by L. K. Hill
Behind the desk on his right, a man with thin, dark, shoulder-length hair and spectacles that perched on the tip of his nose drew on an over-sized sketch pad. He turned the pad around for Gabe’s inspection.
The spikey-haired woman from the alley peered back at him. He nodded. “That’s pretty damn close. Could you make her eyes a bit wider, though? I know I’ve said it three times, but she had really big eyes. Very blue. Very distinctive.”
With a nod, the artist turned the sketch back around and began making adjustments. Gabe glanced up to see Shaun and Tanner threading toward him through the pen.
“I hear you have a sketch for me,” Tanner said as he approached.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah. We’re pretty much done.”
The artist tore the top page off his pad and handed it to Gabe, who passed it to Tanner.
“This is her, eh?” Tanner asked. “Good. We’ll circulate this. Try and smoke her out.”
“Sir, can I stress—”
“Discretion? Yeah Cora already talked to me. I’ll make sure our people know to be cautious.”
Tanner hurried from the room while Gabe clapped the sketch artist on the back, getting an annoyed look for his trouble. “Thanks, man.” The man gave Gabe a quick nod, before turning away.
Gabe followed Shaun into the corridor.
“How was your DB?” Shaun asked.
“Kinda brutal. Dead prostitute. Pretty girl. Young. Stabbed repeatedly. I’m just praying we don’t have a Ripper wannabe on our hands.”
Shaun gave him a humorless smirk. “Wouldn’t that be pleasant? What else did you find?”
“We won’t know more until DNA and fingerprints come back.”
Shaun nodded. “You want to go home? It was your night off. And the case will keep. Probably won’t see those reports until morning.”
Gabe considered it, but shook his head. “I’m already here. Just a few hours left.”
Shaun shrugged. “Fine by me. Just don’t complain later that I made you stay.” Gabe smirked and headed for his desk.
Leaning crookedly against a black sky, the apartment building Tina had directed Kyra to was anything but impressive. This wasn’t a busy block, but it was only a few streets away from the thoroughfares. Hobos and hookers still lined the sidewalk, just fewer than in busy areas. The sidewalk was dark, the apartment complex rundown and grubby.
Pulling the hood of her hoodie up for the hundredth time, Kyra crossed the street. The inside of the apartment building was covered in grime and graffiti. Tile that looked like it had been laid in the eighties covered the walls, and fluorescent lights that should have been white but shone more yellow where they worked at all, hung high in the hallways. A mixture of mothballs and dankness filled her nose, and the air felt stale.
More hobos slept in the hallways, and Kyra had to step over several less-than-savory-smelling gentlemen on her way up to the second floor. On the landing at the top of the stairs, two men about her age but covered with tattoos and piercings smoked from pipes. The stench of their product filled the hallway. Keeping her eyes down, Kyra moved past them. They muttered rude comments after her, but she ignored them, focusing on apartment numbers.
Near the end of the hall, she found the one labeled 211. She raised her fist, then hesitated. She still didn’t really know why she was doing this. It would only get her noticed, which she always tried to avoid. Still, if this woman knew anything about that dead girl, Kyra wanted to hear it. Steeling her resolve, she raised her fist again and knocked lightly on the door.
No response. She knocked again, and waited. She raised her hand to knock a third time when a soft voice—a whisper—came from the other side.
“Who is it?”
Kyra leaned her face as close to the door as she could. “Sadie? My name’s Supra. I met you earlier on the street. I was talking to Tina?”
“What do you want?” the whisper came again.
“To talk to you. I know it’s late, Sadie, but can you give me a minute? It’s important. Can you just—”
Before she could finish, the door was yanked open. A hand grabbed Kyra’s shoulder and wrenched her unceremoniously inside.
The apartment was dark, and Kyra’s eyes needed time to adjust. All she could make out aside from the light filtering in around the doorway from the hall was a small, square window on the other side of the room.
“What do you mean knocking on my door at this hour, woman?” Sadie still whispered but she sounded livid. “And stop saying my name so loud!”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask you something and I figured you’d still be awake.”
