“Not to notice. He—” He broke off as a slender young man entered the basement from the outside door. “What the hell? That’s him!”
Before the others could stop him, he rushed forward and grabbed the newcomer by the collar of his brown uniform jacket. “What have you done with her, you bastard?”
Scared and bewildered, the new elevator man cowered and put up his hands to ward off the blow. “Done with who? When? I just got here.”
“You’ve been here since six-thirty. You were out on the sidewalk. I saw you.”
“Not me, man. What’s going on?”
Hentz put a hand on Dwight’s shoulder. “Calm down, Major.”
“James Williams?” Sigrid asked. “The new elevator man?”
“Yes, ma’am. Just started yesterday.”
“Okay,” Dwight said, lowering his hackles. “I get it.” He released his hold. “Sorry.”
Jim Williams straightened his jacket. “But for real, man, what’s happening?”
Before Sigrid could tell him, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and signaled for Hentz to finish explaining.
The uniformed cops returned from the back to report. “Nothing obvious, sir. We need keys to get into those storage bins and look behind stuff.”
“Forget it,” Hentz told Dwight. “The locks belong to the owners and even Lundigren didn’t have duplicate keys.”
He sent the three officers to check the nearer buildings to see if any of the night people on duty had watched the garbage pickups earlier and had noticed any activity from this building.
Sigrid ended her call. “That was Tillie,” she told Hentz. “We’re putting out an APB on Sidney Jackson.”
“
Sigrid nodded. “My sergeant got in early and started going through the pictures the party guests gave us. There’s a clear shot, time-stamped, of Antoine Clarke opening the elevator cage at ten-ten and again at ten- fourteen, which means that Sidney Jackson doesn’t have an alibi for at least part of the relevant period. That elevator was so crowded, I couldn’t even swear myself who was working it when I got here Saturday night.”
Hentz pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Like waiters and salesclerks.”
“Invisible men,” she agreed.
“Yeah, that could’ve been Sidney I saw out on the sidewalk,” Dwight said. “He has the right build. Haven’t they located that truck yet? Can you give me a car?”
“Easy, Major,” Sigrid said, realizing that he had not noticed that Lowry had left after taking a call a few minutes ago. From the nod Lowry had given her, the truck had been located and stopped. “Soon as we know anything, you’ll know.”
The elevator descended and a weary Jani Horvath pulled back the cage just as two buzzes hit their ears. He spotted Williams, glanced at his call board, and said, “She’s all yours, kid. Take her straight up to eight and work your way down.”
“Yessir,” an eager Williams said.
“Lieutenant?” one of the uniforms called from the outside door. “The night man across the street says he saw a woman and one of the men from here out by the garbage bags around six-thirty, give or take a few minutes.”
A sick feeling washed over Dwight as he realized he had missed Deborah by less than twenty minutes.
“He say who the man was?” Sigrid asked.
“No, ma’am. Just that he saw them come back in, and then a couple of minutes later the guy came out by himself.”
“Was he carrying anything? More garbage?”
“Sorry, ma’am,” the young cop said. “He said the guy helped load some of the bags, but he didn’t say if he brought one out with him.”
Something in the lieutenant’s look made him feel like a complete incompetent.
“I’ll go back and ask him,” he said hastily.
“You! Horvath,” Dwight called as the night man headed for the break room.
“Yeah?”
“You said you came down here around six-thirty. You sure you didn’t notice anything? Was the outside door open?”
He shook his white head. “Might’ve been a few minutes before six-thirty, and if that door was open, I’d’ve felt a draft, and I didn’t.”
Even as they spoke, the outer door opened again and the second porter, Hector Laureano, arrived.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked Horvath, following the older man into the break room.
The young cop was back almost immediately. “No, ma’am,” he told Sigrid. “He came out empty-handed, stayed to help throw the bags in, and then went back in. Said he saw a big guy come out to the sidewalk a few minutes later and then go back in. No woman either time.”
“Dammit!” Dwight exploded. “They’re still here then! Horvath says Lundigren was the only one who could unlock the stairwell doors from this side. You have to go up to the second-floor service landing to get to the stairs
