Page 33 of Random in Death

“With that music going? Not hardly.” Then her eyes sharpened. “Why?”

Eve sat back. “Lois Lane can’t use it.”

“Off the record,” Nadine said. “Anything you want off the record’s off the record. It’s not business, Dallas. It’s personal.”

“And the reason I’m going to tell you, both of you, is because it’s personal. He went out the window in the men’s john, and the timing tells me he went out while you were in the women’s.”

“I didn’t see anyone in the alley,” Jake began.

“Because he timed it. He injected her during that two, two and a half minutes, walked to the men’s room, and went out the window before you ended the set and went outside.”

And, Eve thought, was very likely on the street before you announced the break.

“Jake?”

He looked up, met Eve’s eyes.

“Nothing you could’ve done, once he put that needle in her arm, would’ve have saved her. That doesn’t just come from me, but from the chief medical examiner. But because of you, she didn’t die alone.”

Chapter Five

Eve took a moment to let him settle again.

“Because it’s personal, and off the record, I think there’s something else you should know. Jenna Harbough had aspirations toward songwriting and performing. She had a disc in her handbag, labeled demo disc, to give to you if she managed it.”

Emotions ran over his face, surprise, sorrow, guilt. “Can I listen to it?”

“It’s in Evidence. Once it’s been processed, her personal items belong to her parents. Let me see what I can do.”

“Will they talk to me? I don’t know what I’d say, but I feel like I should say something.”

“I’ll see what I can do there, too. Meanwhile, Feeney’s going to talk to the other members of Avenue A. Now that we’ve established a specific timeline, we know when and where she was injected, they may remember something. May have noticed something that didn’t make an impact on them at the time.”

“We went over it all last night, but maybe something’ll click.”

“Now I’m going to tell you something else, and you need to hear me.”

She watched him brace.

“Okay.”

“You made a difference. You don’t feel that now, and maybe you never will. But I’m telling you as someone who deals with death every damn day. And Peabody, who does the same, will back me up.”

“All the way on this. What you did mattered.”

“She wasn’t alone,” Eve continued. “In those minutes when she was afraid and confused and hurting, someone was there with her. You were there with her. She heard your voice, she may not have understood the words, but she heard your voice. She saw your face, she felt your arms around her, and knew she wasn’t alone.

“You need to understand and believe that. We’re cops. We’re murder cops, and personal dealings aside, we’ve got no reason to bullshit you on it.”

“She’s ours now,” Peabody added. “In her last minutes, she was yours, and you did your best for her. Now we will.”

“I want to say I don’t think she recognized me. If that means anything. I mean anything helpful to you.”

“With the drug in her system, the distress from it, that’s not surprising. You’ve been around long enough to know the media’s going to be all over this because they do recognize you. They already are, obviously. And as you said, I figure you and your group know how to handle that.”

Face grim, he picked up his water again. “Yeah, we’ll handle it.”

“You need a statement.”

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