“Did you take a taxi?”
“No. I came on the subway.”
“That’s a break. Did anyone see you go in?”
“I don’t know.”
“The music store downstairs was open. Did you walk by the window?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Well, you came from Seventh Avenue, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you had to walk by to get to the door.”
“Then I guess I did. I just don’t recall.”
“Okay. Anyway, this time you take a cab. From the upper West Side right to the door. Make sure the cabbie remembers you. Let him get a good look at you. And make sure you give him the exact address-not just the street, give him the number too. If it’s the kind of cab gives receipts, get one, shove it in your purse.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Good. You got the number here?”
“Of course.”
“Good. That’s where you’re gonna call. You got it now? You find the body, call the cops. Start talking, take offense, clam up and say you want to call your lawyer. I’ll be here waiting for your call. You got all that?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Then get the hell out of here.”
14
The moment Amy was out the door, Steve wheeled on Tracy Garvin. “Okay,” he said. “What about you?”
Startled, Tracy said, “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. It’s one thing to have Amy Dearborn holding out on me. I expect that. But you’re something else.”
“I’m not holding out on you.”
“Oh no? What were you doing in that office?”
“I told you-”
“Right. You were looking for me. Tracy, don’t make me cross-examine you, but that story won’t hold up.”
“Why not?”
“Are you kidding me? You went up there because Amy told you she left a message on my machine asking me to meet her there. Even though in the same message she told me to forget it. Even though you left a message on my machine telling me to go to the office. So if I picked up my messages at all, my last instruction would be to come here. There’d be no reason to think I’d go anywhere else.”
“Yeah, but you did.”
“Yeah, but only because I happened to call while Amy was throwing up in the bathroom down the hall. Now, would you like to tell me how you deduced that might have happened, and decided to protect against that eventuality?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Fair?” Steve grabbed her by the shoulders. “Tracy, wake up. This is not a game. I think you went to that office for a reason. For something you forgot, or something you needed to do. Trouble is, you didn’t do it because you ran into me. I need to know what it was and I need to know now, because this is our last chance to fix it. While Amy’s on her way uptown. So forget the fact you think I’m going to be pissed, and just blurt out whatever the hell it is.”
“It’s not like that,” Tracy said.
Steve exhaled. “Aw, fuck. Then what is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s helpful.”
Tracy took off her glasses, pushed the hair out of her eyes, put them back on again. She held up her hand. “Okay,” she said. “The fact is, I don’t know.”
“You mind explaining that?”
“After Amy had hysterics, I got her into the office, I got her calmed down. But I had the feeling I forgot something. You ever have that? Nothing specific, just the feeling?”
“Can you cut to the chase?” Steve said. “If we’re going to take any action, it’s gotta be now.”
“Like what?” Tracy said. “That’s the whole thing. All I had was a general feeling I fucked up. That there was something I didn’t do that I should have done.”
“You mean like clean up?”
“No, I did that.”
“Oh yeah?” Steve said.
Tracy waved her hands. “No, no. It was nothing major. It’s just I didn’t know how you were going to play it, and I didn’t want to leave my fingerprints. That was one of the first things you asked me.”
“Yeah. And you said you didn’t.”
“Right. Because I cleaned them up.”
“From where?”
“The doorknob.”
“The outer doorknob?”
Tracy made a face. “No. The one to Fletcher’s office.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, but what was I going to do? We’re up there in the office, Amy’s too upset to talk, but she keeps pointing to the door. So I opened it.”
“You polished that doorknob?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to leave my prints.”
“Or anyone else’s.”
“I can’t help that,” Tracy said. “I couldn’t reach you. It was either call the police or get her out of there. Until you heard her story, I wasn’t going to turn her in.”
“Great,” Steve said. “Was that the only surface you polished?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“The only evidence you destroyed?”
“Hey, give me a break.”
“I’m on your side. It’s the cops who take a dim view. Now, this feeling you have-you didn’t happen to lose your purse? Drop your keys on the floor? Perhaps leave a business card on the top of Fletcher’s desk?”
“Look,” Tracy said. “This may surprise you, but I’m not enjoying this much.”
“I’m not either,” Steve said. “I’m trying to jog your memory.”
“Well, it’s isn’t working. I’m just getting rattled.”
“So take your mind off it. Do something else.”
“Like what?”
“Call Mark Taylor. Get him down here.”
“What should I tell him?”
“Nothing specific. Just it’s an emergency and get his ass over here.”
“What if he asks me why?”
“You don’t have time to explain.”
“He’s not gonna buy that.”
“Well, it happens to be true.”
