'Yeah. Boston University.'
'Any military service?'
'ROTC. I was ROTC at school.'
'Did you like it?'
'Yeah, yeah, I liked it. My father wanted me to go into the marines- like him-but I didn't do it.'
Mike was stone-faced. 'Did you listen to any news tonight?'
'What news?'
'Some people, they're interested in world affairs or local politics. Sports. Weather and traffic. Winning lottery numbers. Sound familiar? The news, Kiernan, you watch any?'
'Not lately.'
'How about last week?'
'I'm asking you, what news?'
'Your friend Elise Huff. Anybody tell you she's missing?'
'My friend
'Elise Huff. The girl who was supposed to meet with you two weeks ago at the Pioneer.'
'I don't know who you're talking about. Why would I go to the Pioneer when I've got my own place?'
' 'Cause a lot of your friends still party there,' I said. ' 'Cause maybe you didn't want to bring another girl in here, when so many others are waiting to play with you.'
'Elise Huff,' Mike said again. 'From Tennessee. Worked for an airline.'
'Oh, yeah,' Kiernan said, his mouth agape. 'The stewardess. I didn't even know her last name.'
Or the sales agent who told people she was a stewardess.
'How many times did you see her?' Mike asked.
'Why?' he asked, his large hand grabbing a rubber band from the desk and stretching it as he talked. 'She's got no gripe against me. I never touched her.'
'I asked you how many times you saw her.'
'I met her one night. Once.'
'Where?'
'At the house of a girlfriend of hers. I was just along for the ride with one of my college buddies. Just hanging out, is all. She was like a stalker, you know what I mean? Followed me around all night like a puppy dog. Kept calling me all the time after that. Trying to get together with me. Really annoying, she was.'
'Nothing sexual that first night?' I asked.
'Maybe we made out and stuff. If she thinks that entitled her to anything else, then she's dumber than I thought she was.'
'She had your cell number? How'd she get that?'
Kiernan stared at Mike. 'Okay, so I gave it to her. Is that a big deal? I got lots of friends. I'm always trying to get people to come downtown, show them the bar. I give it out a lot-maybe more than I should. Look, I don't know what you're after but you're wasting your time.'
Kiernan stood up and kicked the chair back behind him.
'Sit down.'
'Finish up, Detective. I've got work to do.' He put his hands on his hips and seemed to puff up his solid chest.
Mike stood and faced off with Kiernan. 'You see Elise Huff a second time? On a Saturday night, two weeks ago?'
'I told you I never went to the Pioneer to meet her.'
'And I didn't ask, this time, if you went to the Pioneer, did I? Did she show up at Ruffles? Did you meet her somewhere else? Did you return her calls that night? Sit down, take it easy, and let's go over my questions one by one. There'll still be some talent waiting for you downstairs when I'm done.'
'I don't even remember what the girl looks like. I don't think I ever saw her again, to be quite honest with you. You'd have to show me a picture.'
'You come to the office with me, it just so happens I can do that,' Mike said. 'Which would you rather see? Her college yearbook or the autopsy photographs?'
Kiernan Dylan exhaled. His voice was quiet now, and his cheeks reddened. 'What autopsy photos? What happened to her?'
'She stayed out pretty late one night, looking for you. That's an answer I figured you had for us.'
The rubber band snapped, hitting Kiernan on the chin. He picked up a stapler from the desktop and heaved it against the wall. It ricocheted and smashed several wine glasses that were lined up on a side table.
'There's that Dylan temper,' Mike said. 'A chip off the old block. You must make your old man proud.'
'Shit! You leave my father out of this. You didn't tell me you knew him. What the hell are you looking to do? Shut me down? For what?'
'Just take a minute and pretend that you feel bad about the fact that the girl is dead. Can you do that for me?'
The phone rang.
'Ignore it, kid.'
'It's only the intercom. It's Charlie, wanting to know if everything's okay up here.'
Mike nodded and Kiernan picked up the receiver. 'No problem. I don't need anybody. Take care of Sally for me.'
Kiernan lowered his big body back onto the chair. 'Where were we?'
'You were going to tell me how bad you feel about Elise.'
'Sick to my stomach bad.'
'Pleased to hear it. For her or for you?'
'I'm telling you I met her one time.'
'Quite an impression you made.'
'Everybody was talking about Ruffles that night. The place is doing really well. Kids that used to be all over the Brazen Head are coming downtown now. She wanted to be part of the mix, I guess. She wanted to meet guys, she wanted to have a good time.'
'That first night you met Elise,' I said, 'where was the party?'
'I'm not exactly sure of the address. I went with friends. It was the house of some girl they knew. Her mother and father were away, out of town.'
'East Side? West? Downtown? C'mon. Help us with this.'
Kiernan looked at me, surprised that I didn't know the basic facts. 'It wasn't in Manhattan. I was out at my parents' place for the weekend.'
'Where's that?'
'Breezy Point.'
I didn't know much about the beach community on the far western Rockaway peninsula of Long Island, in Queens, but Mike would fill me in later.
'So you met Elise out at the beach?' Mike said, picking up the thread. I knew he must be thinking, as I was, of the olive green blanket in which her body had been wrapped, and the sand that Dickie Draper had found in it.
'I met her at somebody's house, okay?'
'A warm summer night, a few cocktails, a walk along the ocean, a little action. No wonder she was chasing you after that. You call her the next day?'
'She called me. Monday.' He had picked up another rubber band and was twisting it around his fingers.
'To make a date?'
'I guess.'
'Well, isn't that what Elise wanted?'
'She wanted passes to Ruffles. I was handing them out to friends, so they could drink for free the first time they came. And VIP cards to get past the lines.'
'But she was interested in you, wasn't she?'
Kiernan shrugged his huge shoulders. The rubber band was twisted so tight around the ends of his fingers
