Flawless(35)

“Great work, thanks,” Craig said. He wasn’t pleased or relieved; he wished he’d been wrong. At least he’d saved innocent men from a murder charge, but that meant the killers were still out there. “Have you sent the info up to Eagan yet?”

“Emailed it to him...marked urgent. If he’s in, I’m sure he’s seen it.”

“Are you analyzing the video surveillance from the subway last night?”

“Not officially—NYPD are handling that. But Eagan managed to get it to me.”

“May I see?”

“Sure. And in my opinion? That kid was pushed.”

“Show me,” Craig said. He dragged a chair from the next cubicle to join Wally at his computer.

The footage was grainy and only caught so much.

“I backed up pretty far before the incident,” Wally said. “I was looking for that guy in a hoodie from the Finnegan woman’s police report and several of the witness statements.”

“And?”

“I found twenty guys who could be him.”

“Great,” Craig muttered.

“Wait, wait—I’m not your go-to man for nothing,” Wally assured him. He paused the footage. “Guy in a hoodie here, guy in a hoodie there. But they look up, they look around, they look at their phones. Now...” He unfroze the frame and images went by. Then he stopped the film again. “Guy in a hoodie here. Head down all the time. Dark hoodie, either black or dark gray. Watch him—never looks up once.”

Craig studied the man as he paced the platform, then found a place by a pillar and lounged against it.

He was in a position where he could watch the stairs, see who was coming down. And still, it was impossible to see his face.

“There’s Miss Finnegan,” Wally said, pointing.

Craig looked, and there was Kieran, coming down the stairs in her work suit. She smiled and apologized to someone as they brushed shoulders, then merged into the crowd. He saw her look around and frown and then take out her phone.

He saw the people on the platform, teens, uniformed schoolgirls, a rabbi, several Muslim women, everyone waiting, some patiently, some less so, edging forward.

Everyone edging forward.

Kieran looked up from her phone and appeared to be searching for someone.

The guy in the dark hoodie had shifted. He’d joined the throng, moving in more and more closely, filtering his way between people until he was directly behind Kieran. And as if she sensed someone there, she moved away from the edge and closer to the rabbi.

And then the girl fell.

Had the guy in the hoodie pushed her?

Or had he, like those around him, just surged forward?

He saw the chaos that ensued, the girl on the tracks and Kieran—right above her—reaching out. The girl scrambled up with the aid of Kieran’s hand, almost leaping onto the platform as if her life depended on it.

Which it did.

After that it looked as if all the pins in a bowling alley had been struck, with people falling here, there and everywhere. They’d all been pushing to get on the train, and then some had tried to help Kieran, while others had apparently gotten caught in the crush.

“Looks like our Miss Finnegan is a true hero,” Wally said. “What are the odds on that? The same woman who came in here to help winds up saving a life a few days later.”

What were the odds?

Had the man in the hoodie been aiming for Kieran Finnegan and accidentally pushed the wrong girl?

“Thanks, Wally,” Craig said, glancing at his watch. Mike should have arrived by now. He was going to head up and have a talk with his partner and then assistant director Eagan.

He was attracted to Kieran Finnegan, and if he had any sense, he would step out of the picture entirely. Of course, he couldn’t do that now without explaining himself.

Besides, he was still suspicious of her.

She was holding something back, and he needed to know what it was, needed to know if it impacted the case or not.

Had she been in on the thefts somehow? She’d known that there were two separate groups of thieves at work. That could indicate that she was connected to one of them. On the other hand, if she was connected, would she have shared what she knew, what she saw?

He was of two minds. The first possibility was that she knew something. And because she knew something, the killers saw her as dangerous.

Or she was innocent, but for some reason the killers were afraid of her anyway. In that case...why?

Either way, he was certain the woman was in danger.

And he had to keep her safe.

*

Doctors Fuller and Miro had joined Kieran in her office.

“We’re so proud of you,” Dr. Fuller said, brandishing his GQ smile. “So proud.”

“The thing is, you really should grant an interview,” Dr. Miro said. “Our phone lines have been ringing off the hook.”

Kieran winced. “People are bothering you here? At work?”

“Yes, but the real point is that you did a good thing,” Dr. Fuller said. “Of course people want to know about it.”

Kieran shook her head. “Please, please, I’m trying to keep a low profile and just lead my life. I can’t function like this.”

“Don’t be silly,” Dr. Fuller said. “This is New York. Celebrities walk down the street daily, and they function just fine.”