A Clean Kill

on a back garden that was a tangle of overgrown bushes, weeds, and unpruned trees. Everywhere the surfaces were loaded with stuff—commemoration cups, souvenirs from trips abroad. Beer steins, Dresden, and porcelain— people, animals, parrots. Silver boxes, tortoiseshell boxes, enamel pillboxes. Plates. Objects were stacked everywhere and completely dust free.

'Where did all this stuff come from?'

'Gifts from clients. Things they collected.'

Eloise pointed at the sparkly bracelets on her wrist. 'What about those?'

'Jo Ellen's favorites.' She held them up for display.

Eloise thought about Alison's missing bracelet and started chewing her lipstick off. 'Are they real?' she asked.

'Of course they're real. Don't worry, she lets me wear them.'

'Where did she get them?'

Leah shrugged, and Eloise thought of Alison's husband.

'How well did you know Mrs. Perkins?' she asked suddenly.

'The lady across the street?' Leah fingered the bracelet.

'You know who 1 mean.'

'I knew her.'

'What about Lynn?' Eloise's eyes kept moving around, looking at the boxes and cups. The place was like an antiques warehouse.

'She's my best friend,' she said warmly.

Eloise focused on her. 'Good, then you can help me with what happened yesterday. Did you see Lynn in the morning?'

Leah put her lips together and shook her head.

'Okay,' Eloise turned away and ran her finger over a surface, looked at it, then nodded. 'Very good. What is your routine here?' she said casually.

Leah stared at her. 'What do you mean?'

'Do you make breakfast for Miss Anderson?'

'No, not really.' She stared out of disconcerting blue eyes, one hip cocked against the table.

'What happens then?' Leah shrugged. 'She leaves for work.'

'What time would that be?'

'Nine, ten, eleven. Depends on her treatment.'

'What treatment?' Eloise lifted an eyebrow.

Leah frowned and moved a few paces away. 'I'm not supposed to tell.'

'Oh, come on. You can tell me,' Eloise said.

Leah shook her head again. 'No way. Why all the questions?'

Just curious. Did Miss Anderson have a treatment yesterday?' Eloise picked up a porcelain parrot, all green, studied it for a second, then put it back.

'No, she's finished for now.' Leah copied what Eloise had done a moment before. She ran a finger across the highly polished table and showed it to the detective. 'See, I'm a good cleaner. I'm the best. That's why Joey has me here at her house. I can do the job.' She made a face. 'I have to clean up for Lynn though. She's not the best.'

Eloise glanced at her watch. Where was everybody? Surely, someone should be calling her by now. 'You have to clean up for Lynn?' she said slowly.

'She's lazy. I'm not.' The girl laughed.

'You clean across the street?' Eloise asked.

'Oh, sure, but I don't babysit. I'm not supposed to do that.'

'Why not? You look like you'd be a very good babysitter.'

'You have to go now.' Leah went out of the dining room, then down the back stairs, leading the way to the front door.

Eloise hesitated even as her adrenaline kicked in and her training directed her to move. The girl was out of her sight, and she now had put together enough of the pieces to know she'd made a number of tactical errors. She'd heard of the girl from the interviews, but didn't know she lived here. No one had mentioned that, not Alison, not Lynn. And Leah had worked in the Perkins house. That meant she had access, maybe even her own key. They had assumed it was the old lady. Now her heart slammed away in her chest telling her to get the hell out of the house and call for backup. She reached for her phone and realized that it was off. Berating herself for a dozen stupidities, she started down the stairs.

Fifty-one

The rain started again as April and Woody came out of the building and dived into the car. Woody ground the key in the ignition before the door was closed, and the engine roared to life.

'Perkins house,' she said, which was close enough.

'I know,' he muttered. He pulled out, barely looking as a bus was cruising in. The driver hit the horn. Woody hit the siren and cut him off.

April shut her eyes to the offense and punched the number one on her phone. Mike's voice mail came on immediately. 'It's me,' she told it. 'I've called for backup at the Anderson house. Sergeant Gelo is over there, and she isn't picking up.' Shit.

She didn't want to say she was ticked because her sergeant didn't like being left behind and had taken matters into her own hands. The big no-no could have widespread repercussions for both of them. She ended the call without pointing a finger and muttered angrily to herself as a yellow light slowed the traffic in front of them at Fifty-seventh Street. When the light went red, a hole opened up. 'Go,' she said, and he ran the light.

She punched two on her cell. Charlie picked up on the second ring. 'Hagedorn,' he said.

'Charlie. What happened with Gelo?'

'She stepped out. I've been trying to reach her. I have something on Anderson.'

'What do you have?'

'She has a girl living with her.'

'I know about that,' April said impatiently.

'Did you know her name is Lucy Walters?'

'Is that supposed to mean something to me? Oh, Jesus.' April braced as Woody dodged an ambulance.

'You okay?'

'I'm on Lexington with Woody.'

'My condolences. Okay, Lucy Walters hit her homeroom teacher in the head with a chair when she was in sixth grade. The woman died of her injuries. That was thirteen years ago. She served eighteen months in juvenile, out of state, and she's been in and out of programs until she moved in with Anderson.'

'Call Minnow with that, will you?' April said tersely.

'I already took the liberty. Didn't want to be slow sharing that.'

'Good thinking. And Mike?'

'He knows, too.'

'Okay. What's the story on Gelo? Don't hold back on me.'

'I'm working on it. As soon as I know . . .'

April's stomach heaved. Whenever she was upse^t, all her nerves went right to her gut. She told herself that everybody was on the way, that it was

going to be all right. She wanted to believe that, but she knew she was responsible for her people. Even if no one was hurt, she was still going to have to take the hit for her officer's bad judgment. But more importantly right now, she had no way of knowing whether or not Gelo was in that house and if she was, what was happening there. She started to pray.

Fifty-Two

At the bottom of the stairs was an old-fashioned stainless steel kitchen. A gas stove, dishwasher, and