Byrd, I regret to inform you your daughter, Ariel Byrd, was killed last night. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“What? That’s a terrible thing to say. I’m hanging up!”
“Ms. Byrd, I’m Lieutenant Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department. I’m the primary investigator on your daughter’s murder.”
“Murder? No one would murder Ariel. You can’t mean any of this.”
The screen blurred, then cleared again. Eve realized the woman had dropped down to sit on the floor.
“I’m very sorry.”
“What happened to my baby? What happened to my girl?”
There were times you didn’t lay the details on top of the weight. “We’re investigating. I know this is difficult, but if you could answer some questions, it would help us find the person who hurt your daughter.”
“I don’t understand. Who would want to hurt her? She never hurts anyone. She’s an artist. She works to bring joy and beauty into the world.”
“Do you know of anyone she had an issue with, anyone who threatened her, or she argued with?”
“No. No. No. She’s so involved with her work. I tell her she should go out more, have fun, but her work is her passion, her joy. Her fun.”
“What about romantic attachments?”
The image on-screen swayed as Julie began to rock herself. “I know she’s been seeing someone for several months now. I don’t know who—Ariel’s very private. But I know the woman she’s involved with makes her happy. Frustrates her sometimes, but that’s love, it can be frustrating. And she’s so young, so young and so talented. So much left to do and experience.”
The tears came now, in a flood. “Oh God, oh God, my baby. I have to come home to my baby. I’m—I’m in Atlanta. My boy lives in Atlanta, and I’m here to help with …”
“Ms. Byrd. Julie. I can assure you we’re doing our best for your daughter, that she’s in good hands. If you want to take a day or two before traveling back to New York, I can keep you informed.”
“I can’t leave Ariel there alone.”
“She’s not alone. Is there someone who can travel with you when you come back?”
“I … My husband … there was an accident. Four years ago now. He died. Now I have to tell my boy, on his happiest day, his sister is gone.”
“Would you like me to contact your son, tell him?”
“No, that’s for me to do.” Julie swiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming in a steady stream of grief. “Can you tell me, did she suffer?”
“No, no, Ms. Byrd, she didn’t. You have my contact information, and you should use it whenever you need. I’m going to give you the contact information for the person who’s taking care of her, and you can talk to him when you’re ready to see her.”
“Yes, please. Yes. You’re a police detective?”
“I’m the lieutenant in charge of the Homicide Division at Cop Central in New York. And your daughter is my priority.”
When she finished the call, Eve got a bottle of water, drank half of it down as she stood at her window. She didn’t turn as she heard Peabody come in.
“The victim’s mother contacted me. She’d left her ’link in her son’s kitchen—she’s with him in Atlanta—because they all rushed out early this morning when her daughter-in-law went into labor.”
“Oh boy.”
“Nope, girl. So I had to pop her shiny, happy balloon and tell her that her daughter’s dead. Anyway, that’s done.”
Turning now, Eve ran the chilly water tube over her forehead, and the headache brewing inside.
“She doesn’t know anyone—or couldn’t think of anyone—who’d had issues with her daughter, or vice versa. She did know her daughter had been in a relationship with a woman for a few months, was happy, occasionally frustrated. Byrd hadn’t shared the name with her mother.”
“Huffman’s coming in. She’s happy, too, and I think that’s sincere because I dangled the botched burglary and added our pursuit of a suspicious character.”
Eve lowered the bottle, even smiled a little. “You said ‘suspicious character’?”
“It worked because, lo and behold, she suddenly remembered her good friend Ariel mentioning she’d seen a strange guy hanging around in the neighborhood.”
“I’m shocked and stunned. What does lo mean? I get the behold, but what is lo and why is it always hanging out with behold?”
“Behold must like it because it always lets lo come first.”
“That’s right, it does. It’s never behold and lo, and it could be. Get us a box, Peabody.”
“Already reserved Interview B. Jenkinson and Reineke already have A, and Carmichael and