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The super was short and wore a dirty T-shirt, baggy pants, and a grizzled, apathetic expression. When he spoke, a scotch-scented wind wafted toward Be
“But you live downstairs,” Be
“The cops already axed me that. I told ’em, I don’t hear nothin’ at night.”
“Even a gunshot?”
“I didn’t hear nothin’. So I’d had a few. That agains’ the law?”
“Did you ever hear Co
The old man’s watery eyes lit up. “Anything? You mean anything?”
“Fine. Anything.”
“No.” He burst into laughter that ended in a hacking fit. Judy and Mary exchanged glances, standing in the hallway in front of his apartment. The television, specifically Oprah Winfrey’s theme song, blared from behind a white door grimy with fingerprints. “I hardly ever saw ’em. They was never around. Him bein’ a cop and all, I figgered he was busy.”
“Did they have a lot of visitors?”
“Hell if I know. I stay in my place. My brother-in-law, he owns this dump, he likes it that way. Any way he likes it is fine with me.” The super squinted. “You say you’re a lawyer? All a youse are gal lawyers? Do they have that?”
Be
“Hell, yes. That apartment’s nothin’ but trouble. I could show it all day, ain’t nobody go
“The apartment’s been vacant since the murder? With the original furniture?”
“Sure. Got everything ’cept the rug. I throwed that out when the cops was done with it.”
Be
“I don’t get paid enough to move nothin’.”
“I need to see that apartment. Can I borrow the key?”
“What the hell.” The super fumbled for his pocket and dug around inside. “Who you think cleaned that mess upstairs? Yours truly. Who you think took up the g-d rug, had blood all over it? Yours truly. Who sanded the floors? Repainted the bloody wall? Packed all their shit up and put it in the basement?”
“Yours truly?” Judy said, and the super gri
After they got the key, Be
Be
“Yep,” Judy answered. She snapped a photo, but Mary lingered at the threshold, u
Be
“Gotcha.” Judy clicked away as Be
“Here we go. Here’s the bloodstain.” Be
“Jeez.” Judy walked over and took a picture. “No wonder the super hasn’t rented the place. Nobody sweeps blood under the rug.”
“Which way did the body fall? Where’s DiNunzio?” Be
“Coming.” Mary walked over as purposefully as she could and looked down. On the floor was a dark brown stain shaped like France. Her stomach flipped over. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Della Porta was found face-up,” Be
“East? West?” Mary couldn’t think clearly. A man had died here, shot in the head. She visualized a slug of hot lead tearing apart the soft wetness of his brain. Destroying what should have been inviolate.
“West is to your left, east to your right.”
Mary couldn’t take her eyes from the bloodstain. She’d seen the autopsy photos and the mobile crime unit photos. So much blood in a line of work that was supposed to be bloodless.
“Which is it? East or west?”
“Can I… check the file?” Mary slid the accordion from under her arm.
“No. You read it, didn’t you?” Be
“What’s the point, Be
“Quiet, please. Mary doesn’t need a lawyer, she is a lawyer.” Be
“West,” Mary said, the answer materializing from a police photo she didn’t know she remembered.
“Good girl. What did the coroner have as the time of death?”
“The coroner said between seven-thirty and eight-thirty. It was in his report.”
“There you go. Now, Co
“That’s what they’ll say.”
Judy looked puzzled. “You know what I don’t get? It’s a long walk here from the library, an hour or more. Why did she walk? There’s buses, cabs, everything.”
“I don’t know, maybe she likes to walk.”
“Then she has no alibi. If she left at six-thirty, she could still be walking home at the time of the murder.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Judy swallowed hard, then risked job termination. “Did she do it?”
“She’s our client, Carrier. Whether she did it or not is beside the point.” Be
“You don’t think Co
“Co
Judy cocked her head. “So it’s a conflict between justice and loyalty.”
“Welcome to the profession.”
Mary heard the edge to Be