Windy nodded. That house was set lower than the one they were in, so from where she stood she imagined that if it were lighter she would be able to see into the rooms on the facing side. Bedrooms probably.
“I bet Eve stood here all the time when she was locked up, looking at the outside world and envying it,” Windy said.
“It could certainly make someone misanthropic,” Ash agreed. She was right next to him as she stared out the window, giving him her profile, so close their arms were almost touching. They were at a crime scene, standing in some sort of torture chamber, and all he could think about was saying something he’d never said before, “I’ve fallen in love with you,” not even caring what her response would be, just wanting her to know that someone felt that way about her. Okay, maybe he cared about her response a little, but it wasn’t the main thing. The main thing was to let her know someone thought she was wonderful.
So what he said was, “Do you smell paint? Wet paint?”
Windy closed her eyes for a moment, sniffing, then opened them and said, “Yes. From over there.” She pointed and he moved the light, showing up a part of the wall that told them they were worthless pieces of fat assed fucked up garbage crap but had a place below the words where the cobwebs had been pushed aside and there was a square of fresh beige paint.
“What could she have needed to paint over that was worse than any of this other stuff?” Ash asked.
Windy looked at it and shook her head. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow, until we can get someone in who can lift the top layer and leave the writing underneath.”
“No way. I happen to know a little bit about paint, and if she used the paint from upstairs, I can get this off in a minute.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I have a special technique.” He took the clean cloth Windy handed him from the crime scene kit, spat into it, and started rubbing.
“Special technique,” Windy muttered, standing behind him with her arms crossed, thinking this was a bad idea. She kept her eyes off the mess he was making of her crime scene, reading the words on the wall, cocksucker, disgusting cunt faced pig, until it was Ash’s turn to say, “Oh brother.”
Windy looked over his shoulder. An uneven heart that looked like it had been traced and retraced in pen hundreds of times surrounded the words Eve + Harry and then beneath the heart Always.
“Do you think it’s the same Harry the assistant manager at the restaurant was talking about?” Windy asked.
“If it is, I think we have found our trigger. From the fact that this was painted over in the last forty-eight hours, I’d say that Eve was trying to erase Harry from her life. It looks like they had a nasty break-up.”
CHAPTER 58
It was after ten P.M. when Windy and Ash finished with The Pit and closed up the O’Connell house. When they got outside they stood in the dark driveway for several minutes, drinking in the fresh air, both of them feeling like they’d just been through more than a crime scene.
“Tomorrow I will get someone at the school district to find the yearbooks of the schools Eve went to, check to see if there are any Harrys listed,” Ash said. “That was a good idea.”
“It’s a long shot. I’ll be interested to know what the lab makes of that air sample. If Eve does have diabetes or some other condition, we might be able to use it to trace her.”
Ash dug his hands into his pockets like an awkward teenager on a date trying to decide if he should kiss the girl, his whole body saying “yes.” Bringing his hands out now, extending them to Windy. “I almost forgot,” he said, opening his palms to reveal four packages of cherry Pop Rocks. “These were for after the autopsy.”
That earned him a smile. He reached out to give two of the envelopes to Windy and she reached out to take them, their fingers brushing for a split second.
Then she was tossing her head back and pouring the Pop Rocks down her throat. “Thank you, Ash. You’ve made my night.” And she looked at him in this way that told him it might be okay to kiss her, maybe just on the cheek.
The duty officer materialized from behind them then, his polite “Sir, ma’am? I hope I’m not interrupting something,” like an indictment of guilt for them both.
“No,” Ash said. “We were just getting ready to leave.”
Windy picked up her equipment, saying to Ash as they walked down the driveway, “If you ever get tired of your job you I might be able to pull some strings for you in criminalistics.”
Ash laughed. “You’d throw your weight around for me like that with the boss?”
“You’re a natural.”
“There is something really exciting about seeing the crime come together that way.”
“I know what you mean,” Windy said. “It’s why I do it. Not everyone gets that. To a lot of people it’s just disturbing.”
They were at the bottom of the driveway now. Windy had picked up one of the cars from criminalistics when she went to get equipment after the autopsy. It was parked to the left, Ash’s to the right.
“Good night,” Ash said. He didn’t move.
“Good night.” Windy stood on her toes, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and turned to walk to her car.
She was smiling to herself as she headed down the block. She felt giddy, a little light-headed.
Then she saw the man in the ski mask come out of the bushes toward her.
CHAPTER 59
Windy froze. She stood, immobile, as he pressed his gun against her heart and said, “Now it’s your turn to die.”
Stood there as he bent down, getting his masked face inches from hers and said, “Did you hear me, lady? You’re going down.”
Stood, unable to move, her mind zooming, thinking, this is Roddy Ruiz, he had a gun, he does not really want to kill me, all he wants is a response, some kind of response why the hell can’t I move, what is wrong with me, what is wrong with me?
“You trying to say you’re not afraid. Okay, lady. You not afraid. Now prepare to meet your maker.”
