on his handsome face. He exchanged a look with Butts, who frowned and raised his shaggy eyebrows.
“Mr. Santiago?” Lee said tentatively. “I’m so sorry for your loss, but we’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
Santiago looked at up them with childlike vulnerability. His dark eyes were free of tears, but they were wild with grief. He gazed at Lee searchingly, as if he somehow held the power to release Santiago from this pain. Lee knew exactly how he felt and knew there was no release but time itself.
“Is that okay with you?” Butts said, and Santiago nodded. Lee wondered if they would get much out of him—he was still in a state of shock.
“How did she die?” he said, his voice trembling.
“She was drowned.”
Santiago shivered. “She hated the water.” “When’s the last time you saw her?” Butts asked. “Friday. We had a fight, see, about this fear she had that she was being followed. I told her it was all in her head, and she got angry at me and stormed out.” His voice was a shaky monotone, as if the power of his grief was blocking any expression of emotion. “She was always doing things like that—she was a real drama queen, you know. So when she didn’t call over the weekend I figured she was just sulking and thought I’d let her chill out for a while. Her moods never lasted more than a couple of days. I called her this morning before I left for work and got her voice mail. I thought maybe she was studying. She is—was—taking a class at Rutgers.”
Lee’s calls to her had also bounced to her voice mail repeatedly. No cell phone was on the body when she was found. Lee knew Chuck had sent the CSI team over to her house at the same time he and Butts were heading out—they might even still be there, for all he knew. The cell phone, if found, might contain clues, but then again, it might not.
“You say she was worried about bein’ followed,” Butts said. “Who exactly did she think was following her?”
“Okay,” Santiago said, rubbing his forehead with the tips of his fingers, as if trying to massage away the cobwebs in his brain. He was beginning to look more focused now—his eyes were clearer, and when he spoke his voice was less monotone and distant. “She was seeing this crazy shrink. I thought he was a total quack and told her so—”
“How did she react to that?” Lee interjected.
“Man, she did not like that at all,” he said with a bitter little laugh. “Told me to go f—uh, screw myself. Said she had finally found someone who was going to help her unlock the secrets of her past, you know, and that I should just back off and let her do her thing. So I was like, all right, if that’s what you need to do that’s okay, just don’t expect me to agree with it. ‘Cause I really thought this guy was whacked, you know?”
“Dr. Perkins?” said Lee.
“Yeah, that’s his name. Why, do you know him?”
“No,” said Lee. “Did you ever meet him?”
“No, man, but I seen him once getting into his car when I picked her up there one time, and he had a look about him, you know?”
“What kinda look?” Butts said.
Santiago shrugged. “Just like, you know, the guy looked evil, man. I mean, he’s all thin and gaunt with a little goatee and everything. Christ, he looks like the devil. I know you can’t judge people from the way they look or anything, but this guy gave me the creeps.”
Butts looked at Lee and then back at Santiago. “So you never spoke to him?”
“No. I wanted to, but Ana said I couldn’t—that it would violate ‘doctor–patient confidentiality,’ or some bullshit like that, but I thought she was just trying to protect him. He had her under some kind of spell, if you ask me.”
“Like a magic spell, you mean?” Butts said.
Santiago froze, his eyes wide. “God, you don’t think—I mean, I know he’s whacked, but do you think he could have—”
“It’s very unlikely,” Lee reassured him. “We think Ana was the victim of someone who has killed before.”
“Really? So you might know who killed her?” Santiago searched their faces for a sign of hope.
“No. We don’t have an actual suspect yet,” Butts answered.
Santiago’s whole body seemed to deflate. He slumped back down in his chair, and his vacant stare returned. “I don’t