Page 3 of Random in Death

She said, “I got sick.”

“That’s okay, honey. It happens.”

Glo might have been vigilant about keeping the club alcohol and drug free on the underage nights, but kids found a way.

He sure as hell had.

“Let’s get you back inside. There’s a place you can sit down in the quiet, have some Sober-Up.”

“Not drunk. Can’t breathe right. He jabbed me! He jabbed me!”

Jake reached for her arm. Then her eyes rolled up white.

He caught her before she hit the pavement.

“Who jabbed you?” As he spoke, he noted her face wasn’t white but slightly blue. She shook with cold.

A needle mark, red and raw, stood out on her left biceps.

“Goddamn it. Jesus.” He yanked out his ’link as he lowered to the ground with her. Hit emergency. “I need an ambulance.” He rattled off the address while he checked the girl’s pulse.

Weak, he thought as he struggled not to panic. And getting weaker.

“You stay with me now. Look at me, okay? Look at me.”

For a moment her eyes fixed on him. But blindly.

“Come on now, hold on. Help’s coming. What’s your name, baby? Tell me your name.”

But he felt her go as he sat on the alley floor and cradled her in his arms.

Laying her down, he started CPR.

The alley door opened again. “Hey, Guitar Hero, Mac said— Oh my God, what happened?”

Nadine dropped down beside him.

“She’s not breathing. I can’t get her back. Her arm, look at her arm. She said someone jabbed her.”

“I’ll get an ambulance.”

“On the way. Her arm. Needle mark. Only junkies who can’t score a pressure syringe use needles. She’s not a junkie. Come on, kid, come back. Fucking come back.”

Beside him, Nadine looked at the needle mark, looked at the staring brown eyes of the girl on the ground.

She didn’t tell him to stop the CPR, but laid one hand on his back as she took out her ’link.

“Jake, I’m tagging Dallas.”

When he looked at Nadine, the despair simply covered him. “She’s just a kid.”

One, Nadine thought, who wouldn’t get any older.

Chapter One

When Lieutenant Eve Dallas wasn’t working a case, Saturday evenings often meant a vid, popcorn, and sex. With a Summerset-free house, as Roarke’s major domo and the hitch in her stride had the night out with friends—whoever they were—the sex portion of the evening arrived early in the game room.

She’d bet Roarke she could beat him two out of three in pinball. She lost.