Eve snaked between them to sit across from him. "You and Annalisa were seeing each other." "We're going to get married. As soon as I ask her. I was going to ask her at Christmas. Wait until Christmas, make it special. What happened to her?" "Mr Grande, tell us where you were last night."
He had his hands to his face, and the tears were trickling through his fingers. "You think I could hurt her? I couldn't ever hurt her. I love her." "No, I don't think that, but I need to ask." "I had a session, ran until midnight, maybe later. After we hung around the studio, had some brews, some pizza, jammed. Got home, I don't know, around three. Jesus, did somebody hurt her?" "Yes, somebody hurt her." His face was already splotchy from weeping, but now it went white under the stain. "You said the park. Oh, my Jesus Christ. You said the park. Those other women. It was like those other women? Annalisa?" "Tell me where you had your session, and who was there, and we'll get that out of the way." "Tunes, on Prince. Um. Bird. God, God." His hands were all over his face, into his hair, fingers trembling. "John Bird, and Katelee Poder and I can't think straight. Her mother, have you told her mother?" "We've just come from there." "They're tight. Really tight. Gave me the once-over about five times. But she's okay. We get along good. I gotta go over there." "Mr Grande, do you know if anyone was bothering Annalisa? Someone you noticed, someone she mentioned." "No. She'll mention if her nose itches, so she'd say if there was. I've gotta go see her mom. I've gotta go be with her family. We need to go see Annalisa together. We need to do that together."
She'd had a solid seven hours" sleep, Eve thought, and had ended the previous day with a nice dinner with friends, and very satisfying sex. Despite all that, she carried a vicious headache with her into Mira's section.
Mira's admin informed her, with more amiability than usual, that the doctor was in session with Ms Sanchez, but she would let them know Lieutenant Dallas had arrived.
"Let them finish," Eve told her. "It's better I'm not in there anyway. I've got some things I can take care of while I wait." She checked her messages first, and found one from Berenski in the lab, gleefully relating that he'd nailed her shoe from the imprint.
"My genius knows no borders or boundaries. Took your pathetic imprint on grass, worked my magic, and reconstructed the tread. Matched the tread. Big foot was in a size fifteen Mikon, style called Avalanche. It's a modified hiking boot, and there's not a lot of wear on this one. Retails at about three-seven-five. Eleven outlets in the city deal with that brand and carry it in that size. Got your list attached.
You can come in and plant a big, wet one on me later." "Yeah, that'll happen." But she appreciated the magic, and scanned the attachment.
After highlighting the outlets inside or bordering her downtown parameter, she spent the rest of her wait time writing her preliminary report.
She glanced up when the door opened.
"Dallas." Celina hurried out. Her eyes were swollen from a recent crying jag.
"Eve, why don't you come in." Mira gestured. "Celina, why don't you both come back in for a moment." "I let you down." Celina closed a hand over Eve's arm as they walked toward Mira's office. "I let myself down." "You didn't." Eve sat, prepared to accept flowery tea, then sniffed like a hound when she smelled coffee.
"I knew you'd want it, and probably need it," Mira said as she offered a cup. "It's station house, but it's coffee." Thanks."
"I didn't check the media reports this morning. Thank you," Celina said to Mira, and took the tea. "I wanted to hear it from you. I've cried all over Dr Mira and gotten the worst of it out. I won't break down again. But first, I want to tell you. I never even considered that he'd be out… that he'd hurt anyone last night. I was so damn tired, Dallas, and I wanted to get a good night's sleep before my appointment this morning. I just wanted to close everything out, so I took a couple of tranqs." "That sort of thing block visions?" "It can." Celina glanced toward Mira, got a nod. "The drug suppresses. I might have seen something, but I'd have been under so deep I wouldn't know. Hypnosis could bring it out.
Just as it could lower the blocks on the others, so I would see in more detail. See what I hadn't allowed myself to see." "Quite possibly," Mira confirmed. "Just as it can take a witness to an event back to the event, and bring more details, focus them in, through the practitioner's direction, to specifics. The things you see," she continued, "that you don't consciously recall." "I get that," Eve said. "When can you do it?" "We haven't done the physical exam as yet. If I don't find any problems, we could begin the sessions tomorrow." "Sessions? Tomorrow?" "It will almost certainly take more than one, Eve. And I prefer to wait twenty-four hours, to make certain the drugs are completely out of Celina's system, and that she's settled emotionally." "Can't we start sooner? I'll meditate and cleanse. I'd like to start as soon as possible. I feel…" "Responsible," Mira finished. "You feel responsible for the woman who was killed last night. But you're not." "If she clears the physical, does the meditation thing, can you go sooner?"
Mira looked at Eve, sighed, then rose to check her calendar.
"We could begin at four-thirty today. You may not get your answers, Eve. It depends on how receptive Celina is to the technique, and how much she actually saw and can bring back." "Will you be here?" Celina asked her.
Don't depend on me, Eve wanted to say. Don't look at me as your anchor. "If I can. I've got a line I've got to follow, and a lot of routine to deal with on the latest victim." "If you can." "Anything I should know?" Mira came back to sit. "As applies to profile?" "Close to the same pattern. It looks like this Annalisa Sommers was cutting through-" She broke off as Celina's tea cup shattered on the floor.
"Annalisa?" She pressed her hands down as if to push herself from the chair, then simply fell back again. "Annalisa Sommers? Oh, dear God." "You knew her." "Maybe it's someone else, with the same name. Maybe it's… of course, it's not. This is why. This has to be why I'm linked to this." She stared down at the broken china. "I'm sorry." "No, sit still. Don't worry." Mira crouched down, laid a comforting hand on Celina's knee before picking up the shattered pieces. "Was she your friend?" "No. I mean, not really." She pressed her hands to her temples. "I knew her a little. I liked her. You had to like her, she was so bright and full of life." She dropped her hands, and her eyes went huge and dark. "Lucas. Oh, my God, Lucas. He must be out of his mind. Does he know?" She reached out, grabbed Eve's hand. "Does he know what happened?" "I've talked to him."
"I didn't think it could get worse, but it can. It does when it's someone you know. Why would she be in the park?" She thumped a fisted hand on her leg. "Why would any woman go near a park now? After what's already happened?" "Because people do what they do. How did you know her?" Eve asked.
"Through Lucas." She accepted the tissue Mira gave her, stared at them as if unaware tears were sliding down her cheeks. "Lucas and I were involved. We lived together for a long time." "Right." Eve nodded. "He's your ex." "My ex-lover, yes, but not my ex-friend. It wasn't a nasty breakup. We just drifted apart, and moved on. We cared about each other, very much, but we weren't in love anymore." Finally, she pressed the tissue to her eyes. "We've kept in touch. We even see each other now and again for lunch, for a drink." "For sex?" She lowered her hands, slowly. "No. I suppose you have to ask something like that. No, we weren't intimate anymore.
And some months ago, almost a year ago, I think, he and Annalisa began seeing each other. I know, because I could see it, and because he told me, it was serious between them.
They were happy together, and I was happy for them." "Broad-minded of you." "Oh, for-" She broke off, swallowed whatever angry remark she'd been about to make. Took a calming breath.
"Haven't you ever had someone in your life you loved, then you didn't not in the same way?" "No." Celina gave a kind of sobbing laugh. "Well, people do, Dallas. And still manage to care about each other. Lucas is a good man. He must be devastated." "He is."