rest of the apartment,” Eve suggested. “Rochelle, you’ll be most familiar with your own room. Let’s start there.”
They walked down—another narrow hallway.
“It looks like I left it.”
“Why don’t you check the closet, the dresser drawers, the desk drawers.”
“All right. I really don’t have anything worth stealing. I always try to keep twenty dollars in emergency cash in the pocket of this jacket. And here it is. I don’t see . . .”
Exactly, Eve thought. “What don’t you see?”
“I was going to say I don’t see anything missing, but my red purse is gone. I’ve had this old red purse for years. I always had it hanging on this hook. Gram bought it for me, remember, Walt, when I got the job. She said red’s good luck. I still use it sometimes. It’s not here.”
“Can you describe it?”
“It’s just a red purse—bright, shiny red—pretend patent leather, you know, nothing extravagant. It has a silver chain if you want to wear it on your shoulder, and a magnet clasp. It’s what you call an envelope bag, I guess. About a foot long, maybe, and I don’t know, eight inches wide. It’s not worth anything.”
“Bright red, silver chain. Caught the eye. Anything else?”
“No.” She pressed a hand to her temple. “I loved that damn purse.”
Eyes a little blurry, she walked out, yanked open a dresser drawer. “They killed my brother, and I’m getting upset thinking they came into my room, pawed my things.”
“Ro.” Walter moved behind her, rubbed her back. “It’s natural.”
“Nothing feels natural.” She pulled a long, thin black box from the top drawer. And opening it, let out a choked gasp. “Oh, Walter, they took Mama’s brooch. That terrible, gaudy old pin. And oh, the earrings Wilson gave me for Valentine’s Day. And, oh God, just a cheap bangle bracelet I picked up on the street one time. It’s just costume jewelry, but they took it anyway.”
“Do you have pictures of anything that was taken?”
“I—God.” Rochelle framed her face with her hands, pushed in with them. “My mind’s just drained out. I took a selfie on Valentine’s Day, wearing the earrings. One of me and Wilson together. It’s on my ’link.”
Because her hand shook, Walter took her ’link when she pulled it from her pocket. “I’ll find it, Ro. You should sit down.”
“I just need to move a minute.” She paced the little room, struggled to regulate her breathing. “I never wore the brooch. It was cheap and gaudy, but it was my mother’s so I kept it.”
“Gram has a picture of her wearing it.”
She stopped, looked at Walter. “Of course, she does. I forgot.”
“Can you get that to me?”
“I’ll take care of it,” Walter said, and held out the ’link to his sister. “Is this the one?”
“Yes, yes, that’s it. They’re so pretty.”
And shiny, Eve thought as she studied the photo on-screen. Gold dangles glittering with heart-shaped red and clear drops.
“Peabody.”
Peabody moved to Walter, gave him the codes to send a copy of the photo.
“I don’t think I have one of the bangle.”
“Describe it.”
“It’s about an inch wide, I guess, three circles of colored stones. Like cabochons, in ah, purple and green and amber. It’s not worth the stealing, but I liked it.”
“Check the rest.”
Once she had, Rochelle shook her head. “I don’t see anything else.”
“Let’s check Lyle’s room.”
Rochelle gripped Walter’s hand before they crossed the hall.
“His Save It jar. I know that was at least half full.” She moved to his closet. Her voice had thickened, but she managed to keep it steady. “His good high-tops are gone. He didn’t wear them to work—grease and spills. He only wore them when he went out, over to Martin’s, or sometimes when he went to church with Gram.”
“Earned his points,” Walter murmured and shared a smile with his sister.
“That’s right. Grammy points. Black Lightning high-tops, with the white lightning bolt down the back. Size . . . I think size ten.”
She walked to the dresser. “I don’t know what he had, I mean, what he might’ve kept in his dresser.”
“Is there anything you know he had that might be missing. Something shiny, say, like your jewelry, or eye-catching like your purse. Or usable like the shoes?”
“I don’t really—”
“Did he have his earbuds on him?” Walter asked. “He’d have had them in his pocket, or if he was going to shower and change like he told Ro, he’d have put them on the dresser.
“We don’t have earbuds in his effects.”
“They’re good ones. Martin and Clara gave them to him for Christmas. Bodell