Bad lines, she thought, such bad second-rate movie lines. She was not going to die with those lines why couldn’t she move, just anything, just to let him know—
“LISTEN TO ME YOU STUPID BITCH I’M GOING TO KILL YOU RIGHT NOW.”
He was crying through the mask, she could tell. He was as scared as she was. But he wasn’t petrified. He could move. He could move his trigger finger.
“Roddy,” a voice said. Not her voice, she was pretty sure.
Keeping the gun against her heart, Roddy looked up. Behind her.
“Roddy, take me.”
Ash’s voice. It was Ash whose footsteps she heard behind her. Ash coming to her rescue. Damn her for needing it. Damn her for being a coward.
“This ain’t your business, cabrón,” Roddy said.
“Look. If you want to kill someone, kill me.”
“What you mean if I want to. I’m gonna.”
“Okay. I just thought, you know, maybe you were—never mind.”
“Maybe I was what?”
“Well, I remember you from the station. You know? I watched your interrogation.”
Roddy jammed the gun into Windy’s heart again. “This damn bitch fucked me up.”
“She was pretty slick,” Ash admitted. “But so were you. That was really brave, what you were preparing to do. Stand in for your uncle in prison. That took a lot of guts.”
“I woulda done it too if this puta hadn’t stopped me.”
“I know. And do you know why she did?”
“Because she’s a tight ass bitch, that’s why.”
“Tight ass bitches are way too self-centered to get involved with something like this. No, it’s because she thought you were smart.”
“Right.”
“She did. She could see why you’d want to take the fall for your uncle. But she also thought you could make more of yourself on the outside.”
“What if I don’t want to make more of myself?”
“That’s bullshit,
Roddy, and we both know it. By the time your uncle gets out, you could have finished school. You could make him proud of you. More proud than going to the joint.”
“That’s not me, man.”
“I’ve seen the reports from your teachers. I know you do well in school.”
“Bull. You’re just saying stuff to get me not to hurt her.”
“You’re especially good in math.”
Roddy wavered. “So I’m good in math. So what? You think I should become a stupid ass cop like you?”
“No way. Cops don’t make enough. But you could become a doctor. You couldn’t do that if you went to jail.”
Roddy let go of Windy, pushing her away, and pointed the gun square at Ash. His voice was high pitched, angry. “Stop bullshitting me, man. You don’t know nothing about me.”
Ash kept his hands at his sides, his voice even. “I know you’re brave. I know you’re smart. I know you could shoot me dead right now if you wanted to.”
Roddy’s chin jutted out and he nodded furiously. “That’s right, man. Fuck you up.”
“But why would you want to?”
Roddy held the gun in front of him with both hands, staring at Ash.
“The way I see it—” Ash went on, smooth, slow, not scared, “—the way I see it, this can end one of two ways. You shoot me and go to prison for the rest of your life. Spend it inside, in a cell, with bars. Maybe an hour a day outside. Maybe you could study a few years, get your GED. Mostly you’d have to spend your time proving over and over again how tough you are.”
“I got protection inside, man.”
“Okay, sure. So you only have to prove yourself a few times. Or you could not shoot me. Stay out of prison. Go to school. Do something really cool with your life. Sure, it’d be harder outside. No one telling you what to do, how to think, where to be every hour. Maybe you think it would be too tough out here.”
The gun had started to sag, almost imperceptibly, but Roddy straightened out his arms now. His eyes glared at Ash through the ski mask. “Like you care, man. You only talking to me because I’m pointing a gun at you. No gun, you wouldn’t give a shit about me.”
“To be perfectly honest, I’d rather talk to you without the gun.”
“Shit man, stop joking. Why do you care about me?”
“Because I think you deserve a break. But maybe you’re right. Maybe you can’t do it. Make it on the straight.” Ash put up his hands. “Okay, shoot me.”
“Naw, man.” Roddy bent his head to one side to rub his cheek against his shoulder, scratch an itch. “I can do it. I just don’t want to.”
“Then shoot me. Express ticket to prison, shooting a cop. Put you away for life. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“Come on, man. You’re not listening to me. I could make it on the outside fine. I know how to dress myself and feed myself. Take care myself.”
Ash kept his hands up. “But you don’t want to. It’s too much work. I hear you.”
“It’s not like that. I don’t mind it. Sometimes I even like to cook, you know.”
“But you’d rather have someone telling you when to do it. When to take a shower. Not have to organize your own schedule.”
“No way, man. I can take care of my own self. I don’t need no one reminding me to take a shit. I been getting myself to school by myself for five years. I don’t need no cop telling me I don’t want to take care of myself.”
“Okay, I believe you. Do you want me to turn around? If you shoot me in the back, you’ll get where you want to go even faster.”
Roddy threw his hands up in exasperation, completely forgetting to point the gun at Ash. “Man, will you shut up with that. I don’t want to shoot you.”
“Why not?”
“Why not? Because you are a crazy ass dude. I don’t shoot crazy people.”
“Good rule. I told you that you were smart.”
“Damn right, hombre.” The gun hanging limp in his hand now.
“Where are you staying?”
All of a sudden, Roddy looked like a kid again. He shrugged. “I got a foster home.”
