Secret Admirer. Amanda Stevens

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ gaze turned bleak as he stared at the flashing lights on top of the patrol cars. “I don’t think I can do that. I don’t think I can face him right now.”

      Something in his tone sent a shiver coursing through Eve. “Then go home,” she said softly. “Get some rest. We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us.”

      He nodded absently and started down the street. Eve didn’t see his car, but it had to be parked around here somewhere. He was halfway down the block before she realized she hadn’t asked him how he’d known about Lucy Stringer.

      Had Clare called him, too?

      WHEN EVE WALKED BACK into the room, she saw Tony glance up at her, but then he went right back to work. His face was an inscrutable mask as he bent over the dead woman, cataloging the stab wounds and the bruises marring an otherwise flawless face.

      There was a lot of blood. The sheets were stained almost completely red.

      A wave of nausea rolled over Eve, but she fought it back.

      “Landlady found her,” Tony said, without looking up. “She’d gotten up to take her heart medication and saw lights on in the apartment. Said she was afraid Lucy might have been sick so she came over here to check.”

      “Where is the landlady?” Eve asked.

      “Downstairs. Roswell says she’s not in very good shape,” he said, referring to one of the uniforms. “Why don’t you go talk to her? I’ll finish up in here.”

      Eve was absurdly grateful. She hated to admit how anxious she was to get out of that bedroom. She’d never thought she was cut out for homicide, and now she knew the truth of it. Turning, she strode from the room, inhaling gulps of fresh air as she clambered down the stairs.

      The landlady, Betty Jarvis, was an older woman, in her late sixties or early seventies. She sat at her kitchen table, intermittently twisting a damp tissue in her hands and lifting it to wipe at her red-rimmed eyes. This wasn’t going to be much fun, either, Eve thought.

      She sat down at the table and took the woman’s hand in hers. “I’m Detective Barrett. I know this is going to be difficult for you, but I’ve got to ask you some questions.”

      IT WAS ALMOST TWO HOURS before Eve and Tony hooked back up. She’d finished her interview with Mrs. Jarvis, and Tony had already talked to the immediate neighbors, as well as the patrol officers who had first responded to the call.

      They stood in the living room of Lucy’s apartment as her body was lifted onto a stretcher and carried down to the coroner’s van. Once the body was removed, the apartment took on an air of abandonment, a hushed quality that sent a shiver up Eve’s backbone.

      The CSU team was finishing up in the other rooms of the apartment, checking sink traps and trash cans. Other than the bedroom, where the victim had been found, the bathroom would take the longest. The tile and porcelain could be an especially fertile ground for trace evidence.

      Eve glanced around, seeing signs of the crime almost everywhere. The bloody bedclothes had been bagged, sealed, labeled and placed near the door, along with several other paper packets of evidence. The stack would grow as the CSU techs continued their work. Hopefully, something inside one of the bags would lead them to the killer.

      Tony came over to stand beside her. “Thanks for getting rid of D’Angelo earlier.”

      “No problem. I didn’t think this was the time or place to air personal problems.”

      Tony gave her a strange, probing look. “No, you’re right. You did good.”

      “Thanks.” Maybe not much of a compliment to anyone else, but it was a start, Eve thought.

      “So did you find out anything from the landlady?”

      Eve shrugged. “Maybe. She and Lucy were pretty tight, it seems. Lucy was like a surrogate granddaughter or something. Mrs. Jarvis liked to keep an eye on her.”

      “Spy on her, you mean,” Tony said, frowning.

      “No, I don’t think it was that way.” Eve paused. “I think she genuinely cared about Lucy, and from everything I’ve been able to gather, that wasn’t unusual. Lucy was a personable young woman.”

      Something flashed in Tony’s eyes, an emotion Eve couldn’t define, but he said nothing.

      “Mrs. Jarvis thought there was a possibility that Lucy may have had a new boyfriend.”

      “That seems to fit.”

      Eve knew he was referring to the setup of the crime scene—no tool marks at the front door, no sign of a struggle. It appeared Lucy Stringer had known her killer.

      “Does she know who he is?” Tony asked.

      Eve shook her head. “No. She never even saw him, but she said Lucy had been acting a little strangely the last few days. Secretive. And she hadn’t been getting home until all hours.”

      “What’s ‘all hours’?”

      “Three and four o’clock in the morning, according to Mrs. Jarvis. She thinks Lucy may have brought him home with her a time or two.”

      “Did she see a car?”

      Again Eve shook her head. “No. And she said she checked, too, but there was never a vehicle, besides Lucy’s, parked at the curb or in the driveway. She thinks maybe he rode with Lucy, and then either called a cab or walked home.”

      “Which means he could live nearby,” Tony said, without expression.

      Eve had thought about that, too. “Maybe Lucy gave him a lift the next day.”

      “Maybe. We’ll need to find out the guy’s name, which means talking to Lucy’s friends and family. People she went to school with.”

      “Mrs. Jarvis knew a couple of Lucy’s girlfriends. I’ve got their names in my notebook. There’s another thing.” When Tony glanced at her, Eve said, “A couple of weeks ago, Lucy received an anonymous love letter. She showed it to Mrs. Jarvis.”

      “Was the letter signed?”

      “Unfortunately, no, and Mrs. Jarvis’s memory is hazy on the content. But she remembers teasing Lucy about having a secret admirer, and then a few days later, Lucy received flowers. Pink roses, and the card wasn’t signed.”

      “She have any idea where Lucy might have kept the letter and the card?”

      “No, but she thinks Lucy’s new boyfriend was the same person who sent her the letter and the flowers. Maybe that was why Lucy was so secretive about him. She didn’t want his identity known.”

      “Married?”

      “That was my first thought,” Eve agreed. “But it could be someone prominent or older. Someone Lucy knew Mrs. Jarvis wouldn’t approve of.”

      Tony nodded, distracted. “We’d better get the reports written up,” he said. “Then we can start the legwork.”

      They СКАЧАТЬ