“That guy’s what I wanted you to see.”Becca looked at both detectives. “It was weird. I was stressed and in a hurry, butafter I told Sasha ‘bye and walked away something made me look back. He’dapproached her, and they seemed to be arguing, I can’t be sure. In anycase they knew each other, and there was something emotional going on.I’m not sure if this helps…” A helpless gesture. “Sasha knew so many people.”
Kerri asked, “Does he look at all familiar?”
“No, but I’m not very observant. Usuallyrun around like the absent-minded professor.” Becca exhaled as if frustrated,troubled that she hadn’t paid more attention.
Kerri leaned forward. “Back to May. Sashaseemed happy then?”
“Yes. I think she was in love from, like, maybeMarch to May.”
Both cops traded looks, remembering: Washe married? friend Grace had asked Sasha. She had coyly replied, “Well,taken.” Until now, they’d just had that one friend’s solid suspicion ofa romance.
Becca just confirmed it; confirmed, infact, a romance-gone-bad possibility.
“Any idea who the man she loved was?” Kerriasked, breathing a little faster, realizing that said mystery man wasn’tnecessarily the guy in the photo.
“No, she wouldn’t talk about it.” Becca’s too-thinfingers were opening her laptop. “Something else I want to show you,” she said,scrolling, then turning her Mac to face them. “This picture.”
It was a photo on Facebook. Not much atfirst, just a pretty scene of the sun setting over the Hudson. Alex and Kerri studiedit as Becca explained that Sasha had shared it to her Facebook page.
The photo was dated May second. Clearly, itwas taken from the middle of the river – had to be from a boat. Kerrifast-checked something in her phone.
“That was a Saturday,” she said. “To yourknowledge, was Sasha friends with anyone who owned a boat?”
“No, and that’s the thing.” Becca pointedto the page. “See where I Liked and posted all excited?”
Under the photo was written Wow, nice! Whoseboat were you on!? Sasha had taken the moment to Like the question - but hadn’tanswered. Had avoided answering.
Becca’s hands suddenly flew. “Nothing like ‘so-and-soor the Smiths invited me, they’re family friends.’ So…when I called you I wasthinking maybe her sailing friend was some guy with a jealous wife orgirlfriend.”
Both cops traded looks: the photo’s datecoincided with Sasha’s brief sunburn.
They asked Becca to send her selfie withthe man in the background to their phones. Kerri scribbled the Facebook’s page’slocation; Alex hunched closer and snapped the river photo for an extra shot.
Then Kerri asked what she’d saved for last:“Did you know Sasha was questioned for forging a narcotics prescription?”
Becca hesitated, then colored. “Yes. Shegot caught, which most of us don’t.” She colored more deeply. “I mean,it was just for Adderall, but it got out of hand for her. She begged her doctor,said she was so tired and couldn’t stay awake to study, so he prescribed alittle, then she wrote over his handwriting and changed the dose. She toldthe police she was sorry.”
They knew the story. Sasha had cried,promised to taper the amphetamine and never forge a prescription again. There’dbeen no charge. She was a struggling student, a good kid. Uppers and downerswere all over, on every street corner practically; online too. What were theygoing to do? Arrest half the city?
They asked Becca if Sasha had gone back tousing uppers. Again she colored, looked uncomfortable. “I think so.”
“Just think?” from Alex.
Nod. “I got the feeling she was bothdepressed and hyper. I asked, but it was something else she wouldn’ttalk about. She wasn’t the type to lie, so if she wouldn’t talk about it…”
“You guessed she was using,” Kerri said.
A sorry shrug. “She was jittery. Hyper,especially the last few times I saw her. She was trying to do so much – work,study, volunteer at the animal rescue. Her hands shook.”
This was good, it was potentially verygood. They’d reached the end of their questioning, and rose and thanked,assuring Becca that she had helped, hoping she continued her recovery.
“Keep taking those vitamins,” Kerri toldher as they left, and Becca gave them her first smile as she closed the door.
On the stairs going down Alex said gloomily,“That guy in the selfie and whoever took Sasha on their boat – wouldn’t it benice if it were the same guy?”
Kerri groaned. Her fatigue and the heatchez Becca had caught up to her. “I know - it could be two completely differentpeople who have nothing to do with the disappearance. Where to take it fromhere?”
Still, it was something new, tantalizing,hard not to get excited about.
Back in the car, Alex drove and Kerri sat allbunched up in the passenger seat. “New intel that might lead nowhere,” she keptfretting. “It’s torture.”
“And they’re closing the case.”
“Not me. I’m staying on it if it takesforever.”
“When? Our open cases need overtime and –oh jeez – there’s that TV conference at four. You look exhausted. The camerasare going to think we don’t let you sleep.”
“Nah, I’ll look ravishing.”
Alex exhaled in that fretful way of his;started to ramble about cops who’d obsessed for decades over the one case thatwouldn’t let go. “Just don’t kill yourself.” He glanced worriedly over to her. “Youhear me?”
Kerri didn’t answer. Just stared out as hemaneuvered through the heat past the Washington Square fountain again.
11
Throw a stone in Soho andyou’ll hit ten bars.
Liddy chose nearby Pepe’s, dim withfaux-dingy nautical trappings (squint: Hemingway’s Cuba), already ringing with salsamusic and professionals crowding the after work scene.
She took a seat at the end of the bar underone of the burbling TVs; ordered a club sandwich and a glass of rosé. Laughing, yakkingpeople jostled her back but she didn’t turn. The wine lifted her gloom a notch,and she was aware that the bartender was trying to flirt with her. She gave himthe glimmer of a smile, then some vague, friendly words as she ordered a secondrosé.
She was still seeing that…whatever it wason the window’s glass. The girl’s face, weeping, her hair golden in thelowering sun. She saw it, dammit! Emerging from the droplets intowoeful, begging features, then dissolving again, disappearing.
Am I losing my mind? Liddy wondered.
Pity Paul had to work late. She understoodthat but
