Flawless(29)

“Hold on, miss. You’re the one who helped her up, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I gave her a hand, that’s all,” Kieran said. She wanted to disappear. The situation was nerve-racking.

“She’s a hero!” someone cried.

“Hey, she was on the news the other night. She helped catch those jewelry thieves!” someone shouted.

Her face flooded what must have been a brilliant shade of red.

“Please,” Kieran said to the officer. “I have to get out of here.”

“Sorry, but I can’t let you go till we’ve talked to you about what you saw. Hell, we have to close the station, talk to everyone who might have seen anything. People are saying a man pushed her onto the tracks just as the train was coming. Is that what happened?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s rush hour,” Kieran said. “There were tons of people, jostling and pushing and... I don’t know.”

“Did you see anyone suspicious?” he asked her.

She started to speak, but the words froze in her throat.

Was she obsessed with men in hoodies now? She’d seen that guy, and then he’d disappeared. And then she had been certain that...

That he was behind her.

And then that girl had fallen. Or been pushed.

“This is New York. What do we consider suspicious?” she asked.

The way the officer looked at her, it seemed that he considered her to be suspicious.

“Anyone acting strangely? Agitated, intense...something other than tired and ready just to get on a train and get home,” the officer said.

She couldn’t say. No, she just didn’t want to say. She was afraid that she’d become paranoid, convinced that men in hoodies were chasing her everywhere.

Which meant, of course, that she was afraid of at least 10 percent of the people walking around the city.

“You’re the girl from the jewelry robbery, aren’t you?” he asked. “I saw you on TV.”

She nodded. “Yes,” she said, looking at him and deciding honesty was the best policy. “And that’s why I’m hesitant to say anything. I’m worried that I’m just being paranoid because of what happened that night. There was a man on the platform walking around in a dark hoodie with his head down. I saw him, but then I looked away for a second, and when I looked back he was gone. And then I had the feeling someone was behind me, and I was afraid it was him. So I moved away from the edge of the platform, and the next thing I knew, that girl was on the tracks. Please, may I go?”

“Not until we’ve taken your statement.”

She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out, looked down and winced.

It was Declan. She sighed and said, “Mind if I take this? It’s my brother. God knows, this could be on the news already, and I don’t want him worrying.”

The officer nodded and stared at her expectantly. Apparently she wouldn’t be having this conversation in private.

She smiled and answered.

“Hey, kid, what’s up?” he asked her. “You don’t have to work the bar tonight. You know that, right? You probably had a long day.” She was relieved to realize he hadn’t heard anything about the subway incident.

“I actually was on my way there, but there was an accident on the subway.”

“You’re okay?” he asked anxiously.

“I’m fine. A girl fell onto the tracks—” no way was she telling him the girl might have been pushed “—and I was right there, so I helped her up, and now I have to give a statement. Are you being slammed? Do I need to hurry?” she asked, looking pointedly at the officer.

It was growing apparent to her that the old saying was right: no good deed went unpunished.

“Craig is here with his boss, who wants to meet you. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Absolutely,” she told him.

“Where are you? Maybe one of these guys can get down there and help you out,” Declan said.

Her blood seemed to drain away. Without thinking, she said, “No, Declan, no. We can’t have them getting that cozy with us.”

“Huh?”

She didn’t want to explain her statement, and the perfect out suddenly occurred to her, not to mention it could keep her from being there all night.

“Yes, send someone down.” She told him where she was, then smiled at the officer as she hung up. “The FBI is on the way,” she said sweetly.

“I don’t care if God is on the way,” the officer said. “I need your statement.”

She forced herself to keep smiling. The man’s badge said that he was Officer Kurtz, but she decided to try thinking of him as Officer Friendly. “I just gave you my statement,” she said.

He pulled out a pad of paper. “I need it again. From start to finish.”

Kieran looked around. Other people were speaking with different officers. Emergency med techs had arrived and were speaking with the girl who had fallen onto the tracks; they had her on a gurney. The crowd had thinned out. Apparently some people had already escaped the scene. Others were talking loudly and almost enthusiastically about their experience.

Kieran took a deep breath. “I don’t know what happened. The platform was crazy crowded, but it was rush hour, so I didn’t think anything of it. I was people watching, and then I saw a man in the hoodie standing over there.” She pointed. “Like I said, I looked away, and when I looked back he was gone. I had this feeling that he’d come up behind me—I don’t know why, I just did—so I moved away between a rabbi and a woman dressed like a Goth. The next thing I knew, that girl was on the tracks and everyone was screaming. I don’t know what else to tell you. I didn’t see what happened to her, only that she was down there, so I reached for her, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor with her and a bunch of other people on top of me.”