Pitcher was green; he’d been on the force for only nine months. It was entirely possible Pitcher had left the clothes in the back of his squad car.
When the Chief called Pitcher, there was loud music and laughing in the background; it sounded like he was out on the town. He was very young; the Chief remembered that he’d seen Pitcher hanging around Alexis Lopresti’s desk with unusual frequency, probably trying to get a date.
Pitcher said that he hadn’t been the one to pick up the clothes. “I definitely would have remembered that. Clothes and running shoes too, right?”
“Right,” the Chief said. “So you did see them?”
“No,” Pitcher said. “But I know she got hit while running. So there would have been running shoes. What I’m saying is, shoes would have been hard to miss.”
In a last-ditch effort, the Chief called Lisa Hitt to see if, maybe by the grace of God, the clothes had landed in her hands.
“No,” she said. “Why, are they missing?”
The Chief can’t release Cruz’s car until they find the clothes, and he knows he owes Joe DeSantis an explanation, one that should be offered in person.
He swings by the Nickel at two thirty, after the lunch crowd has dispersed. He’s relieved to find only Joe in the place, slicing up a prime rib in the back.
When Joe sees the Chief, a concerned look crosses his face, but he smiles. “The tuna ni?oise baguette is sold out, Ed, sorry. You know you gotta get here earlier than this.”
Ed’s stomach rumbles. He could do with a prime rib sliced thin, lacy Swiss, and arugula with some of Joe’s wickedly spicy horseradish sauce on a warm pretzel roll—but that’s not why he’s here.
There are days he hates his job, and he has just lived through a handful of them.
“Do you have a minute, Joe?”
Joe strides across the shop, flips the sign to say CLOSED, and pulls two Cokes out of the cooler. There’s nowhere to sit, so they lean on the counter.
“If you’re not here for lunch, there must be trouble.”
The Chief sighs. “Has Cruz talked to you at all about what happened when he found Vivian Howe?”
Joe shakes his head, cracks open his Coke. “He hasn’t said a word about it except that he told you everything.” Joe takes a drink. “I guess I don’t understand why you still have his car.”
“There are a few things that look bad,” the Chief says. “One of the officers saw him run the stop sign at Hooper Farm and Surfside and then haul ass down Surfside only a few minutes before he called 911.”
Joe is silent.
“When I asked Cruz where he was coming from, he said home, which doesn’t match up.”
“Your officer is sure it was him? There are a lot of white Jeeps on this island, Ed.”
“The officer said it was him, though he could have been mistaken.” The Chief cracks open his own can of Coke and tries to enjoy the first cold, spicy sip. “The tire tracks were no help. Luminol turned up Ms. Howe’s blood on the door handle but not on the bumper or grille—and because of the gash on Ms. Howe’s leg, there would almost definitely be blood on the bumper.”
“Cruz didn’t hit her,” Joe says. “That child…” Joe spins the can in his hands. “He doesn’t lie, Ed. If he’d hit Vivi, he would have told us.”
“Why was he going over to the Howes’ place so early on a Saturday morning?” the Chief says. “Seven fifteen? I asked him but he didn’t answer.”
Joe says, “I take it he and Leo had a fight. Something must have gone down the night before—that happens around graduation, emotions are high, people say things they don’t mean. Cruz hasn’t seen Leo since the hospital. I could barely get him to go to the memorial service.”
“Cruz was very emotional at the station, and I wondered if something else was going on,” the Chief says.
“Vivian Howe was, for all intents and purposes, Cruz’s mother. He loved her.” Joe clears his throat. “Vivi was very good about making him feel like a part of things, about taking care of him the way only a mom can. Vivi’s death is a big loss to my boy, and to me as well. But Ed, he didn’t hit her.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not convinced?” Joe straightens to his full height, and suddenly the room grows smaller. “You think he’s hiding something? Lying to you?”
“He has a lot to lose.”
“Damn straight he has a lot to lose,” Joe says. “The kid has achieved beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. I don’t understand why Cruz is being treated like a suspect rather than a heartbroken kid who happened to be the first one to find the woman. Or is he a suspect because he’s Black, and when someone Black is close to the scene of a crime, he must have committed it?”