Page 17 of Random in Death
“We hit some luck actually. I talked to the two girls who came with the vic.”
“Chelsea and Leelee.”
“Yeah, those. Believe me, they more than consider Jenna’s death gales it. After I brought them down from hysterical, I got some timing and steps.”
Peabody leaned back, shoved her hands up her face, back into her hair. “Sorry, it’s been a mess. Bitchy, scared, sulky, snarly, weepy. I’ve hit every one of those and more.”
The knock sounded before Harve stepped in. “Brought you another fizzy, PIP.”
“Harve, you’re a prince.”
“Got your Pepsi, Boss Cop.”
“Thanks.”
“You want I should send in another kid?”
“Give us a minute,” Eve told him.
“You got it. Just give a shout if you need anything.”
“PIP,” Eve said when he went out. “Pretty in Pink.”
“Hey, you got it!”
“He already called you that. Where’s our luck?”
“Both girls had the same story. They were dancing, turned out to be the last song before the break. Jenna got the squeals because she told them Jake looked right at her and smiled. He’s her god-hero, according to Leelee. And they both said she had a demo disc in her purse and was going to find a way to get it to him. She’s—”
“Into music, songwriting. I got all that.”
“Anyway, they said she totally whooshed—their term—meaning she got all flushed and giddy. She was going back to their table to recover, and they were going to the bar to get drinks.
“Alcohol’s locked up tight, Dallas. No problem there. Chelsea stated that between what they call The Smile from Jake and the end of the song, the talk about getting drinks, Jenna grabbed her arm. She said somebody or something jabbed her.”
“While they were on the dance floor?”
“That’s right. And Leelee stated Jenna looked around, maybe saw somebody. That’s a maybe because neither girl really noticed. But Jenna said, ‘Asshole.’ Then they danced the rest of the song, talked a minute, split up.”
Pausing, Peabody took a long drink of her fizzy.
“They don’t know how much time it took for them to get the drinks. But a while. When they did get to the table, they thought Jenna had gone to the ladies’ or—they got whooshed thinking maybe she’d gotten to Jake. Then they went to the ladies’, and that took a while. By the time they got back to the table, Avenue A, minus Jake, was doing the open mic thing.
“They looked around for Jenna, figuring she’d go up, wow the crowd. They both texted her, Leelee made another trip to the ladies’ to look for her. And about that time, McNab and I came in.”
“Did they see anyone else they knew?”
“Yes. A few from their school, a few from their neighborhoods. This is a big deal for their age group downtown.”
“Did Jenna have a boyfriend, a girlfriend?”
“No one special.”
“Did she blow off anybody recently?”
“They said no. But she only danced a couple of times with boys who asked. She just wasn’t interested in hooking it tonight, so they mostly danced as a group, and Jenna said ‘no, thanks’ a lot.”
“If someone stuck a needle in her tonight, they had the syringe and what was in it. It doesn’t feel like you’d carry that around, then decide: ‘Won’t dance with me, bitch? I’ll kill you.’”