Eve crossed to the bar, where a lone bartender in a MIKE’S PLACE T-shirt pulled a draft brew.
“Ladies.” He had smooth dark skin, shoulder-length braids, and a killer smile. Eve imagined his tip pull proved awesome. “You can have your pick of tables or pull up a couple stools and keep me company.”
To give him a break, Eve discreetly palmed her badge.
She watched the killer smile fade.
“Oh crap. Is this about Anna? Did you find her? Is she okay? What—”
“We haven’t located Ms. Hobe. We’re here to follow up on the pending investigation.”
“It’s been days. It’s been, like, a week.”
“Were you working the night she went missing?”
“Yeah. I mean, I was on the stick till about eleven. She had another couple hours on, so she was here when I left.”
“Can we get your name?”
“Yeah sure. Bo—I’m Bo Kurtis—with a K. Look, Anna and I worked together the last four years—I’ve been here six. We even sort of dated a few years ago. Nothing major, and it didn’t, you know, happen for either of us. I just want to get that out there. We’re friends.”
Eve slid onto a stool and took him through the usual questions, ones she knew he’d have answered before.
“Honest to Jesus, she wouldn’t have just walked away. She liked working here. She could sing, and she’d get up there sometimes with some of the customers. She liked living in New York. She came here not long before she got the job—from upstate. She really liked living in the city, liked her apartment. It’s small, but she liked it. She had friends, man.”
“No relationship?”
“Not right now. I mean, sure, she dated. She just liked people. Nothing serious going. Like I told the other cops, I never saw or heard of anyone hassling her. This isn’t that kind of place, and Mike, well, he wouldn’t put up with that shit. People get lit up, sure, but they don’t come into a karaoke bar looking for trouble.”
“Where is Mike?”
“He’s in the back. He’s been sick about this. You want me to get him?”
“Yeah, why don’t you do that.”
“Give me a sec. They’re signaling me down the bar. We don’t get busy until about eight, but you gotta keep the customers happy.”
He went down, flashed that smile again. Once he’d taken care of the fresh drinks, he slid into a door on the side of the bar.
The man who came out with Bo would’ve made two of him.
Built like a linebacker with shoulders wide as a redwood, he had a shaved head and soft, worried blue eyes. He wore a pale gray suit with an open-collar white shirt, and stuck out a hand that gripped—and swallowed—Eve’s.
“I’m Mike, Mike Schotski. What can I do to help, Detective?”
“Lieutenant. Lieutenant Dallas and Detective Peabody. We’re following up on—”
“Wait.” He held up one of those meaty hands, and the worry flashed into alarm. “I know you. The book, the vid. Jesus, you do murders. Anna—”
“Mr. Schotski, we haven’t found Anna. We’re pursuing a possible connection between Ms. Hobe’s disappearance and another case.”
“The girl at the playground this morning. I’ve been keeping an ear out since … Sorry.” He took a breath, visibly steadied himself. “Let’s get a table. What can we get you to drink?”
Since she calculated he needed a little more settling, Eve asked for a Pepsi.
“Make mine a diet,” Peabody said as Mike gestured to a table.
“I had a moment this morning with the report—I didn’t catch the girl’s name at first. I just caught a flash on-screen when they put up her picture. She looks a little like Anna. Once I focused in I could see it wasn’t her, but that little flash?”
He looked away, shook his head. “Stopped my heart.”
“Bo told us he couldn’t think of any reason Anna might have decided to take off,” Eve began. “That she gave no indication she was worried about anything or anyone.”
“That’s a fact. Thanks, Bandi.” He gave the waitress who brought the drinks—a sparkling water for him—a quick smile. “She liked the work here. You can tell when somebody’s just putting in time, and she wasn’t. And I’m damn sure she’d have told me if anybody was bothering her, if she had worries. If not me, she’d’ve told Liza.”
“Liza Rysman? The coworker she left with?”