“I’m still awake. That’s not the point. Don’t you know how dangerous these people are?” She motioned toward the door with her hand and Kyra could only assume she meant the people squatting in the hallway.
“Are they only here at night?” she asked.
Sadie’s hand dropped. “They all hibernate when the sun’s up.”
Kyra nodded. “I’m sorry, Sadie. I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”
Sadie crossed her arms over her chest. “Haven’t been in the Slip Mire long, have you? What do you want?”
“I know your friend was killed tonight. I saw you there. You looked upset. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Kyra’s eyes had adjusted to the dimness. She couldn’t see Sadie’s eyes, but she could make out a confused frown. “I thought you wanted to ask me something.”
“I do, but I was also worried about you. Dealing with the death of a friend is tough. Are you okay?”
Sadie stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Kyra just kept from chuckling at the expression, though she felt vague sadness at the situation. People who lived Sadie’s lifestyle weren’t used to others showing genuine concern for them.
“I’m…really sad about Mallory. She’s—” Sadie swallowed loudly. “She was one of my best friends. But…I guess I’m…all right.”
Kyra made sure her voice was sincere. “I’m glad.”
Sadie appeared more confused than ever. Her voice had lost all of its anger. “What’d you want to ask me?”
Kyra swallowed. Just like that she’d developed a rapport. Now for the tricky part. “Just to ask if you saw Mallory tonight, before she died. Did you…see anything?”
The chill suddenly emanating from Sadie was palpable. After a moment of silence, Sadie’s cold voice came from the dimness. “What makes you think I saw anything?”
Heart sinking, sure she’d already lost her chance, Kyra stammered, “Well, she’s your friend. And that’s your corner. I can only assume you saw her earlier. Talked to her?”
Sadie put her hand on the doorknob. “I want you to leave now.”
“Please, Sadie, just talk to me.”
“What are you, a cop or something?”
“Not at all,” Kyra fought to keep her voice calm, soothing. “I just want to know—”
“We’re hookers!” Sadie hissed. “Why do you care what happens to us?”
“Because. I just…do.”
“Get out!” Sadie yanked the door open three inches, letting a bar of light into the room. Obviously being reasonable wasn’t working. Kyra took two giant steps toward the door and slammed it shut again. Two could play at the dominant bitch game.
Even so, she kept her voice level. “Okay, listen. I’m trying to…start a business. The kind you conduct from the street.”
“You’re a dealer.”
Kyra shook her head. “Not yet. For now, I’m just a runner. Not even drugs, just messages between dealers. I make it my business to know everything that happens in the warehouse district, Sadie. And I do care. About all you girls.” Sadie didn’t move from the door, but she didn’t open it again, either. Kyra could almost hear the gears turning in her head, weighing Kyra’s words, searching for truth. “I won’t tell anyone I talked to you, Sadie. No one knows I’m here. No one knows who I am at all. I just want to know what you saw. For me. For my own reasons. Please?”
Aft
er a moment, Sadie sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. She took her hand from the doorknob and motioned farther into the room. “You might as well sit down.”
Minutes later they sat at either side of a beat-up patio table. Sadie had switched on a lamp that had no shade. The orange glow of the bulb filled the room.
“I didn’t see the guy’s face if that’s what you’re after,” Sadie said.
“That’s okay. I’m not looking for his exact identity. Just a general idea of what happened. Tell me what you did see?”
Sadie took a deep breath and let it out. “After you talked to Tina, she and I stayed on that corner for a while. Then Mallory showed up and started talking with us. Before too long, Tina got a customer. She went with him in his car. Then another guy showed up on foot. He must have been one of Mallory’s regulars, ‘cause she knew his name. They went into the alley behind us.”
Kyra nodded encouragingly. “Then what happened? Did you see anything else?”
Sadie nodded. “Couldn’t’ve been more than five minutes and he came stumbling out of the alley. Belt unbuckled, pants around his thighs, bleeding from the nose and mouth.”
