Crimson Joy Read Free Page B

your waist," I said, "under your shirt, put a small roll of duct tape in your pocket."
    "Yep," Belson said. "Or carry it in a briefcase. But we're checking anyway. You never know."
    "She tied the same way?"
    "I haven't compared the photos and the write-ups," Belson said, "but it looks the same."
    "We should check that," I said. Belson nodded. Quirk came to stand with us.
    "Hotel staff," Quirk said. "Guests, people drinking in the bar?"
    "Dino's collecting all the credit card receipts," Belson said. "Richie's got the staff, O'Donnell and Rourke got the guests."
    "Parking?" Quirk said.
    "Unattended," Belson said. "We got the registration of everything that's in the lot, but we got no way to know who was there and left."
    "Okay. I'll talk with the press," Quirk said. "We got someplace set aside?"
    "The ballroom, second floor."
    Quirk nodded and moved toward the door. I went with him. "They've heard about you," Quirk said as we went down in the elevator. "You may as well be around while they ask me about you."
    There were folding chairs in the ballroom and maybe two dozen reporters.
    Most of those in the hallway upstairs had moved down here. Television lights had been set up and aimed at a speaker's lectern at the front of the room. I leaned against the wall near the door with my arms folded across my chest while Quirk walked to the lectern. He still had his raincoat on. The TV sound men moved closer to the lectern, crouching under camera shot, holding forward long, soft microphones with black foam covering. The press photographers began to snap pictures.
    "I'm Lieutenant Martin Quirk and I'm in charge of the investigation."
    Quirk said. "So far we have no suspects in the killings, which we believe to be related. The commissioner has asked me to assure you that every resource of the department will be placed at my disposal until the killer is apprehended." Quirk said the stuff about the commissioner the way a child recites the pledge to the flag.
    "Any questions?" Quirk said. It was like asking a shark if it was hungry.
    "Do you expect the killings to continue, Lieutenant?"
    "Probably."
    "What steps are you taking to apprehend the killer, Lieutenant?"
    "All."
    "Lieutenant, is the modus operandi the same for this killing as the others?"
    "Yes."
    "When do you expect to make an arrest, Lieutenant?"
    "As soon as we have a suspect with enough evidence to warrant it."
    "Lieutenant, do you have any suspects now?"
    "No."
    "Is it true, Lieutenant, that the killer may be a policeman?"
    "I have an unsigned letter which makes that claim."
    "Is it authentic, Lieutenant?"
    "I don't know."
    "I am told that there was spermatozoa at the scene of each crime, Lieutenant. Is that true? And if so, how did it get there?"
    Quirk looked without expression at the questioner for a moment before he answered.
    "It is true. We are assuming the killer ejaculated."
    "Are you treating this as a racially motivated sequence of crimes, Lieutenant?"
    "We don't know the killer. We don't know why he kills. We thought it prudent to hold judgment until we did."
    "But, Lieutenant, isn't it odd that all the victims are black?"
    "Yes."
    "And yet, Lieutenant, you are not prepared to say it's racial?"
    "No."
    "Isn't that denying the obvious, Lieutenant?"
    "No."
    "Is it true, Lieutenant, that a Boston private detective is assisting you on this case?"
    "Yes."
    "Is he being paid with city funds, Lieutenant?"
    "No."
    "Who is paying him, sir?"
    "No one. It's a charitable action on his part."
    "Is it because you don't trust your colleagues, Lieutenant?"
    "No."
    "What is his name, Lieutenant?"
    "Spenser. He's back there by the door," Quirk said. "I'm sure he'll enjoy talking with you."
    Then Quirk stepped down from the lectern and walked through the reporters and past me, out the door. As he passed me, he said, "Enjoy."

CHAPTER 4

     
    On Wednesday morning there was a profile of me in the Globe. PRIVATE
    EYE ON RED ROSE CASE, it said. It mentioned that I'd been involved in a