do.”
“I don’t mind talking, it’s just Amelie—I care about her.”
“So you want me to pass this along to Lieutenant Sturgis?”
“I guess.”
“I need you to be sure.”
“Fine, I’m sure.”
“Is there anything else you want to say about the car that checked you out?”
“Not a car, an SUV, that’s all I know, I don’t know brands.”
“Can you recall any details?”
“It wasn’t the same as my dad’s SUV, his is a Porsche, this was bigger. Higher up.”
“What about color?”
“Dark, can’t tell you a color.”
“Unusually high? Like it had been raised?”
“Hmm,” she said. “Maybe … yes, I’d say so. I definitely felt we were being looked down on—oh, yeah, it had shiny rims.”
“Did you see who was inside?”
“No, it was dark and honestly, we didn’t want to know, we just got out of there.”
“What did the SUV do?”
“It didn’t follow us,” she said. “Maybe it stayed there, I don’t know. Which would be weird, when the next morning …”
“Someone checking out the park.”
“I mean you can see right through the fence, it’s not wood, it’s just chain link. Do you think I’m making a big deal out of nothing?”
“One pass might be someone driving by, Heather. Coming back a second time’s more troublesome. Whatever the intention, you were right to leave.”
“Oh, man … city full of freaks. I don’t know if I’ll ever step foot in the park again.”
“What time did this happen?”
“Late,” she said. “Like one a.m. I know ’cause I called my parents at twelve forty-five, they were just about to leave, I figured we had half an hour more. But after the SUV freaked us out, I drove her to her car and went home.”
“Any chance you saw even part of the SUV’s license plate?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Anything else you remember?”
“No,” she said. “Oh, one more thing: The police guy can call me but use my personal cell, not the landline where they pick up.”
I copied down the number.
Howard Goldfeder emerged from his office. “How we doing?”
“We’re doing great, Daddy.”
He said, “Doctor?” As if his daughter hadn’t spoken.
I said, “She’s terrific.”
Goldfeder said, “I could’ve told you that.”
Heather smiled, hiding it from him but allowing me a glimpse of her satisfaction.
CHAPTER
15
M ilo cursed. “Geniuses. They give a witness info then let her leave the scene before I have a chance to talk to her.”
“It could work in your favor,” I said. “Hard to keep secrets with that level of professionalism, so Maxine Cleveland’s squeeze play may be exposed. You ever touch base with that reporter?”
“We keep missing each other, wink wink. Meanwhile, no one’s reported my vic missing.”
“Maybe she hasn’t been gone long enough.”
“Always the optimist,” he said. “The prelim from the coroner just came in. She’s had good dental care, maybe orthodontia. Her blood’s clean, no booze, drugs, or disease, and her body’s free of needle marks, scars, iffy tattoos, or any other sign of a rough life. Dr. Rosenblatt said she looked like someone who shouldn’t have ended up on his table. And yeah, I know that’s politically incorrect but truth is truth, right?” He pounded his hand with his fist. “Someone has to be looking for her.”
He gulped a big chunk out of the egg bagel I’d just turned down. A bag that had once held a dozen mixed leaned against his computer. Thecrumbs of the jalapeño and the onion that he’d finished littered his desktop. “In terms of LeMasters, it’s all I can do not to call her and leak but when the air turns brown and the fan gets filthy, you know who the brass will be chasing down.”
“Want me to call her?”
“Oh, yeah,
that
would be subtle. So little Heather and her girlfriend got spooked by a dark SUV—not a Porsche—no info on the tags, no view of the driver. That narrows it to half the vehicles on the Westside.”
“Even without more
“I don’t mind talking, it’s just Amelie—I care about her.”
“So you want me to pass this along to Lieutenant Sturgis?”
“I guess.”
“I need you to be sure.”
“Fine, I’m sure.”
“Is there anything else you want to say about the car that checked you out?”
“Not a car, an SUV, that’s all I know, I don’t know brands.”
“Can you recall any details?”
“It wasn’t the same as my dad’s SUV, his is a Porsche, this was bigger. Higher up.”
“What about color?”
“Dark, can’t tell you a color.”
“Unusually high? Like it had been raised?”
“Hmm,” she said. “Maybe … yes, I’d say so. I definitely felt we were being looked down on—oh, yeah, it had shiny rims.”
“Did you see who was inside?”
“No, it was dark and honestly, we didn’t want to know, we just got out of there.”
“What did the SUV do?”
“It didn’t follow us,” she said. “Maybe it stayed there, I don’t know. Which would be weird, when the next morning …”
“Someone checking out the park.”
“I mean you can see right through the fence, it’s not wood, it’s just chain link. Do you think I’m making a big deal out of nothing?”
“One pass might be someone driving by, Heather. Coming back a second time’s more troublesome. Whatever the intention, you were right to leave.”
“Oh, man … city full of freaks. I don’t know if I’ll ever step foot in the park again.”
“What time did this happen?”
“Late,” she said. “Like one a.m. I know ’cause I called my parents at twelve forty-five, they were just about to leave, I figured we had half an hour more. But after the SUV freaked us out, I drove her to her car and went home.”
“Any chance you saw even part of the SUV’s license plate?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Anything else you remember?”
“No,” she said. “Oh, one more thing: The police guy can call me but use my personal cell, not the landline where they pick up.”
I copied down the number.
Howard Goldfeder emerged from his office. “How we doing?”
“We’re doing great, Daddy.”
He said, “Doctor?” As if his daughter hadn’t spoken.
I said, “She’s terrific.”
Goldfeder said, “I could’ve told you that.”
Heather smiled, hiding it from him but allowing me a glimpse of her satisfaction.
CHAPTER
15
M ilo cursed. “Geniuses. They give a witness info then let her leave the scene before I have a chance to talk to her.”
“It could work in your favor,” I said. “Hard to keep secrets with that level of professionalism, so Maxine Cleveland’s squeeze play may be exposed. You ever touch base with that reporter?”
“We keep missing each other, wink wink. Meanwhile, no one’s reported my vic missing.”
“Maybe she hasn’t been gone long enough.”
“Always the optimist,” he said. “The prelim from the coroner just came in. She’s had good dental care, maybe orthodontia. Her blood’s clean, no booze, drugs, or disease, and her body’s free of needle marks, scars, iffy tattoos, or any other sign of a rough life. Dr. Rosenblatt said she looked like someone who shouldn’t have ended up on his table. And yeah, I know that’s politically incorrect but truth is truth, right?” He pounded his hand with his fist. “Someone has to be looking for her.”
He gulped a big chunk out of the egg bagel I’d just turned down. A bag that had once held a dozen mixed leaned against his computer. Thecrumbs of the jalapeño and the onion that he’d finished littered his desktop. “In terms of LeMasters, it’s all I can do not to call her and leak but when the air turns brown and the fan gets filthy, you know who the brass will be chasing down.”
“Want me to call her?”
“Oh, yeah,
that
would be subtle. So little Heather and her girlfriend got spooked by a dark SUV—not a Porsche—no info on the tags, no view of the driver. That narrows it to half the vehicles on the Westside.”
“Even without more
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