Kyra frowned. “Someone…beat him up? I don’t understand.”
Sadie gave her a sad smile. “It’s not actually uncommon in this line of work. In this part of town, the johns can show up high or drunk. Especially if two regulars show up at the same time, they sometimes fight over us.”
“And the one that wins…?”
“Gets serviced,” Sadie said.
“Oh.” Kyra fought to keep the judgment out of her voice. She just couldn’t imagine living like that. “Do you girls ever get hurt?”
Sadie shrugged. “Sometimes. Mostly we just stay out of the way; let them duke it out, then go with the winner. Kind of a rule of the street, you know? Whoever’s the bigger man gets the treat.”
Kyra nodded. “And you’re sure that’s what happened with Mallory?”
Sadie nodded. “When I saw him come out, I ran to the alley and looked in. I could see Mallory with another guy.”
“Was he hurting her?” Kyra asked.
Sadie shrugged. “Not then. He had his arms around her. They were up against the alley wall. She even waved at me to show she was okay. So I went back to the street corner.”
“Then what?”
Sadie studied her hands, swallowing loudly. “I got a customer. Went with him. Was gone…I don’t know. An hour? Probably not two. When I got back, the cops were already there. Mallory was…was…” Her voice broke and Kyra put a hand on her arm.
“I’m so sorry, Sadie. Can you tell me what the second man looked like? Could you see him at all?”
Sadie shook her head. “Not his face, but he was dressed weirdly.”
“How so?”
“At first, I thought he wore a skirt, but then I realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I think maybe he took off his shirt and tied it around his waist. It’s pretty warm out tonight. I could see most of his legs, though, so he must have been wearing shorts or something.”
Kyra raised an eyebrow, but didn’t break in. Sadie wasn’t wrong about the temperature. To tie a shirt around one’s waist, it had to be long-sleeved to begin with. What would be the point of wearing a heavy shirt on a warm night, only to take it off and tie it around your middle?
“And his hair was really long and red.”
Kyra arched an eyebrow again. “Really? Like yours?”
Sadie shrugged. “More orange than mine. And longer—all the way to his waist. And it was really frizzy—like it was permed or blown out or something.”
“Do…a lot of your johns look like that?” Kyra asked, hoping Sadie wouldn’t take offense.
Sadie chuckled softly, though with little humor. “No. But I’ve seen weirder. You get some…interesting people in this line of work.”
Kyra nodded. “And you’re sure this was a man?”
“Yes. No shirt, remember? And even he’d been wearing one, his whole build was manly. Really tall, big shoulders. Besides, Mallory wasn’t one who would do a woman. She’d have just told a woman to get lost.”
Kyra leaned back in her chair, filing the information away in her head. So chances were this second, ‘weirdly dressed’ guy was the one who’d killed Mallory, though even that wasn’t certain. What if the guy did his thing, left, and then another customer came along and killed her? There hadn’t been a plethora of time, but that didn’t mean much. In her research, Kyra read about plenty of serial killers that could do the deed quickly. Especially if they could get a victim alone in a dark alley. Maybe it wasn’t the john and someone had been lying in wait, just waiting for him to leave…
Kyra rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was way over-thinking this.
“You said,” she rested her forearms on the table again. “You said Mallory knew the first guy by name. What was it?”
“I’m not sure. Chase or Jace or something. She didn’t say his last name.”
Tanya nodded. “Anything else you can tell me?” Sadie shook her head, and Kyra rose from the chair, pulling the cowl of her hoodie up over her hair. “Well, I’ll let you get to sleep. Thank you for talking to me, Sadie. I really appreciate it. If you ever need anything…well, I don’t really have any connections—” A grin jumped onto Sadie’s face. “—But if there’s ever anything I can do to help you, let me know. I’m around, not hard to find.”
She turned to leave. Before she got to the door, Sadie put a hand on her arm. “Hey. Supra, right?”
Kyra nodded.
“I didn’t mean to be a bitch earlier. I just didn’t know what you wanted.”
