This Girl Who Was A Ghost, page 9
part #2 of Near Future Series
“You ever see his face?”
Sammy shook her head. “He was tall like you but beefier.”
“Why did you chase him?”
“Because he had a mask, and I knew he was up to no good.”
“You’re maybe what, a hundred pounds? And he was at least two hundred?”
“I had a big stick and wasn’t afraid to use it.”
He sat back. “It’s good to know we have such fearless citizens.”
“Can I go now?”
“Have you seen him before the park?”
“I thought you wanted to go home and polish your gun or something.”
“I’m a morning polisher,” he said with a grin. “Where did you see him before?”
“Someplace in the zone. I don’t remember where.”
“Did you get close to him?”
“Not that close.”
“A hundred feet, two hundred feet, give me a number.”
“I don’t know, more than a hundred, less than two hundred.”
“Was he wearing a hood then?”
Sammy shook her head.
“Nighttime? Daytime?”
Sammy sighed. “Nighttime.”
“Were all the streetlights working on that particular block that night in the zone?”
“Yeah, they lit them all up for the occasion.”
He jotted something down. “The night at the park, what would you say was the closest you got to him?”
“Seventy, maybe eighty feet.”
“Did the hood ever come down during that time?”
“No.”
“Have you seen this mask before?”
“First time.”
He smiled, jotting something else down. He waved behind her. The Chasing News crew was in the other room. News Lady marched in with a tray of bottled drinks. Sammy grabbed a fizzy orange one. It was good, not too sweet. She checked the label.
Maria smiled as if her treachery were all forgiven. “How are we doing here?”
“Making progress,” the cop said.
Sammy spun around to him. “I thought we were done.”
“We’re done as soon as you can tell me how you know so much about a mask you barely saw.”
“I said I never saw it before.”
He held up his phone to read. “A rubber mask with wavy dark hair and rosy cheeks.”
“All masks are rubber, aren’t they?”
“If you’re tired, we can go down to the station, and you can get a good night’s sleep. By the morning, I’m sure the answers will come to you.”
“A night on the rack, you mean.”
The cop took a sip from his bottle. “We got rid of the racks years ago. We may still have a few beds of nails, though.”
“Or she can stay here,” Maria said. “I can stay with her.”
Sammy huffed. “I prefer the racks.”
The cop laughed.
Maria glared at the cop. “Not funny, Russo. It’s all your fault.”
The cop handed Maria his bottle and leaned back, eyeing Sammy. “So what’s it going to be?”
Sammy twirled the bottle between her knees. “When I saw him in the zone, he threw down his mask and took off. I have it.”
“Where is it?”
“I can go get it for you.”
“I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”
“Can’t bring a cop there.”
Maria stepped forward. “I can take her.”
“Santiago.”
“I’m trying to be the bridge here, Russo.”
“A bridge too far.”
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have any of this.”
“You owed me. Now we’re even.”
“Jack?”
Jack sized up the cop. “I’m sure the good sergeant will be very forthright with his investigation.”
“You know me, Jack. I’m as forthright as the law allows.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” Maria said. “You twist the law more ways than a pretzel.”
“Why, Maria, such accusations will do irreparable harm to police/media relations.”
“Jack, you’re not going to let him get away with this?”
“Let the sergeant do his job.”
“Russo, you don’t want to be driving a police car in the zone. I know the zone better than anyone.”
“Are you going to give me another BS story of your poor immigrant upbringing?”
“You have to admit it was very convincing.”
“You know nothing about the zone.”
“Didn’t I help you with that double murder on Thirteenth? That was in the zone, wasn’t it?”
“Thirteenth?” the cop asked, thinking on it. “You mean the suicides that you kept calling murders?”
“If it weren’t for me, there’d be a shadow of doubt.”
The cop shook his head. “How do you work with her, Jack?”
Jack rocked in his chair behind the desk. “She’s the best.”
“I’m tired, so you can drive, but you have to stay in the car.”
“Sure, Russo, sure.”
Chapter Twenty-One
________________________________________
Sammy looked down the end of the block from in front of Jack’s house, wondering if she could make a run for it. The cop stood a step away, waiting for Cass to move from the back to the front seat.
The cop grabbed Sammy’s jacket shoulder. “I’d hate to shoot you.” He pulled her to the car and opened the door. “Get in.”
Maria dipped her head down, looking up at him from the open window. “You have all the charm of a snake, Russo.”
He pushed Sammy into the back seat and slid in next to her. “You should know, Santiago.”
Maria started the car and turned back. “Where to, Sam?”
Sammy looked at the side window. “Keep going.”
The cop took out his phone. “Give her the cross streets. Hopefully, we won’t get lost.”
Sammy sighed and gave her the streets.
Maria looked back at him through the rearview mirror. “I know where that is, generally.”
The cop wrote something down on his phone. “What’s your name?”
“Sam. Haven’t you been paying attention?”
He gave her the dead-fish look right out of the cop handbook. “Full name.”
“Samantha Paulson.” That was what the adoption agency gave her after Uncle Danny died. Sammy didn’t tell them different.
“Looks like some people might want to talk to you.”
Maria glanced back. “If you ask me, that home invasion charge is bullshit.”
“Funny how I’m not asking you, Santiago.”
“Cass has the unedited interview I did earlier, which includes the complainant’s son, who confirms her story.”
“It was her foster home?”
Maria nodded. “I said it was bullshit.”
“I’ll add your opinion to the report,” he said, not taking his eyes off the phone. “A person of interest in the Jane Doe murder?” He studied her as if he were fitting her for a jail cell.
