Secrets in Death (In Death #45)(109)

“I’ll take care of it.”

She glanced around, surprised not to find Roarke behind her.

“Whenever Roarke gets back from wherever, tell him—”

She broke off as he stepped inside the shield with a take-out tray of coffee. “It’s a cold night,” he said.

“You are the man.” Baxter helped himself.

“You can be the man with Baxter,” she told Roarke. “I have statements to take inside. With me, Trueheart.”

They’d blocked off the front lobby area, detouring anyone leaving or coming in for business to alternates.

Eve saw the two male witnesses sitting together with a uniform, and the female, weeping silently, several feet away with another.

“What’s her name?”

“Terren Alta.”

Eve walked to her. “Miss Alta, I’m Lieutenant Dallas. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Okay.” The tears spilled and flowed. “They said I can’t tag her mom. Her mom’s really nice. We go over and have dinner sometimes.”

Trueheart signaled for the uniform to leave, moved in. “Don’t worry, Terren. We’ll talk to her mom.”

“Kellie’s just … I don’t feel like it’s real, but I can’t stop crying.”

“You talked to her before she left tonight.” Eve sat.

“Yeah. She said she was heading to yoga, and I said, see you at home. I’m working on The Glory Hour. We come into work and leave together otherwise, but I got assigned to The Glory Hour. It’s new this winter, so I don’t come in until later, and don’t leave until nine-thirty. Sometimes ten.

“She’s my roommate. When Kendra moved out and in with her boyfriend, Haley and I needed another roommate. Kellie and I got to be friends at work, and she was commuting from her mom’s in Queens because she couldn’t afford a place on her own, so I said how about sharing the apartment with me and Haley, and … It doesn’t matter, does it?”

“You were friends, and this is hard. Did she have a boyfriend?”

“Nobody special. She dates sometimes, but mostly the work keeps you going, and none of us are much interested in anything serious. Haley had a girlfriend for a few months, but it didn’t work out. And that doesn’t matter, either. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Did she date anybody from work, or hang out with anyone in particular?”

“It’s not smart to date out of the work pool, and she’s smart. It gets sticky. She had friends, sure, but since she moved in—like, six months ago—we’ve been hanging more. The three of us.”

“Was this her usual time to leave?”

“It depends on the work, but yoga nights she’d take off about seven. She’d stay later than usual because the gym’s close by. Otherwise, she’d be out by five-thirty or six. Maybe six-thirty like.”

“But on Thursday nights, about seven.”

“Tuesdays and Thursdays. She really loves yoga. I went with her a few times before I started with The Glory Hour.”

“Tuesday.” The night Mars was killed. “Did she leave at seven this past Tuesday?”

“Ah.” Terren closed her eyes, sighed. “I remember. Yeah, sure, just after seven. I remember because I had a seven-thirty meeting and I checked the time when she came over to say she’d see me at Rush. It’s a club, we were going out after I got off work, after her class. Haley was meeting us. We had a lot of fun.”

“Just after seven,” Eve said thoughtfully. “Just a second.” She rose, moved to Trueheart. “Check the vic’s log-out time—I want exact—on Tuesday night.”

Eve saw Peabody come in, signaled her to wait. “The swipe cards—the studio security has you log in and log out.”

“Yeah,” Terren brushed at tears, sniffed. “There was some trouble a few years ago, with some fans getting in. You have to get cleared from the lobby now, or do the swipe.”

“Where did she keep hers?”

“Ah, in her purse.”

“Always?”

“Well, everybody sort of leaves them on their desk if they have one, or sticks them in their pocket. Or a purse.”

“Did she leave hers on her desk?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“They all look the same. How do you know whose is whose?”

“You can write your name on them, or initials. Some people draw something. I’ve got a dragonfly I drew on mine.”

“I bet you don’t really look when you just grab it up to go.”

Terren shrugged. “It’s right on the desk, or in my pocket.”

“Right. It’s got your data inside, programmed in.”

“Sure. Your name, your area, your ID number.”

“Do you ever grab someone else’s by mistake?”

“I haven’t, but Wally and Misha got theirs mixed once. I remember because it was just a couple weeks ago.”

Trueheart came back, whispered in Eve’s ear.

She just nodded.

“Terren, would you like us to contact Haley, make sure she’s home, or comes home? We’re going to arrange for you to be taken home.”

Fresh tears spurted. “I want Haley.”