Grey Zone by Clea Simon

ogre.
    But once again, his voice turned soft. ‘Miss, I’m sorry, but this really is confidential. And we’d really appreciate you doing us this favor.’
    She nodded, appalled at the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes.
    â€˜Look, it’s OK. I mean, it’s probably nothing.’ He had dropped his voice. ‘This isn’t even about her any more, OK?’ She nodded. ‘There’s been another incident, and we just have some questions for her. And even that might not be anything more than what it seems. An accident, maybe. Or a suicide.’
    Dulcie swallowed, the tears gone. ‘I know about—’ She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘incident.’ Such a cold little word. ‘About what happened at the Poche Building. I was there. There, too.’
    That got the officer’s attention. ‘You weren’t by chance with the recently deceased?’
    She shook her head, hoping to shake loose the image. ‘No, no. Not at all.’ She paused and remembered the guard. Her ID. ‘I was in the lobby, looking for one of my students, when, well . . .’
    â€˜Did you give a statement to the officer on the scene?’
    â€˜No,’ she told the floor. ‘I needed to leave.’ He had to understand, didn’t he? After a moment of silence, she looked up. He was still staring at her, his face unreadable. ‘But, I’m here now.’ She heard the quaver in her voice. ‘And I’ll do what I can.’
    â€˜Thank you, Ms Schwartz. If we can find this girl, she’s – well, let’s just say we need to talk to her.’ He waited, and with a nod, Dulcie reached for the laptop.
    Glad 2 hear it! That sounded casual, didn’t it? But folks are worried. Call? She typed in the number, took a deep breath, and hit send.
    When she looked up, Detective Rogovoy was nodding. He was also holding an oversized Manila envelope. Dulcie could have sworn that hadn’t been on the desk a minute before. ‘Thank you very much, Ms Schwartz. And one more thing.’ He pulled a white sheet out of the envelope. ‘That man with the girl? The one you didn’t see?’
    He leaned in as he slid the sheet toward her on the table. It was slick and shiny. ‘It wouldn’t be this guy, maybe, would it?’
    He flipped the sheet over to reveal a glossy photo. A man’s face, close up. Dimitri.

THIRTEEN
    â€˜ I don’t know if he was actually an ogre, Dulcie, but I’d say your initial instincts were right on. You were played.’ Dulcie had called Suze as soon as she’d left the police station. What her friend was saying did not make her feel any better. ‘That cop sounds awfully good at his job.’
    â€˜But Suze, I was trying to help. I mean, I told him about the email. So we know she’s alive. And maybe what I saw did mean something. You were the one who said I should go down there.’ She looked around. The tall red-haired stranger was nowhere to be seen, and Dulcie realized she was a little disappointed. She could have used a knight.
    â€˜No, that was the right thing to do. I should’ve gone with you, though.’ Suze was at work, and Dulcie could hear a baby crying in the background. ‘I’m not at all sure about him asking you to email that poor girl. The legalities of that are iffy.’
    â€˜You’ve got your hands full, Suze. I thought I could handle it. But, Suze? The officer said something about Carrie that really worried me. I mean, he said they want her for questioning. But I think she’s in trouble, like somebody is after her. You don’t think it’s Dimitri, do you?’
    â€˜Hang on.’ The line went dead.
    â€˜Suze?’
    Her friend came back, talking fast. ‘I wouldn’t worry about Dimitri, Dulce. I mean, you recognized him, but you didn’t see him with that girl. You didn’t see them fighting. Maybe there’s