“It’s understandable,” Kyra said, making sure to meet Sadie’s eyes with a genuine smile.
After a moment, Sadie returned it, her shoulders relaxing. “Look, those creeps out there will go when the sun comes up. If you want to leave here without being harassed, you could always crash on my couch for a few hours.”
Kyra smiled. “Thanks, but I have a few more people to meet tonight. Besides, I like to be safe in my own bed well before dawn. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Sadie nodded. The sound of a crying baby came from a back bedroom and Sadie disappeared into the darkness of the apartment.
Kyra vaguely remembered Tina saying something about Sadie having a kid. The next moment, she reappeared with a fat, red-haired toddler on her hip. “You have a baby,” Kyra said warmly.
“Yes. This is Annie.” She proudly waved the baby’s hand at Kyra. The baby, not more than a year old, squinted in the orange light, which was no doubt brighter than her room had been, but managed to smile.
“She’s beautiful,” Kyra said, and meant it. “Did our talking wake her up?” she asked apologetically.
Sadie shook her head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. She gets up at this time nearly every night. Usually just needs a diaper change and some water. After that, she sleeps ‘til dawn. That’s why I have to be home from work by this time.”
Kyra nodded, wondering if Sadie left the baby alone in the apartment from the time she put her to bed until after midnight when she returned from work. “I have to get going. I’ll see you around?”
Sadie nodded, and Kyra backed out of the apartment. It never ceased to amaze her how easy it was to earn trust from people like Sadie. Junkies were naturally paranoid, and the harsher people on the street were hard to bond with, but people like Sadie had very little positivity in their lives. Show them a little kindness and they treated you like you’d gone through high school together. It was just as well, though. Kyra needed as many friendly eyes on the street as she could get.
Still smiling, she shut the door and turned to head down the corridor. The tattoo parlor poster boys still sat at the top of the steps. Plastering a scowl on her face, Kyra headed toward them, wishing there was another way to get back to the ground floor.
Keeping her face angry and her head down, she stalked past them. She almost made it. Just as her foot found the first step down, a
strong hand closed around her wrist. He swung her around and yanked her so close to him that his face was practically pressed against hers. His eyes were cold and black, his teeth yellow and his breath foul. His eyebrow rings shimmered in the dim, fluorescent light. “What you doin’ in our building at this hour, darlin’?”
She yanked her hand away. “None of your damn business.”
He clocked her so fast and so hard that one instant she was staring into his ugly face and the next she was on the ground, feeling numb, like she’d just run into a wall. She had. He’d slammed his fist into the side of her face and she’d kissed into the wall before sliding to the floor. Her vision was blurry, but it began to clear immediately.
The two thugs sat in the same place, talking and chuckling together. They were flipping through a pornographic magazine and making crude jokes. It almost seemed they’d forgotten about her. She knew they hadn’t. They were just waiting for her to recover so they could abuse her some more. Trying to blink the haze from her eyes, Kyra forced herself to think. She had two options: roll down the stairs and run like hell, or stand up to them. Running was definitely the smarter choice, just not one she had the luxury of. If she wanted to use Sadie as a source, she’d have to come back to this building, which meant she had to establish herself as someone not worth messing with. Besides, if she tried to run and got dizzy, they’d catch her anyway.
Gritting her teeth, she managed to get to her feet without groaning. She knuckled her lower back as though it was sore, using the motion as an excuse to reach under her shirt. The two men glanced at her casually. The one who’d grabbed her the first time reached out without looking at her and grabbed her wrist again, yanking her forward. “I’m going to ask you again, Darlin’¬—”
That’s all the farther he got before the tip of Kyra’s knife pressed into his neck. He froze, eyes wide. His buddy gasped and fumbled for a weapon.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Kyra said, voice hard as iron. “Pull something on me. Your friend’ll be dead before he hits the floor.”
The second thug hesitated. “You’ll be dead too, princess.”
“Yes. We both will. And you’ll have to sit up here alone, smoking and browsing skin mags and talking to yourself.”
