Jason heard some noise in the background. He knew this call was about the Honiger-Stanton sisters. April wouldn’t bother him about anything else. The karma must be bad for his getting away from those women tonight.
He had been committed to clearing his mind and getting into a quiet place where he could refresh himself. Now a wave of nausea swept over him at the thought of having to gear up again so late in the day. The smell of burning pizza drifted out of the kitchen. Shit.
“Hold on for a second, will you.” Jason put down the phone and charged across the hall.
In the kitchen, black smoke spewed out of the toaster oven. Shit. Inadvertently he thought of the burning house where Emma had been held in Queens. Thick clouds of reeking smoke jetting up into the sky. Rubble everywhere. Talking to April Woo must have triggered the association. Shit.
He burned himself yanking the small metal tray out of the oven. Tonight wasn’t turning out to be so great. He raced back into the living room.
“You still there?” he said breathlessly.
“You okay?”
“Sure.” Just depressed and anxious and starving. It was clear he was going to lose sleep over this and feel rotten through all ten patients scheduled for the next day. He studied the burn on his left index finger.
“You were telling me the Twin Towers are not the reason for this call.”
“Yeah. This is the thing. I have your patient’s sister here as kind of a suspect in a homicide investigation. You with me?”
“Of course.”
“And this woman does fit the description we have of the murderer.”
“Really?” Jason was appalled.
“Yeah, well, but there’s something odd.… She’s—ah, bizarre, to put it mildly. We need a psychiatric evaluation of her to determine what to do with her. At the moment we’re getting a warrant to search the house where she lives and there’s a BOLO out on her boyfriend.”
“You lost me.” Jason shifted the phone to his other ear. “What’s the connection between this woman and the murder—murders—and what’s a BOLO?”
“She has a dog. Similar-colored dog hairs were found on the first murder victim. She has red hair. Several red human hairs were found on the dress the victim was wearing. Bruises on the neck and shoulders of the first victim show the woman we have here is the right height to have caused them. She lives across the street from where the second victim died. We don’t have anything yet on the second homicide. You still with me?”
“Sort of. What’s a BOLO?” he repeated.
“Be on the lookout. Guy drives a Mercedes. We’re trying to locate him.”
Jason swallowed, frowning. He tried to remember what was in the paper about the murders. Not a lot. “They were hung?”
“Strangled, garotted, then hung.”
“Not exactly a woman’s crime,” Jason murmured.
“Look, I have this feeling—”
“What’s your feeling?”
“It’s like this woman makes me feel weird when I talk to her, but I don’t feel frightened. Does that make sense?”
“What does weird mean?”
“Ah, like stepping off the curb and there’s no street there. I don’t feel any human connection with her. She, like, bites herself, growls.”
“What about her eyes? Does she stare? Are her eyes very wide open? Does she seem super vigilant, afraid of having anything behind her?”
“I don’t think so—she’s creepy.”
“Do you get the feeling she’s a cat, that she could strike like a panther?”
“No. I’m not an expert, Jason. It’s only my intuition. But I get the feeling she’s a very disturbed, brittle person. She’s frightening, but only because of the way she acts. It’s kind of like you’re trying to soothe somebody and they vomit on you. You’re horrified, but not frightened for your safety. You see what I mean?”
“Yes, I know what you mean. She’s creepy, but you don’t think she’s dangerous. What do you need?”
“Well, this is the thing. We not getting very far in our questioning of her. We brought this woman in. Now we’re liable for her, responsible for her safety. We can’t let her loose and we can’t hold her. We need a psychiatric interview, and it would be great if we could also get some further information about the murder.”
“What’s your normal procedure in a case like this?”
“That’s the thing. Usually I’d take her to the emergency room at Bellevue and they’d bring in a psych team. At this hour they’d be residents. It’s a very inhuman thing. I don’t like to say this, ’cause they mean well. But it’s very unlikely such an interview would lead to any important information for our investigation. And I hate to go there.”
Jason could understand that. He was quiet, trying to control his nausea at the prospect of doing such an interview at this hour. He asked himself if there was anything illegal or unethical about it. He was being called in as a consultant. He decided there was not. Milicia was his patient, and she had already asked him to see her sister. And now it was a murder investigation. That changed things.
“How do you like Chinese food?”
“I love it.” He also liked her. “You want me to come down to the precinct now, is that it? And talk to her there?”
“I’ll, uh, cook you a Chinese dinner, buy you a bottle of gin, a book on Freud. Or all three if you do this huge favor for me.”
April Woo didn’t say that he owed her for saving Emma’s life. Or that he was responsible for the woman’s being there in the first place. She was a clever girl. She didn’t have to say anything like that. He sighed softly.
“I’m on my way,” he told her.
53
April met Jason at the downstairs desk. The psychiatrist looked tired but in better spirits than she had seen him last. She felt a little guilty dragging him in so late, but Sergeant Joyce remembered him from his work on the Chapman case and had liked the idea. Especially since he knew the sister. After she suggested it, April could see Joyce giving her points for it. Getting Jason to do the evaluation meant her supervisor didn’t have to lose April to the bowels of Bellevue, where April would have to escort Camille and wait with her half the night until a bunch of residents saw her and made a recommendation about what should be done with her. And what they recommended might not be the right thing. This way April could return to the building on the East Side with Sanchez and participate in the search of the place where Camille lived.
“Hi.” She noticed right away that Jason had lost some weight and his hair was a little longer. She had forgotten that he was a handsome man, was surprised to find she was glad to see him.
“Thanks for coming.”
He smiled. “You’d do the same for me.”
“Of course.” It was her job though. She shrugged and turned away to hide the flush that crept up her neck. Suddenly she felt awkward in the change of clothes from her locker.
It had been a long day since Rachel Stark was found hanging in the bathroom at European Imports that morning. And even though she had showered and washed her hair twice, April couldn’t help wondering if she still smelled of death.
“She’s in here.” April led the way to the questioning room where she had left Camille with several guards, a cup of tea, and some of the devil’s food cookies Sergeant Joyce hid in her locker for special occasions when she was absolutely desperate.
After finding her gnawing on her arm, April knew better than to leave Camille alone. April had left her with Goldie. The female uniform was big and experienced enough to handle anything. April thought Camille would feel better with a woman. A male uniform stood outside the door just in case. As she made the introduction, April was keenly aware of Sanchez in Sergeant Joyce’s office. The door was closed. Didn’t want to leave the two of them together too long.