Dead Ringer

“No way I can interrupt, miss. Now step away or I’ll have you arrested.”

“They tried that already.” Be

“I’m here, Inspector!” Be

“The inspector’s here?” he asked in surprise, and in that moment Be

“Hey, you! Lady! Stop!” the cop called out, giving chase. The uniforms near the medical examiner’s van turned around at the shouting, and Be

“Ba

“Oh, you,” Ba

“It was, we figured it out. She cut the glass, in the backdoor.”

“No kidding?” Ba

“He left,” Be

“You know this lady, Ba

“She’s legit.” Ba

“I didn’t have the chance. I heard about this. I needed to get here.” Be

“Yo,” came a voice from the alley, and in the next minute a grim-faced man in rolled-up shirtsleeves and a striped tie emerged from the shadows. He wore wire-rimmed glasses under a scissored spray of silvery Phil Donahue hair, and his ma

“Sorry.” Be

“Kovich and Brinkley are on day tour this month, but they told me about you.” It was too dark to determine his eye color, but he had an easy grin. “You’re the famous Be

“Guilty.” Be

“So I hear. My condolences.”

So it is really true. Be

“I admire your work, Ms. Rosato. The civil rights work, not the police cases.”

“Fair enough. Thanks.” Be

“You’ve been to scenes before.” It sounded like a statement, but the detective waited for an answer, and she nodded. He pursed his lips and took her arm gently. “All right then. This one isn’t pretty. Keep your cool. If you gotta leave, leave. You know what Kovich always says, ‘Leave or heave.’”

She nodded, noting the kindness in his eyes, which turned out to be light blue. She sensed that Robert would be in good hands. They edged forward, going into the alley, where a ring of perso

Robert’s body. Be

The alley couldn’t have been more than three feet wide, with a concrete floor that dipped in the center, presumably sloping down to a drain somewhere. A tiny snake of greasy water lay stagnant in the gulley, its surface shiny with oil and littered with a striped straw, a few cigarette butts, and an old Daily News sports section, and Be

“What happened?” she heard herself say in a hushed tone, even though she didn’t know if Detective Needleman was listening. She wasn’t sure she was addressing him, or anyone at all.

“He was stabbed to death. We looked but didn’t recover the knife. Same MO as that murder, last month, you heard of it. He was about the same age, fiftyish, from Belgium, it happened two blocks away.”

Be

“This body was found by a Temple kid walking by, out with his buddies, he called on his cell.” Needleman checked his watch, pressing on a tiny button so its purple numbers glowed in the dark. “That was about ten-thirty. An hour ago, at this point. Tentative time of death was nine o’clock, but that’s only tentative. We found the vic’s wallet beside him, credit cards and cash gone. Watch gone, too. And a ring, I think. Had a slight indent on the ring finger. Same as the guy from Belgium.”

Be

“Cause of death, also unofficial, exsanguination. He bled to death. This is all confidential from the media, by the way. I was assuming you could be trusted, from what Brinkley told me.” Needleman looked over for verification, and Be

Be