A Good Marriage(58)
“That would be great,” Maude said.
I scrolled through my contacts to the appropriately vague “New Office” one I’d created right before I started at Young & Crane, and sent the firm address and my direct line.
“You can check in with me anytime,” I said, though Maude seemed so relieved to have my contact information, I wished I hadn’t given it to her. I moved toward the door. “Thank you for your time.”
It was nearly four o’clock when I stopped in front of a deli at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Flatbush near the entrance to the Q train. I quickly scanned the newspaper racks for the New York Post or the Daily News, the perennial bellwethers for the city’s most tawdry news. A group of rich Park Slope parents, a sex party, and one gorgeous dead mother was a tabloid trifecta. Sooner or later “Key Party Killing” or “Park Slope Perverts” would surely be emblazoned across their covers. But today they were dedicated to a corruption scandal at the MTA, something about hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime paid to a single driver.
I felt light-headed suddenly. The heat, the sleep deprivation, the emotional drain of the night before. I also hadn’t eaten all day. I rested a hand on the doorway as I made my way into the deli.
After a minute of aimless browsing, I approached the counter with a Diet Coke, a pack of M&M’s, Mike and Ikes, and Twizzlers.
“I hope you won’t eat this all today,” the friendly man behind the counter said, shaking his head gravely. “So much sugar is no good.”
“Of course not,” I said, though I planned on doing just that the second I hit the sidewalk.
He was getting my change when I noticed a box of matchbooks next to the register. Enid’s. I pulled one out, my heart picking up speed.
“Where did you get these?” I asked.
Here was an alternate theory for the case against Sam. Maybe he hadn’t been off drinking during the day yesterday, after all. This particular deli was more than twenty blocks from our fourth-floor walk-up, and Sam wasn’t much for Center Slope—too many bankers and five-dollar lattes—so I didn’t think he’d gotten the matches there specifically. But if that deli had them, maybe others did, too. And if I was wrong about him drinking at Enid’s, maybe I was jumping to the wrong conclusion about the earring, too. Maybe he was being a Good Samaritan after all? Maybe it had even gotten accidentally dropped into his bag. Why hadn’t this totally plausible explanation occurred to me before? After all, New York City was a crowded place. Who knew how many other possibilities I was not considering?
“Get what?” The man eyed me over the top of his reading glasses.
“These matches,” I said, gripping a pack. “This place is in Greenpoint, isn’t it?”
“Closed down. Twenty years it was in business.” He shook his head in disgust. “Now the cigarette distributor gives them out for free.”
Grand Jury Testimony
DETECTIVE ROBERT MENDEZ,
called as a witness the 7th of July and was examined and testified as follows: EXAMINATION
BY MS. WALLACE:
Q: Good morning, Detective Mendez.
A: Morning.
Q: Were you at 597 Montgomery Place on the night of July 2nd?
A: Yes.
Q: What did you do after you arrived at the scene?
A: I approached Mr. Grayson and asked him to step outside with me in order to give the crime scene unit detectives room to work. I also thought Mr. Grayson would be more comfortable that way. Generally, it’s best to have family members away from a scene like that.
Q: And by a “scene like that,” what do you mean?
A: The condition of the body—of Mr. Grayson’s wife. She had very traumatic injuries. There was a great deal of blood.
Q: Did Mr. Grayson accompany you outside?
A: Not at that time.
Q: Why?
A: He refused.
Q: Why?
A: It wasn’t clear.
Q: Did he say he didn’t want to leave his wife?
A: No. He didn’t say anything specifically about her.
Q: Do you recall anything he did say?
A: He was more generally defensive and argumentative. He kept asking why he needed to go anywhere. I think he said it was his f-ing house, which seemed strange under the circumstances.
Q: Under what circumstances?
A: I mean, his wife was dead. The tone seemed off.
Q: Can you explain what you mean by “off”?
A: I mean he seemed more angry than upset.
Q: Did he seem angry the whole time you were there?
A: Yes.
Q: At any point did he seem sad or tearful?
A: No. I didn’t see anything like that.
Q: Did you see any blood on Mr. Grayson’s person? On his clothing, his hands? Anywhere?
A: Only on the soles of his shoes.
Q: Would it have been possible for him to have touched his wife to attempt CPR and not get blood on himself?
A: I don’t see how.
Q: Was there any other indication that he had attempted to revive his wife?
A: Not that I am aware of.
Q: But if he’d murdered his wife, wouldn’t he also have blood on him?
A: Yes. We believe he changed his clothes and disposed of them prior to our arrival on the scene.
Q: Have you located those clothes?