“Magic tricks?” I asked. “Teleporting into alternate dimensions?”
“No one asked for a comedian. In fact, he hired you. You talked to him, face to face. What’s your gut say?”
I decided against mentioning the fact that I had dipped inside Henry’s memory and therefore, knew he was innocent. Instead, I settled for, “I believe him.”
Sharp looked at me, and then gave me a short nod. “I haven’t talked to him yet, but I know Renaldo wasn’t too hung up on him, although...”
“Although what?”
“There was a history of violence between them.”
“Oh?”
“Police were called twice in the last two years. Both times by neighbors. Both times, he was given a warning.”
“No arrests?”
“No violence. According to the reports, he never touched her. Just a lot of yelling.”
“Doesn’t seem like a lead,” I said.
“Maybe not,” he said. “But it’s something.”
“Something,” I said, “is better than nothing.”
“They teach you that in private eye school?”
“No, at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.”
“Fancy.”
I chuckled, and we stared at the monitor some more.
After a moment, Sharp asked, “Any theories yet, based on what you’ve seen?”
I shrugged. I might be a creature of the night, and have access to some pretty amazing talents, but I didn’t know all or see all. I said, “No one suspicious came in after her. No one suspicious came out. No one carrying, say, a large plastic bag came out.”
“And no one came out the back, either,” he added.
Indeed, the back door had remained closed the entire time. “Any chance we missed it?”
“No way,” said Sharp. “I was looking.”
I was, too, of course.
“Not to mention,” added Sharp, “that Renaldo went over this like a hundred times. No one came out that back door.”
“Windows?”
“None. It’s a corner space in a shopping center. One front door, one back door. Even the bathrooms are windowless. You ask me, a bathroom should have a fucking window.”
Now that we had sat together for a few hours, Detective Sharp let go of his tough-guy act, and some of his personality was coming through.
We were silent some more. Admittedly, nothing was coming to me. No hits, no feelings, no theories, no real impressions. No, that’s not right. I was getting one impression. And it was a big one. And the more I thought about it, the more I was sure it was right.
I think my excitement might have been obvious. The detective snapped his gaze over to me. “What is it?”
“No theories yet, Detective, but I am sure of one thing.”