No telling, but what Liddy had seen shookher - on top of the fact that the girl for that split second had looked likeSasha Perry.
She couldn’t be sure. Far from it.
Sometimes people have emotionalbreakdowns and just lose it, go into hiding, KerriBlasco said. Possibly Sasha is in your neighborhood for some reason.Please definitely call if anything else.
But this wasn’t something else – couldn’tbe – just an awful sighting witnessed by an overwrought mind that was seeingdouble from fatigue, not thinking right, and starting to doubt herself. Crazy,what the three a.m. of the soul can do to you. Because rising too was a newfeeling of guilt toward Paul, and those paranoid thoughts she’d had about him. He’dworked so hard all his life; knocked himself out to give her happiness and thisnew start. Why had she even had that awful dream? Fear, that’s all. Admit it, scaredlittle weenie: fear of losing him, upsetting him, losing their relationship.
The abused blonde – Liddy’s mind rushedback to her as she took one last look through the ‘scope. No sign of her, andshe hadn’t come out of the building. So…maybe crying or simmering down or sleepingit off in another room and he’s on the couch? There was no way to know. Liddystill made a mental note of which building, which floor, which window.
Then, shuddering, still seeing that girlget cruelly slammed, she went back to bed. Lay and struggled with the image,with her whole flashing storm of questions including…again wondering furiously whyKerri wanted to question Carl.
Something Alex Minton said came back toher: The psyche seizes on a ‘diversion cause’ - something that’s easier todeal with than the real issue. Some repressed memories are so terrifying that oneis unable to remember, let alone face.
Is that what I’m doing? Liddy fretted. Seizingon mistreated young women to divert me from something in my own life?
She dismissed the thought. That abused,crying girl did look like Sasha Perry, she did, she did…
Outside, a high siren wailed. Other street soundscame dimly through the window.
Strung tight as piano wire, Liddy staredinto the deepest shadows of the room, knowing it might be hours before shecould sleep.
26
“He’s the guy.”
“You can’t be sure.”
“I haven’t finished, don’t stop me, I’m ona roll.”
It was five minutes to eight. Kerri, in a blouseand gray pant suit today, was in the coffee-smelling break room with BuckDillon and Jo Babiak, telling about her visit yesterday to Carl Finn, talkingfast because they had a conference meeting at 8:15 with Lieutenant Tom Mackeypresiding. She’d already filled them in on everything, as she had with Alex, fromLiddy Barron’s visit and interview, to Liddy’s husband’s M.D. pals, and Sasha’sphoto of the Hudson. She’d also told how Liddy had finally remembered Sasha’sWinnie the Pooh ear stud, which had never appeared in any released photo. Sippingdecaf with one hand, Kerri used her other hand to jab Carl Finn’s face in her openlaptop. It was the Facebook shot of him embracing the hard-looking corporate lawyerblonde who’d dumped him around the time of Sasha’s disappearance.
“I called first, asked when he’d be in, andsomebody who’d been working all night said he usually came in around eight. SoI went before that; was just sitting there in his office when he walked in - ha,ambush! Didn’t look at all happy when I introduced myself. Looked even unhappierwhen I said I was looking into Sasha’s disappearance.”
Buck, finishing an Egg McMuffin and eyeing abox of granolas, asked, “How long were you there?”
“A whole nine minutes before he threw meout. It was enough, I got him shook, took mental notes – and there’s more.”Kerri took the granola box from Buck, glanced in, looked back to the other two.“Of course he said he didn’t know Sasha, never laid eyes on her, blah blah, theusual. But, I asked, wasn’t she part of the University and taking the humanbiology courses that he taught? No, must’ve been somebody else’s human biologycourse, it was a big department, he’d never laid eyes on the girl.”
Kerri looked back into the granolas, choseone with chocolate chips, started peeling off the wrapper.
“Tons of sugar and healthy,” JoBabiak muttered, scrolling through Carl Finn’s Facebook pictures. She was thinand worked out every day.
“Yeah, that’s what the label says. Gee, youmean they lie?” Kerri took a good chomp, checked her watch because they had tojet, and tried to talk with her mouth full.
“He’s not smart, knows nothing aboutavoiding deceptive behavior. Perps are better at it than this guy. He fleeseye contact, hesitates and processes every answer – I even asked him whocleaned the mouse cages to get a base line reaction – he looked away beforeanswering even that. Had his chair pushed way back from his desk so hecould cross his legs and swivel his chair and look anywhere but at me. Wassweating, too. Developing a nice sheen on his brow and upper lip – kept wipinghis mouth and pulling at his lower lip.”
“The most common tell,” Buck said, gettingup, going to the counter for more coffee.
“He’s a classic narcissist, too,” Kerrisaid. “Kept telling me how important his time was to humanity that I wastaking. Started saying that after I’d been there for just six minutes.”
“So?” Buck came back and sat with hisfilled mug. “You’ve established that he’s a jerk and then he kicked you out.This is the great discovery you wanted to tell us?”
“Nope.”
And here Kerri grinned. Sat back in herchair, threw her hands up, got philosophical but still spoke fast. “Y’know howin every investigation, it’s often the serendipities that give the biggestboost? So there I was, kicked out after threats to holler police harassment andcall his lawyer, and I’m walking down the aisle past lines of counters by nowfilling up with students in white coats and hospital scrubs running in withinstrument trays – a long, very uptight room - and I passed the last counter upfront, saw a heavyset girl in spectacles searching frantically through her boxof slides…and right in front of her, honest to God, propped up against something,I saw a Winnie
