didn’t have.
    I adjusted myself in my seat. “Well, we’re both fairly normal. Neither of us has any bad personality traits—at least, I don’t think we do. We don’t argue over petty bullshit. We have an interest in if the other is happy or not.”
    “That’s it? Basically try to be decent human beings to each other?”
    “I guess. Well, that, and I let her be in charge. I’m guessing that goes a long way.”
    Beth smiled. “Okay. I’m done. But speaking of Karen, anything new with the adoption proceedings?”
    “Paperwork, more paperwork, and a home interview, which is basically an inspection, on the horizon,” I said. “We’ll see. We’re still in the beginning stages.”
    Beth nodded and faced the window. I figured that to be my cue to try for my nap again. I closed my eyes and drifted off. I woke only once the rest of the flight when the stewardess rammed my elbow with the drink cart.
    We landed a few minutes before noon local time, scooped up a pair of rental cars from the airport, and drove for our hotel.
    Beth pulled alongside me in the hotel’s parking lot and stepped out. I went to grab my bag from the trunk.
    “Where’s the local office from here?” Beth asked.
    I pointed north. “The map said it was less than a quarter mile from here.”
    “You haven’t been there yet. I mean, it wasn’t open on your last trip here, was it?”
    “No. They were still over at the old building in Miami Beach. I saw some company e-mails with photos of the new place. It looks pretty cool.”
    Beth nodded.
    We checked into our rooms, which were of the standard double-queen-bed-and-a-hundred-dollar-a-night variety, and dropped off our bags. I made one quick call to Karen to let her know I’d arrived and another call to Agent Couch to let him know we would be over around two o’clock. Then I grabbed my laptop bag with my files in it and left my room for the lobby. After filling myself a cup of coffee from the station near the front desk, I headed to the lounge area to wait for Beth. I grabbed a seat, kicked one leg up over the other, and stared at the television bolted to the wall and playing the news, the volume muted.
    The local forecast for the week showed every day in the upper seventies and sunny, except Saturday, which had a small picture of a cloud beside the sun icon. The news went on to show the upcoming stories for the rest of the telecast, which by the watch on my wrist, took about ten minutes. The final piece of the news hour was an opinion segment on the Miami Vigilante—the tagline at the bottom of the screen asked Justice or Murder? I looked around for a remote control to turn on the volume but didn’t spot one. I set my coffee down next to the magazines on the table beside me, pushed myself from the chair, and went to the television to turn it up the old-fashioned way. I stood directly in front of the screen, running my hands along the top, bottom, and then sides. I found nothing.
    “Are you trying to steal that TV?” Beth asked.
    I turned to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest. “Yeah, give me a hand. I’ll pull it from the wall and you run with it.”
    “Funny,” she said.
    “I’m trying to find the damn volume buttons,” I said. Then my fingertips found a row of buttons tucked into the right-hand side. I clicked them randomly until the volume turned up.