I sat and absently scratched my head for a while. I heard Dehan ask, “Going back to something you said earlier. You said it might have happened on Saturday. But Saturday you were all at a party…”
He made a face. “Not really. We were all pretty freaked out by what happened Friday night, and the party broke up pretty early. Most of us left before Danny, and as far as we were concerned, he went home. So to be honest with you, none of us has any idea where he was from Saturday night until Monday morning. At some point, for some reason, he decided to go to Soundview Park. But having said that, if you have read any accounts of abduction cases, people can be gone for a day or more, and then suddenly turn up some random place. You know what I’m saying to you? So, you know, maybe he was taken on his way home, they did whatever to him, and then put him down in the park and—bam, zapped him. I don’t know what to tell you.”
I repeated, half to myself, “Nobody knows where he was from Saturday night till Monday morning… What time did he leave the party?”
He thought about it for a moment. “You’d have to ask Don. I left maybe four or five in the evening, at the latest.”
I turned and stared at Dehan. She stared back at me.
He watched us a moment and said, “You heard about the lights, right? The lights over the park?”
I nodded. “Did you see them?”
“Yeah, I did. I lived on Randall at that time. A friend called me. He knew I was into all that stuff. I went out and I saw it. Somebody got a film. I know. Did you know that? It was in the papers and on TV. Don contacted them and got a copy. You should talk to him and get him to show you.”
“I’ll do that.”
Outside the office we could hear people arriving and going into the dressing rooms, the soft murmur of voices and occasional laughter. He glanced at the clock and smiled at us apologetically. “I’m not involved in that stuff much anymore. I stay in touch with Don and he, well…” He shook his head again. “He can’t seem to let it go. I tell him he should realize how lucky he is with his wife. She adores him, if only he could see it, and he doesn’t treat her right, the way he should. I tell him, ‘Let go the past, man. See what you have in the present!’ But all he can see is that night, and Danny’s death. He loved Danny, you know? We all did. You couldn’t help but love him.”
He shrugged and spread his hands. “I’m sorry, Detectives, that’s all I can tell you, and as you can see, my students are here. If there is nothing else…?”
We stood and left him to his class. Outside, the shadows were growing long in the late afternoon sun. We crossed the road at a slow run, I unlocked the door to the Jag, and stopped, leaning on the roof, staring across at Dehan. I could see myself duplicated in the lenses of her sunglasses, staring back at myself across the vast, warped ocean of burgundy.
I gave a small laugh. “I confess to you, Dehan, right now, I am at a loss to explain this. I can’t even begin to put together a theory.”
She heaved a very big sigh and pulled open the door. “I know.”
She climbed in and I climbed in after her. The doors slammed and I said, “Steak, Dehan. This calls for steak, and wine. Maybe that will restore our perspective.”
I fired up the beast and we took off toward the shopping mall.
Seven
Maria, the desk sergeant, leered at us across the sergeant’s desk.
“Morning, you two. The inspector wants to see you in his office.” Dehan made for the stairs without answering. Maria winked at me. “You been on holiday again?”
I smiled with dead eyes. “Special ops in Iraq.”
“Bit of bang bang in the sand dunes, huh?”
I ignored her and climbed the stairs in silence. Dehan banged on the inspector’s door and entered with a face like a summons.
He was his usual, cordial, urbane self, only more so. “Detectives, good morning. Please, come in and sit down. Coffee?”
Dehan didn’t say anything, so I answered for both of us and said, “No, thank you, sir.”
We sat. He sat. And we all looked at each other in silence. Finally, he said, “So, what cold case are we on at the moment?”
“Danny Brown, twenty years ago, Soundview Park…”
He nodded like he knew the case, but his narrowed eyes said he didn’t.
“The body was incinerated, but the feet and the head were not…”
“Oh, yes, the UFO case. Very challenging. And this is what has kept you away since Thursday. We are now at…” He peered at his calendar like he didn’t know what day it was. “…Tuesday.”
I smiled and scratched my head. “Yes, sir. Well, we had the weekend free, but Friday and Monday we were…”
He made a humorous face that was not unkind and suggested, “In the field.”
I sighed and nodded. “Yes, sir. In the field.”
“Like federal agents.”
He seemed to expect a response but Dehan was closed up like a sulking clam. I said, “An unusual series of coincidences, sir, that conspired…” I trailed off. He watched me a moment, still smiling, then turned his bland smile on Dehan.
“You are uncharacteristically quiet this morning, Carmen.”
After a moment, she said, “Yes, sir.”
He sighed and looked down at his blotter. “I make it a matter of personal policy to stay out of the private lives of my detectives, and
