Roarke reached over to give her hand a squeeze. “I love the things you find to be a prude over.”
“I’m not pruding. I mean, Morris has a tat of the Grim Reaper guy on his upper thigh. Should I have that information? Never mind.”
She saw from the map they’d be on scene in minutes. She decided to continue her streak, and ordered up the sweepers.
Roarke pulled up behind the police cruiser.
The uniforms had taped off about six feet on either side of the body. One stood with the body, and another sat on a stoop outside the barricade with a male. A teenage male, Eve noted.
Eve held up her badge.
“Lieutenant. Officer Kotter.” He rose, a hard-packed, mixed-race cop in his middle fifties. And kept one hand on the shoulder of the very pale kid who got shakily to his feet. “This is Kylo Grishom. He discovered the body, and called it in.”
Kylo gripped a tube of water in both hands. “Am I going to be in trouble?”
“Did you kill that woman?”
His eyes went to bugged-out saucers. “No. Me? No. Holy shit!”
“Then why would you be in trouble?” Eve asked.
“Well, because I … Well, okay, I snuck out. See, I live right down there, and I snuck out to, you know, with my girlfriend. Her parents aren’t home, right? So, well … um. You know.”
“Did you walk by here on the way to your girlfriend’s?”
“Yeah.”
“What time?”
“Um, about midnight, I guess.”
“What time did you leave your girlfriend’s?”
“Right around four. See, my mom gets up around five, and she gets my older brother up because they work the early shift. And she, for sure, gives me a quick shake before they leave because school’s out and I watch my little brother and all. So I wanted to get back before she got up.”
“Where’s your girlfriend live?”
“On Duane, right off Broadway. She’s not supposed to have anybody over when her parents aren’t home, but we, well … um.”
“I follow, Kylo.”
“See, I don’t want to get her in trouble. I don’t want to get in trouble, either, right? But when I saw the lady…”
His eyes had stopped bugging out, but he continued to vibrate like a plucked string.
“You were walking home from your girlfriend’s and saw the body?”
“Yeah, yeah, see, I was walking, and I thought, at first I thought she was just a, you know, a sidewalk sleeper. But she didn’t look like it in the clothes she has on. And I thought maybe she was just passed-out drunk or stoned. But she didn’t look right. She was just staring and staring, and I thought, oh shit, she’s, like, dead.”
He squeezed the tube so hard, Eve prepared for it to pop.
“I was going to just run, you know? I was, I even started to, but…”
“You did the right thing.”
“I guess.”
“You did the right thing, Kylo. Did you touch the body?”
“Oh man, no. Uh-uh. Negativo plus.”
Eve checked her wrist unit. “Your mom’s going to be up by now. If I were you, I’d tell her exactly what happened.”
“She’s gonna ground me for a month.”
“Maybe.” Eve dug out a card. “You give this to her, and tell her I’ll be contacting her, to congratulate her for raising a son who does the right thing.”
His eyes bugged again, but in shocked joy. “You will? Serious?”
“I will.”
He smiled a little. “She’ll really and totally lap that one up. Thanks.”
“Go home. We’ll be in touch. And thank you for your cooperation. Officer, why don’t you walk Kylo the rest of the way home?”
“Yes, sir. Let’s go, Kylo.”
Eve looked away from them and toward the body. She took the field kit Roarke handed her, and ducked under the tape.
14
She looked down at Anna Hobe.
You called me in the dark, I think. And I think some part of me knew I wouldn’t find you in time.
She turned to the female uniform with her cap squared away over a bowl cut that reminded Eve of how Peabody had worn her hair back in her uniform days.
“Officer.”
“Pinsky, Lieutenant. We got the call from Dispatch at zero-four-nineteen and responded. Sir, we were part of the patrol in your investigation, but this was about a block out of the sector.”
“I’m aware.”
“Yes, sir. When we arrived, approximately two minutes later, the witness was sitting on the curb there, head between his knees. He was shook up, Lieutenant, and my partner stayed with him while I verified we had a DB. We secured the scene, and called it in.”