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chest and bubbles exploded out of her mouth and nose.
    “Didn’t drown. Her lungs are full of air.”
    He moved his hand higher, prodding the wrinkled skin on her neck.
    “I can feel some damage to the trachea. There also appears to be a lesion around her neck. I want to get a sample of the water before I pull the drain plug.”
    Hughes dove into his box. Herb, Crouch, and I left him and went into the living room. Herb called in, requesting the forensics team.
    “Any hits from the other tenants?” I asked the rookie.
    He flipped open his pad. “One door over, at apartment 3010, the occupant, a Mr. Stanley Mankowicz, remembers some yelling coming from the victim’s place about six days ago.”
    “Does he remember what time?”
    “It was late, he was in bed. Mr. Mankowicz shares a wall with the vic, and has called her on several occasions to tell her to turn her television down.”
    “Did he call that night?”
    “He was about to, but the noise stopped.”
    “Where’s the super?”
    “Johnson hasn’t finished taking his statement.”
    “Call them both in here.”
    While waiting for them to arrive, I examined Mrs. Flagstone’s door. Like Janet’s, it had a safety chain, and like Janet’s, it had been ripped from the wall and the mounting was hanging from the door. I found four screws and some splinters on the floor. There were no screws in the door frame.
    A knock, and I opened the door. Officer Johnson and the super. Johnson was older than his partner, bigger, with the same dead eyes. The superintendent was a Pakistani man named Majid Patel. Mr. Patel had dark skin and red eyes and he clearly enjoyed all of this attention.
    “I moved to this country ten years ago, and I have never seen a dead body before. Now I have seen two in the same day. I must call and tell my mother. I call my mother when anything exciting happens.”
    “We’ll let you go in a moment, Mr. Patel. I’m Lt. Jack Daniels, this is Detective Herb Benedict. We just have a few…”
    “Your name is Jack Daniels? But you are not a man.”
    “You’re very observant,” I deadpanned. “Did you know Janet Hellerman?”
    Patel winked at me. Was he flirting?
    “It must be hard, Lt. Jack Daniels, to be a pretty woman with a funny name in a profession so dominated by male chauvinist pigs.” Patel offered Herb a look. “No offense.”
    Herb returned a pleasant smile. “None taken. If you could please answer the Lieutenant’s question.”
    Patel grinned, crooked teeth and spinach remnants.
    “She was a real estate lawyer. Young and good looking. Always paid her rent on time. My brother gave her a deal on her apartment, because she had nice legs.” Patel had no reservations about openly checking out mine. “Yours are very nice too, Jack Daniels. For an older lady. Are you single?”
    “She’s single.” Herb winked at me, gave me an elbow. I made a mental note to fire him later.
    “Your brother?” I asked Patel.
    “He’s the building owner,” Officer Johnson chimed in. “It’s the family business.”
    “Did you know anything about Janet’s personal life?”
    “She had a shit for a boyfriend, a man named Glenn. He had an affair and she dumped him.”
    “When was this?”
    “About ten days ago. I know because she asked me to change the lock on her door. She had given him a key and he wouldn’t return it.”
    “Did you change the lock?”
    “I did not. Ms. Hellerman just mentioned it to me in the elevator once. She never filled out the work order request.”
    “Does the building have a doorman?”
    “No. We have security cameras.”
    “I’ll need to see tapes going back two weeks. Can you get them for me?”
    “It will not be a problem.”
    Mortimer Hughes came out of the bathroom. He was holding a closed set of tweezers in one hand, his other hand cupped beneath it.
    “I dug a fiber out of the victim’s neck. Red, looks synthetic.”
    “From a rope?” I asked.
    Hughes nodded.
    “Mr. Patel, we’ll be down shortly