Portrait in Death Read Free Page B

part-time student at Columbia." She swiped at the sweat on her face. "Remke was right on the age. Twenty. Bag and tag," she added. "I can't get cause of death, hell I can't get a gauge on time of death the way she's been baking in there."
    She looked back at the bin. "We'll see what the sweepers find, then let the ME have her."
    "You want to start the knock-on-doors?"
    "Hold off until I talk to Nadine." Tossing the empty bottle back to Peabody, she headed down the sidewalk. One of the gawkers started to call out to her, then shrunk back at the look on her face.
    Nadine stepped out of the van, looking camera fresh and mad as a cat. "Damn you, Dallas, just how long do you think you can keep me blocked?"
    "As long as it takes. I need to see those printouts. Then I need you down at Central for questioning."
    "You need? You think I give a rat's ass about what you need?"
    It had been an ugly morning. She was viciously hot, she stank, and the breakfast she'd so gleefully consumed was no longer settling well. The steam from the glide-cart where the operator was doing double his usual business thanks to the people who hovered, hoping to get a closer look at somebody else's death, added another greasy layer to the heavy air.
    It didn't even occur to her to reign in her temper as she stared at Nadine, looking fresh as a spring morning, with a cup of iced coffee in her pretty, manicured hand.
    "Fine. You have the right to remain silent-"
    "What the hell is this?"
    "This is your Revised Miranda warning. You're a material witness in a homicide. You." She jabbed her finger at a uniform. "Read Ms. Furst her rights, and escort her to Central. She's to be held for questioning."
    "Why you stone bitch."
    "Got it in one." Eve turned on her heel and walked back to confer with the ME.
    Chapter 2
    Inside the deli, the air was cool and smelled of coffee, of lox, of warm bread. She drank the water Remke offered her. He no longer looked like the human rocket about to launch. He looked exhausted.
    People often did, in her experience, after violence.
    "When's the last time you used the bin?" she asked him.
    "About seven last night, right after I closed. My nephew usually closes, but he's on vacation this week. Took the wife and kids to Planet Disney-Christ knows why."
    With his elbows on the counter, he rested his head in his hands, pressed his fingers to his temple. "I can't get that girl's face out of my head."
    And you never will, Eve thought. Not completely. "What time did you get in this morning?"
    "Six." He let out a long sigh, dropped his hands. "I noticed the... the smell right off. I kicked the bin. God almighty, I kicked it, and she was in there."
    "You couldn't have helped her, but you can help her now. What did you do?"
    "I called it in. Reamed the operator. Costello and Mintz, they got here, I don't know, about six-thirty, and we had a bitch session over it. I called back about seven 'cause nobody'd showed up. Called I don't know how many times, worked myself up good, too, until Poole got here. That was about ten minutes, I guess, before I punched him."
    "You live upstairs?"
    "Yeah. Me and my wife, our youngest daughter. She's sixteen." His breath shortened. "It could've been her in there. She was out last night until ten. That's curfew. She was out with a couple of her friends. I don't know what I'd do if... I don't know what I'd do." His voice cracked. "What does anybody do?"
    "I know this is hard. Do you remember hearing anything, seeing anyone, last night? Anything that comes to mind?"
    "Shelley got in right on time. We're strict about curfew, so she walked in at ten. I was watching the game on-screen-mostly waiting up for her, though. We were all in bed by eleven. I had to open, so I turned in early. I never heard a damn thing."
    "Okay, tell me about Rachel. What do you know about her?"
    "Not a lot. She's been working at the 24/7 for about a year, I guess. Mostly days. Some nights, but mostly days. You'd go in, and if she wasn't busy,