“Like this…” He held his hands together over his head, brought them down to the table with a quick stroke. “He stabbed him a whole bunch of times…I didn’t count. Then he took the knife and started cutting on the guy’s face.” Maggie shuddered.
“Then what?”
“He undressed. He wrapped the knife in his clothes and stuffed them in a plastic bag. You know, the kind you get from a store.”
That bag was guaranteed bottom of the river. “Then what did he do?”
“Then he pulled clean clothes out of another bag and got dressed.”
“Did he leave then?”
“Yeah, but first he stopped to take the piece with him.”
“Piece?”
“Yeah. The part of the guy’s face. The part he cut off. He wrapped it up in a cloth.”
Maggie asked, “Why did you go back there tonight? Weren’t you scared?”
Pedro looked down, guilt written all over his face. I’d seen his type before. The kid was a born voyeur. I’d seen the twinkle in his eye as he described the murder scene. He was into it. Two nights ago, he had been so terrified that he wet himself. He had never felt anything so intense before. Now he wanted that feeling back. His little bondage books looked like kid’s play now. He returned to the alley hoping to catch a double feature, sex through the windows and violence in the alley.
Maggie looked puzzled. She didn’t get it. “Could you see the killer’s face?”
“It was kinda dark, but I saw him.”
Maggie and I walked back to my desk. I connected to the Orbital and surfed the KOP system for mugs. Our own computer system had fried in ’41. A lot of cops still had the old terminals on their desks as if they still worked. That way we didn’t appear to the public as helpless as we were. I voice-navigated to an old mug of Jhuko Kapasi and then had the system bring up five shots of males with matching skin, hair, and eye colors. I put them in an array and had them holo-beamed to the interrogation room.
Maggie and I went back in. Pedro looked spent. He was slumped in his chair.
“If you recognize anybody, point him out.”
He studied each of the images, one by one. “Nope. He’s not here.”
“What do you mean he’s not there?” Maggie asked.
Pedro looked at the holograms again-Jhuko Kapasi in spot four. “What do you think I mean? He’s not there.”
“You’re sure you got a good look at him?”
“Yes. I’m sure. The guy in the alley had a messed-up face. None of these guys has a messed-up face.”
“Messed up how?”
“I don’t know…like he was in an accident or something.”
“We’ll be right back, Pedro. Just sit tight, okay?”
“Okay. Can I have something to drink?”
“Sure, no problem. You like soda?”
“Yeah.”
Maggie and I stepped out. We downloaded mug shots of the other cons in Vlotsky’s unit-no messed-up faces. We downloaded phone holos of the remaining members of Unit 29. Normal faces all around.
“Dammit to hell!” Maggie said. “We’ve wasted two days on Kapasi, all for nothing.”
My stomach sank. Lieutenant Vlotsky’s entire unit was cleared by witness testimony. Two days and no closer to the mayor.
Maggie wasn’t ready to give up. “You think the kid is lying?”
“No. I scared him pretty good. He’s telling the truth.”
“It was dark. Maybe Pedro didn’t get a good enough look. Hey! Maybe Kapasi wore a mask.”
I shook my head no.
We remained in silence for a moment. I looked out over the vice room, which was hopping with action. Pimps crowded around the violations window waiting for their numbers to be called so they could pay off their tickets and free their hookers. If they got through quickly, they could still notch a sale or two before the night was over. Jose, the night janitor, sat on his upturned mop bucket, selling the low numbers while the toilets stayed dirty.
Maggie asked, “Would you have gone through with it?”
“Gone through with what?”
“Put the kid in one of those cells. Let him get raped.”
“No, but I would have put him in a cell and let him sweat it out a while.”
Maggie nodded approval. “What do we do now?”
“Get the kid a soda and start him going through mugs. We have to hope he recognizes somebody. It’s going to be a long night. We can take turns.”
Maggie volunteered for the first shift with Pedro.
I crashed on the padded floor of the psych room, falling straight into a pain pill-induced sleep.
FOURTEEN
JUNE 30, 2787
“Juno…Juno, you awake?” I did my best to ignore the words that were invading my dreams until a hand began shaking my shoulder. “You awake?” I knew that voice, Niki’s voice.
“Yeah, I’m awake,” I croaked with my eyes closed.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
“What time is it?”
“About six.”
“Really?” I couldn’t believe it was morning already. I was still so tired, and I still felt doped on painkillers. I didn’t know how Niki could function taking these pills all the time.
“I tried calling you, but you wouldn’t answer,” she said.
“I was sleeping. I guess I didn’t hear it.”
“I was worried sick all night.”
My eyes were open now, and as I was looking at the expression on Niki’s face, I was beginning to realize how badly I’d screwed up. “How’d you find me?”
“I called Paul, and he put me in touch with Maggie who told me you were here.”
“You talked to Maggie?” My heart skipped, like I was caught with my hand in the candy jar. I told myself I was being stupid reacting like this. I hadn’t done anything with Maggie.
Niki gave me a long look before answering. “She was surprised you hadn’t called to tell me you were working all night.”
“Sorry. I should have called.” I struggled upright then had to limp for the first few steps as we exited the psych room. The vice room was empty as was usual in the early mornings. The door to the interrogation room was shut, a sure sign that Maggie was still inside, going through mugs with Pedro the Peeper. She hadn’t come to wake me up for my turn. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, careful to avoid touching my jaw. I stopped for a cup of water and rinsed my mouth out as I drank. Then, Niki and I settled at my desk with a couple cups of coffee.
Niki said, “You going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I told you. Paul’s in trouble. He needs my help.”
“Paul’s always in trouble.”
“I know, but this time it’s serious.” The words sounded hollow, but it was the truth.
Niki shook her head in disappointment. Then she took hold of my hand. “You’re scaring me, Juno.”
I didn’t have an answer for that.
Niki let go of my hand and took a sip of coffee. She looked at the floor as she talked. “I’m afraid that if you
