There was something very tense about her. Maybe this guy really had shaken her up.
“OK, Marci. Tell me about it again, the whole thing, babe. Right from the point that the guy walks in here, OK? Nothing left out.”
She pretty much repeated herself and he let her until she got to the mention of the so-called body parts and hesitated.
“Slow down now, Marci,” he said. “You’re sure he said ‘body parts’?”
“Well, I uh, it was something that he said was DNA evidence. He might not have said ‘body parts’ exactly but where the hell else do you get DNA for Christ’s sake?”
Jesus, he thought.
“Baby, it could be anything, hair from a comb, a goddamn toothbrush, a fucking Band-Aid tossed in the trash,” he told her. “Did he say where he found it?”
“No. Just that he had it and they were trying to get some kind of verification.”
“Did they ask you for any kind of sample? Blood or a swab of the inside of your mouth?”
“No. Why would they want something from me?”
That flash of tenseness was back in her eyes, he could see it in there, her fighting it.
“Exactly,” he said to her. “He’s fishing for stuff, baby. He’s probably done this to every goddamn girl in town who serves drinks.”
He took a pull on his beer, didn’t like the taste and put it down. He tried to make himself relax, get her to match him. She excused herself and went down to the other end and made up some pansy- ass Shirley Temples or whatever the hell it was the alternative boys were drinking.
He tried to get a picture of the big, lanky guy who’d walked in that night before Richards. He’d sat at the other end and acted like he was friendly with Laurie. Tanned guy, he remembered. Not an office man. He looked more like a boat captain or construction foreman. All he’d noted was that the guy was drinking his brand of beer and then that bitch had come in and he had to bolt.
Marci came back down to him, exhaled, was more relaxed.
“No big deal, baby,” he said. “Nothing for you to worry about. I’ll find out from the inside what the rumor is and let you know, OK?”
She nodded her head.
“This guy didn’t say anything about me, did he? I mean, he didn’t ask if any other cops had been in here or drank regular here?”
“No,” she said. “But I wouldn’t have told him anyway.”
“Atta girl,” he said and she had an odd look on her face when he said it, one that held some kind of inside smile, like she’d accomplished something. He ignored it, thanked her in his customer voice and walked out into the late sunlight and back to his patrol car.
He was running a plan through his head while he sat at the first traffic light on Sunrise. Should he ignore the whole damn thing? If they had anything to connect him to the dead girls, wouldn’t they be on his ass already? They’d have called him into his sergeant’s office for a little face time to at least warn him that the Richards bitch was coming down on him.
But what if this P.I. was teamed up with Richards and they were trying to show she was right and prove everyone else wrong? Then why come to Marci? Showing up twice meant they didn’t get enough from Laurie to keep them away, and that wasn’t good. When the light changed he went west on Sunrise and pulled his visor down to block the glaring sun.
The P.I. said “DNA evidence”—he kept tumbling Marci’s words in his head. Of course she didn’t get the conversation exact. Body parts. DNA evidence. What the fuck did the guy have, if anything? Shit. He’d just ended it with Suzy. Her body would still be pretty fresh, even if the gators did get to it. He ought to just go out to the spot now, see if there was any sign that anyone had been out there. Answer the goddamn question so he’d at least know what he was dealing with. It’d be better than most of the mopes that he arrested who just sat there waiting for shit to come through the door and then it was too late, then you were already playing their game.
He was watching half a block ahead like he usually did and saw the traffic starting to jam up on the