On the way back, Scott Smith got off the car halfway. He asked the taxi to take Mary Parker back to Haichen Villa District, and he stopped another car on the side of the road and went straight to the kindergarten. When he arrived at the kindergarten, it was just a little after 4:20, so he stood under the sycamore tree next to the kindergarten gate, smoking and enjoying the cool air to pass the time.

In the distance, a red Corolla pulled over, and Scott Smith recognized it as Alice Jones's car at a glance.

Alice Jones was wearing a rose pink business suit, a pair of ten-centimeter crystal...