Even amid all those other men, Rob stood out. He wasn't in uniform, and it had nothing to do with size, although his six-two, tightly muscled frame didn't exactly blend in with the paunches around him. It was something else. Even when there were bigger, more physically imposing men present, something about Rob subtly but undeniably announced to any room he entered that a man was on the premises. He maneuvered himself to their table and, despite the catcalls from his friends at the bar, sat with them.
The three of them left together, but it was Kara who fell so hard for Rob. It was Kara and Rob from then on. At least until Kara ended it.
She gazed out at the street where people hurried through the stark cold sunshine. Through the fog of condensation on the window they were motley blurs, actors on a tv with a bad tube. Kara was glad she couldn't see their everyday faces as they scurried by, going about their lives as if nothing terrible had happened. For Christ sake, Kelly was dead! Didn't they know? Didn't they care?
God, how she hated this city. And all the people in it, too.
One of them had killed her sister.
"Who did it?"
"We don't know."
"Not even a suspect?"
"Not a one."
"Great detective work!" Kara said and instantly regretted it. "Sorry. That was a cheap shot. But you must know something."
Rob nodded. "We know that somewhere around one A.M. she left the Oak Bar with two men in their mid-thirties. We have descriptions of both and a good set of prints off one of the glasses in the room—you have no idea how many sets of prints you can find in a hotel room—but no ID as yet. We don't think they were registered in the Plaza. Shortly after two A.M. she came through a twelfth floor window."
Kara closed her eyes and shuddered.
"Was she conscious?"
"Witnesses say they heard her scream."
"Oh, God."
The coffee turned rancid in her mouth. Again she felt her stomach heave, but she forced it down. There was something else she had to know. She couldn't bring herself to look at Rob as she asked it.
"Was she… was she raped?"
There was a long pause. Finally she opened her eyes and looked at him. His face was tight.
"You're not going to like it."
"Tell me!" she said, the rage within her tearing at the surface of her control, screaming to break through and strike at someone. Anyone. "Tell me!"
"There was evidence of semen in both the vaginal vault and oral cavity," Rob said. His voice was robot-like, as if he had gone on autopilot and was reading from a report. "DNA analysis indicated two different men as sources. There was no sign of forced penetration. Kelly appeared to be a willing participant."
Kara's anger suddenly turned to ice. She could barely speak.
"I don't believe it. A couple of guys drag her up to their room, rape and sodomize her, then throw her out a window and you have the nerve to say that she enjoyed it? I should have known! Is this what being a cop in this city has done to you?"
Rob stared into his coffee in silence. When she was through, he spoke in a low voice.
"It was Kelly's room."
"What?"
"Kelly rented it."
"Rob, what are you saying?"
He continued to stare into his coffee.
"I'm saying that Kelly Wade, your sister, took that room herself. She signed in as 'Ingrid' Wade."
"No. There has to be a mistake."
"No mistake. She's been a regular at the Plaza for the past few months. Paid cash every time. She was known to quite a few of the staff as a good tipper, and, um, a real swinger. She'd rent a room, pick up a guy in the bar—sometimes two guys—and take them upstairs."
"No!"
"And we found a vial of coke in her purse."
Suddenly numb, Kara slumped back in the chair.
Over Christmas she had sensed that something was bothering Kelly when she was out at the farm. She'd thought her sister was still in a funk over her break-up with that Tom creep the previous year. Kara had never dreamed it was anything like this. One night stands. Cocaine. She hadn't noticed any signs of drug abuse. But out in the heart of Amish country, who knew those signs?
An awful thought struck her. Was her habit bad enough to…
"She… she was a prostitute?"
"I don't think so. The M.E. said there was no sign of a heavy coke habit. And as far as we can tell, she didn't charge for her favors. One of the bartenders at the Plaza had spoken to a few of her, um, dates after they'd been up in her room. They said they couldn't believe they'd gotten what they'd, um, gotten for free."
Kara stared at him.
"This is true, Rob? Really true?" She fought to keep a growing sob from choking off her voice. "It can't be! You're not talking about my sister, Rob! We're twins. We spent every day of our lives together. I knew her! You knew her! This can't be Kelly you're talking about! There's got to be a mistake!"
Sadly, he shook his head.
"I wish there were. Midtown North is just a block from the Plaza. When I came in the next morning and saw the name Wade on the report, I took the case. On a whim. I never dreamed it would be Kelly. When I saw the body I… I thought it was you. And the more digging I did, the more bizarre it became. I mean, I haven't seen Kelly since you and I—since you left town. That's ten years, but you're right, this kind of lifestyle doesn't fit with my memory of her. Not one bit."
"She was a nurse, for God's sake!" Kara said. "She worked at St. Vincent's! Whenever she'd visit the farm she'd tell me horror stories about all the drug addicts and the VD and AIDS. She saw all that stuff first hand! I can't believe she'd become a… a swinger!" The very word left such a foul taste in her mouth that she wanted to spit. "Tell me there's a chance you're wrong, Rob."
His expression was pained.
"I wish I could, Kara, I really do. But there's too much corroboration. The Plaza people knew her. According to them, she was fast becoming a legend in the Oak Bar."
"A legend," she said acidly. "My sister the legend. That's just great."
Gradually, her shock and disbelief ebbed away, and Kara became aware of a growing anger at her twin. Kelly hadn't been a completely innocent victim of one of New York's myriad acts of violence. She had been an enabler. She had put herself in a situation that simply begged for trouble.
Kara was furious. It was this city, this rotten lousy city that had done it to Kelly. She hadn't come here a swinger and a coke head, but she'd ended up one.
This damn city… Kara had to get out of it all over again. And right now. If she had to spend much longer here, she'd start to scream.
She glanced at her watch.
"I've got to be going. Thanks for the coffee and for your help and your time."
"No trouble. Where's your car?"
"I took the train. I didn't trust myself to drive."
"Good thinking. But even so, maybe you should stay over a night."
She gave him a sidelong stare. Was he thinking…?
"I don't mean anything like that," he said. "I just mean you don't look so hot. You're welcome to my place."
"You still rooming with Tony?"
"No. He's married. The rent got too high so I'm over on the East Side now. But seriously, I'll sleep on the couch. No problem."
"Thanks, but I don't know when my mother's coming in and I left Jill with a neighbor so—"