Page 29 of Random in Death
“Solid, same as my impression. Close-knit, stable. Louise hit absolutely firm on Jenna not using. No teenage romances, nothing specific or serious. Music, songwriting. Both the parents and Louise and Charles said Jenna made that demo, hoping to get it to Jake last night. They all stated she’d never met Jake or any of the band before. If she had, she’d have told them and everyone else she could tell.”
“I know we know Jake didn’t do it, but that adds weight to what we know.”
“So does the alley security cam. It went down exactly as he said.”
And she’d seen everything he’d felt, from the initial amused concern to the alarm, the panic, the desperation, then the grief.
“We need to follow up. He saw her dancing. He remembers smiling at her. He may have seen something else that didn’t get through the shock last night.”
“Maybe one of the other band guys saw something. I know McNab interviewed them, but maybe, on a follow-up.”
“Yeah, we’ll cover that. I’m going to see if Feeney wants to take them.”
Peabody grinned as they walked to the elevator. “You’re a good pal.”
“He’s a good cop.”
“Yeah, he is, and if any of them saw anything that relates, he’ll know the buttons to push to jog memories. It’ll also give him a mega lift.”
“Good, he’s going to need it to run the security tapes to try to find somebody who was there, then wasn’t.”
She considered the empty elevator a perk of working on a Sunday morning.
She walked in to find Santiago and Carmichael playing cards at Carmichael’s desk. Eve looked at Santiago with pity.
“Is there a bet?”
“I’m winning.”
Carmichael shook back her hair. “Not for long. Hey, LT, Peabody, didn’t expect to see you bright and early on a Sunday morning.”
“Obviously, or you’d be working instead of scamming your partner at cards.”
“Not scamming.” Carmichael swiped a finger over her heart. “I’m just better at them.”
Santiago gave his partner the hard eye. “I’m winning.”
“Uh-huh. We caught up on paperwork yesterday, caught two—one ruled accidental. Victim tripped into the street in front of a Rapid Cab. Great shoes.” Carmichael spread her thumb and forefinger apart to show how high.
“See, those things are lethal.”
“Well, she was pretty drunk, too, which didn’t help her balance.”
“The other was a domestic,” Santiago added. “A pissing match over a possible dalliance with an ex-girlfriend escalated when the current girlfriend stabbed the boyfriend with a kitchen knife. A fillet knife. I’m dating a chef, and you pick up these things.”
“Make sure you don’t dally,” Eve advised. “I don’t want to have to break in another detective.”
Carmichael snickered. “She tried to claim it was an accident, how she’d turned around to say something and he sort of ran into it. That might’ve been the case on the first hole she put in him.”
“But since there were four others, we deduced deliberate. So both cases closed.”
“Good. Then you’ve got time to do some runs. I’ll send you a list.”
“What did you catch?” Santiago wanted to know.
“Fill them in, Peabody.”
She went into her office to set up her board and book. Then she dumped everyone who’d been interviewed the night before on her detectives.