Imitation in Death (In Death #17)(54)

Across from them, a woman who looked to have seen the dawn and dusk of a couple- of centuries beamed goodwill over them.

'"There: now," she said in a reedy voice, "isn't that better than anything you can get out of a machine?"

"Glump," Baxter responded over bread and meat in what was obviously delirious agreement.

Trueheart, who was younger, nearly as green as his salad, and whose mouth wasn't quite as full at the time, scraped back his chair when he spotted Eve. "Lieutenant. He shot to attention as Baxter rolled his eyes in amusement over the rookie, and adoration over his sandwich.

He swallowed. "Jeez, Trueheart, save the brownnosing until after I digest. Dallas, this is the amazing and wonderful Mrs., Elsa Parksy. Mrs.- Parksy, ma'am, this is Lieutenant Dallas, the primary investigator you wanted to see."

"Thanks for coming in, Mrs. Parksy."

"My duty, isn't it? As a citizen, not to mention as a friend and neighbor. Lois looked after me when I needed it, now I'll look after her, best I can. Sit down, deans. Have you had your lunch?"

Eve eyed the sandwich, the salad, and ignored the envy that swirled in her mostly empty stomach. "Yes, ma'am."

"I told these boys I'd fix extra. Can't, abide food out of a machine. It's not natural. Detective Baxter, you offer some of that sandwich to this girl. She's too skinny."

"I'm fine, really. Detective Baxter told me. you saw a man leaving Mrs. Gregg's apartment building on Sunday morning."

"Did. I didn't talk to the police before as.1 went straight on to my grandson's after church and stayed -overnight. Didn't get back home until this morning. Heard. about Lois on the news yesterday, of course !"

The-countless wrinkles in her withered raisin of a face shifted in what Eve took for sorrow.

"I've never been so shocked and sad, even when my Fred, God rest him, fell.under the Number Three,-train back in 2035. She was a good woman, and a good neighbor."

"Yes, I know she was. What can -you tell us.about the man you saw?"

"Hardly paid him any attention. My eyes are pretty good yet. Got them fixed up again last March, but I wasn't paying him much mind."

Absently, she pulled a pack of nap-wipes out of a cavernous handbag, and passed them to Baxter.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parksy," he said in a humbled, respectful voice.

"You're a good boy." She patted his hand, then turned her attention back to Eve. "Where was I? Oh yes.-I was just coming out to wait for my grandson..' He comes: by every Sunday at dune-fifteen, to take me to church. You, go to church?"

. There was a quick and beady gleam in Mrs. Parksy's eyes, causing Eve to hesitate between the truth and a convenient lie.

"Yes, ma'am," Trueheart spoke up, his face solemn. "I like to go to Mass at St. Pat's when I can -get into Midtown on Sunday. Otherwise, I go to Our Lady of the Sorrows, downtown."

"Catholic, are you?"

"Yes, ma'am. '

"Well, that's all right." She patted his hand in turn, as if it wasn't his fault.

"You saw the man come out from Mrs. Gregg's building," Eve prompted.

"Said I did, didn't I? He came out just a minute after I stepped out my own front door across the street. Had on a gray uniform and carried a black toolbox. Had a blue plastic basket in his other hand, like the kind they have down at the market. Couldn't see what was in it, 'cause it was a ways, and.1 wasn't staring at the man."

"What can you tell me about how he looked?"

"Looked like a' repairman, is all. White man, or maybe mixed. Hard to tell as the sun was blasting. Don't know how old. Not as old as me. Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, that's all the same when you hit your century mark, and I hit mine seventeen years ago last March. But I'd say thirty or forty as a best guess."

"Congratulations, Mrs. Parksy," Trueheart said and she smiled at him.

"You're a very nice young man. This other, he had a cap on, uniform cap, -and sunglasses. Dark ones. Had mine on, myself. Sun was blazing even though it was early. He saw me. Couldn't see his eyes, of course, but he saw me, as he sent me a big as life grin and gave me this little bow. Sassy's what.1 call it, and I just sniffed and looked the other way, as I don't hold with sass. Sorry about that now. Wish I'd watched after him more."

"Which direction did he go?

"Oh, he headed east. Spring in his step, like a man pleased with his morning's work. Bad business, bad business when a man can all but skip out the door and onto the sidewalk when he's killed a woman. Lois went to the market for me more than once when I was feeling poorly, and she brought me flowers to cheer me up. Always had a minute to chat. I wish I'd known what he'd done when 'I saw him. My grandson drove up just a minute or two later. He's always prompt. I' d've told him to run that murdering bastard down on the street. As God is my witness, I would've."

She worked Mrs. Parksy until she was sure she had everything the woman could give her, then passed her to Trueheart, asking him to escort her to a uniform fortransport home..

"Baxter, another minute-here." She dug in her-pocket and discovered she'd given Peabody all her credits earlier. "Got enough on you for a Pepsi?" -

"What's wrong with using your badge number? You over your limit?"