First Born(21)

He looks at me for a few seconds and then he looks at DeLuca. ‘I’ll be right over there.’ He points to the stairs overlooking the restaurant area.

‘I’m sorry I scared you,’ says DeLuca. ‘I’m a klutz sometimes.’

‘Mind if I see some ID? A badge?’

‘Sure, sure.’ He hands me a small ID card.

‘No badge?’

‘I’m not a cop any more, Molly.’

‘How come?’

‘Long story. Can we sit down somewhere and talk? I have a bad leg and it’s giving me fucking shooting pains.’

I wince.

‘You OK?’

‘I don’t like cursing,’ I say.

‘You don’t like cursing?’ he says. ‘This is New York, Molly – it isn’t a case of liking or not liking. Listen, I’m sorry about your sister. I’m gonna help get to the bottom of it. I’m real good at my job.’

We sit outside Shake Shack and he buys two milkshakes. The cop’s still watching.

‘Columbia hired you?’

‘Well, not exactly, not precisely, you know. I was hired by a private foundation, affiliated with Columbia, to look into the case. The foundation’s connected to the school – philanthropy, that kind of thing. It’s complicated.’

‘A foundation?’

‘The folk that sponsored Katie through her schooling.’

‘The scholarship?’

‘Well, yeah, kinda – more of a sponsorship than a scholarship. They want to help find out what happened to her. The board of the foundation. So they called me.’

‘What’s the name of the foundation?’

‘They’re very private, Molly. I’m paid by an attorney out in Grand Cayman, several steps removed. I’m not even sure of the foundation’s name myself, truth be told. Some outfit in Europe.’

‘I think I’d rather just talk to the police,’ I say.

‘You could do that,’ he says, sucking milkshake through his straw. ‘But I worked both sides of the fence and I know how to get efficient results. Trust me, the NYPD are the best in the world – I still have buddies there – but you put on that shield and you take on a shitload of cases, pardon my language. Katie’s case is red-hot right now but soon there will be another dead girl and then another. If it isn’t solved pretty quick it just becomes one of many. I hope I’m making sense. But, you talk to me, I’m working one case until I solve it. One. And that case is your twin sister.’

‘You’re just working on KT’s case? Nothing else?’

‘That’s what I said. Also, the detective assigned to your case – Martinez is his name in the two six, good man, or so I’m told, never dealt with him personally but we know the same people – he won’t receive a cash bonus if he solves the case.’

‘But you do?’

‘Oh, yeah, I do. I have an incentives plan. Contractual performance-related incentives.’

‘So why follow me? Why not send an email? What do you need with me, DeLuca?’

‘Bogart, call me Bogart.’

‘What are you doing following me, Bogart? You scared me.’

‘Sorry. I need to ask you some questions about the case is all. Time-sensitive questions. I heard from a little bird you have a return ticket flying on a British Airways triple seven in five days and I wanted to touch base with you so we can work on this together. Nobody knew Katie like you did, am I right?’

I nod.

‘See what I mean, then.’

‘What do you want to know? Who she knew? Where she went?’

‘Sure, but I have most of that already. You can help me because I suspect your gut works the same ways as hers did, if you get my meaning. What I’m trying to say is, Molly, what is your gut telling you right now about who killed Katie?’

I look around at the commuters with their earphones and paperbacks. ‘My gut tells me it was someone who knew her well.’

He nods.

I remember Scott’s calm manner. ‘My gut tells me to look into the boyfriend.’

‘Scott Sbarra – and?’

‘The young guy who lives in her basement.’

‘YouTuber named Shawn Alexander Bagby. Oh, yeah, that kid’s on my radar all right.’

‘And her friend Violet. Maybe. Probably not. I don’t know. I haven’t met her yet.’

‘Go on.’

‘We’ve never spoken, but KT once mentioned she came on a little strong sometimes. Like an obsessive friend, a little too clingy. It was never sexual – she never came on to KT in that way, never propositioned her – but as a friend she was very intense. Needy.’

He makes a note of this in a small pad with a pencil.

‘This is useful. You got a surname?’

‘Roseberry. Violet Roseberry. I think she had some mental health problems a while back. KT told me she was in a secure hospital for a while. Some place in the Catskills.’

‘Nuthouse in the Catskills?’ he says. ‘Interesting.’

‘Hospital,’ I say, glaring at him.

He makes a note.

‘Anything else, Molly? I guarantee you I will work night and day to crack this case. I will not rest until I help bring Katie’s killer to justice. Is there anything else? Anything bothering you, maybe?’