“How is it?”
“It’s okay. My foster mom? She makes pancakes for breakfast.”
“Do you think you could stay there awhile?”
“Yeah, I think so. They’re pretty cool. I should be getting back there.” He looked at Ash. “You just going to let me walk away?”
Ash glanced at Windy, who nodded. “Yes,” he said, “I think we are. Officially, we’re going to pretend this didn’t happen. But you’d better not do anything this stupid again. I mean it. If you do, I’ll find out about it and I’ll know I was wrong about you being smart.”
“You bet I’m smart. Smarter than you.”
“Maybe,” Ash said, not challenging Roddy, but giving him something to aspire to. “Hey, before you go, can I have the mask and the gun?”
Roddy took the ski mask off and tossed it to Ash. His face was textured from the tight weave and he had red lines around his eyes and mouth, like a clown. Only he looked sad.
“The gun?” Ash repeated.
Roddy looked at it then at Ash.
“You don’t need it,” Ash told him. “Anyone can seem brave with a gun, but you don’t need one. You’re brave enough on your own.”
“So why you got one?”
“I have to, it’s a job regulation. But I’ve never used it.”
“No?”
“And I never want to.”
Roddy looked at the gun again. “This was one of my uncle’s pieces.”
“Then I can see why you don’t want to give it up.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t let you keep it, Roddy. It’ll end up getting you killed anyway. I’ll hold it for you in my gun safe. You ever want to visit it, I’ll give you my card, you can call me and set up an appointment.”
Roddy shook his head at Ash. “I don’t think I should give you a weapon. You are one loco cop.”
Ash held out his business card. Roddy held out the gun. They traded.
“Hey, lady,” Roddy said, turning to Windy. “I’m sorry about that. Before.”
“It’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean it. I wouldn’t have hurt you. I just—I just wanted to talk. Only I was afraid you wouldn’t let me without the gun.”
“I think I understand.”
“It’s not your fault, you know. What happened to Mr. X, him going to prison and all that.” Roddy glanced at Ash then looked back at her. “Maybe even it’s a good thing.”
“Maybe even.”
“Well, bye,” Roddy said and went.
CHAPTER 60
Windy watched Roddy walk down the street, not swaggering, not giving it any attitude. Just walking. She could move again, now, but she didn’t want to. Didn’t want to face Ash. She knew what he was going to say. That she had messed up. That she had to be more careful. How could she expect to do her job if her brain was going to stop working at the first hint of danger? How could he trust her in the field, or anyone with her?
She heard his footsteps behind her, then his voice. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Look,” he began and Windy thought, here it comes.
Ash went on, “I’m sorry I interfered. I just wanted you to know I was there to help. I didn’t mean to take over. I can understand if you are upset with me. That was clumsy.”
Windy turned slowly to face him. “That’s not what happened.”
“Then what is?”
“I had a panic attack. He came at me, and I froze. I screwed up and you saved my life.”
“You think you screwed up because you were scared? It is a normal reaction to freeze when a man holds a gun to your heart point-blank. It is actually safer not to move.”
“You didn’t freeze.”
“He wasn’t aiming at me.”
Windy shook her head. “If I can’t be counted on to protect myself, I can’t do this job. I quit.”
“No.
”
“I’m not kidding, Ash. I endanger everyone I work with.”
“Nuts. Because a boy with a gun comes after you? How is that endangering anyone?”
“I have to know I can take care of myself. I have to know I’m not going to panic every time something scary happens.”
“In the past week I have been with you when a half dozen scary things happened and you never even flinched.”
“That’s bullshit,” Windy said. Then, “Wait, where are you going?”
Ash’s jaw was tight and Windy realized he was genuinely angry. “I am not going to have this conversation with you. You’re right. You froze. You’re the only person who has ever done that and you are a danger to society.”
“It won’t work. You can’t talk me down the way you did with Roddy.”
“Don’t worry. I only try that on people I’m pretty sure aren’t going to shoot me.”
“I don’t have a gun.”
“I’m certain you could find one.”
Windy took a step closer to him. “You could give me yours.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You wouldn’t like it. It’s not loaded.”
“Oh. Well if I can’t shoot you, can I take you out for a drink?”
Ash stared at Windy, trying to figure out where that flare of anger he felt had come from, realizing it was because seeing her with a gun to her heart had been maybe the worst moment of his life.
Maybe she was a danger to the people she worked with.
“So,” she said, her head to one side, looking up at him, “can I buy you a drink to defuse some of the adrenaline?”
No, he thought. No I don’t want to have a drink with you. I want to take you to my house and strip you out of your clothes and hold your body next to mine all night.
“A drink would be great,” he said. At least he would be with her. Then he changed his mind. “Actually, I have a better idea. Roddy gave it to me.”
She looked at him skeptically. “What?”
“Pancakes. We didn’t eat dinner, and I’m starving. If you provide the facilities, I’ll provide the know-how.” Her house was safer. In her house he could not forget that she was engaged.
“You can cook?”
Bad Girl and Loverboy Page 27