Sammy glanced at the door, wondering if it opened while the car was moving.
“The feds took over the case,” Russo said, “citing national security.”
The car swerved. “What?”
“Eyes on the road, Santiago!”
“Why would they do that?”
“If I had a suspicious nature, I might think they’re covering their ass.”
“You think she was one of theirs?”
“I have no thoughts on the matter.”
“You can be such a hard-ass, Russo.”
“That’s my proudest asset.” He dipped his head to look out the window. “We’re here. Pull over.”
“I know.”
The car pulled in front of the apartment. He stepped out and waved Sammy to follow. “Let’s get that mask.”
Sammy slid out. “Are you going to turn me over to the feds?”
“Believe me. The feds don’t want anything to do with you or this Jane Doe.”
“What about that thing with Gladys’s house?”
“Whose house?”
Maria swung open the door. “The home invasion, Russo. Can’t you read?”
He gave Maria an annoyed glance.
“You’re not going to arrest me?”
He shook his head. “It’s not my case. Besides, the address I put down isn’t in the system.”
“I’ll run the interview, Sam,” Maria said. “I’m sure they’ll drop the charges after they see it.”
“How will I know?”
“Watch for my show.”
The things you got to do.
“Back in the car, Santiago.”
“How sweet, Russo, being protective of me like that.”
“I’m protecting them from you.”
“You’re hilarious, Russo.”
The cop nudged Sammy. “Lead the way.”
“Don’t worry about me, Russo. I’ll be here all by myself, unprotected.”
Sammy turned back. Maria stood by the car with her hands on her hips. “Maybe she should take her makeup off.”
The cop chuckled. “She’s not so bad.”
“You like her?” Sammy asked, looking up at him. “It seems like you like her.”
“That was your take on all of that?”
Sammy shrugged, slipping the key into the lock. “Just a feeling.”
The cop pushed the door open. The dead eyes and stone face came out. Any hopes of hiding that he was a cop were dashed. Igor’s sisters were playing at the other end of the hallway. They stopped and stared, then ran into their apartment. “Which one?” His hand was on the gun.
“Upstairs. I can get it for you. Might save you from shooting somebody.”
He tilted his head toward the stairs. “Slow and steady.”
“I’ll crawl if it’ll put your mind at ease.”
There was a hint of a smile, or maybe it was just wishful thinking. He grabbed her when they got near the top of the steps. He peered down from one end of the hallway to the next. “Okay.”
Sammy walked lockstep with him to the apartment door. Cindy was on the sofa with the tablet on her lap, watching a show. She looked up at the cop and swallowed, then flicked off the tablet.
“He wants something and then he’s going, right?”
His beady eyes were scanning the place. “Where is it?” He grabbed Sammy before she could get two steps away. “Slow and steady.”
“I was just going to get it for you.”
He pulled out a handkerchief and flipped it open. “Show me where it is. I’ll get it.”
He was going to go through her drawers now. “It’s in my dresser drawer.”
Cindy put the tablet on the sofa. “What does he want, Sam?”
He nodded for her to go.
“Something I found,” Sammy said, leading him to her bedroom. If this wasn’t creepy, nothing was.
He grabbed her arm when she went for the drawer. “I’ll open it. Which drawer?”
The one with her panties and bras. “Top one.”
He opened it and gazed into it a little longer than she liked. “Is that it?”
“You think I got a collection of them?”
He stared at her with that dead-fish look.
“That’s the one.”
He pinched the mask with his handkerchief and lifted it, holding it up to the ceiling light.
Sammy slammed the drawer shut. “Somebody you know?”
He folded the mask into his handkerchief and dropped it into his jacket pocket. “Show me where you found it.”
Sammy flung the laundry bag onto the bed. “Are you ever going to leave me alone?”
“And here I thought we were getting along.”
Sammy sneered. “If all you wanted was to put the mask into that stupid handkerchief, I could’ve done that instead of you barging in everywhere and going through my drawers.”
“I have trust issues,” he said. “Let’s go. I’m guessing it’s not far from here.”
“You know everything, don’t you?”
He nudged her out of the bedroom. “Just enough to be annoying.”
“Got that right.”
“Everything all right, Sam?” Cindy asked, sitting on the edge of the sofa.
“Just one more thing,” Sammy said, not bothering to look up at him for confirmation.
They moved quicker leaving the building. The first floor was stone quiet. Sammy wondered if the Russians left through the fire escape.
Maria ran up to them. “Did you get the mask?”
“What part of staying in the car don’t you understand?”
“There’s nobody around. They can smell a cop a mile away.”
“Must be the cologne,” Sammy said.
Maria laughed. “I’ve been telling him to get new cologne for years.”
The cop pursed his lips. “Which way?”
Sammy nodded to the side of the building.
“Which way what?” Maria asked, tapping behind them.
“Car, Santiago.”
“A girl can stretch her legs, can’t she?” She called out to Cass.
“Leave the camera in the car.”
“Do you know how expensive Cass is? Are you going to pay if it gets stolen?”
“I thought there was no one around.”
“We feel safer with you, Russo. You should be flattered.”
“I better not see that camera come on.”
Sammy stopped under Leo’s apartment. “I was here when I saw him climbing the fence.” Sammy pointed to where he’d been. “He fell back like he was drunk or something. I yelled to him, and he ran.”
Maria crouched down as if she were looking for the guy. “Did you see his face?”
Sammy shook her head.
“Santiago!”
“Trying to help, Russo.”
“Show me exactly where he was on the fence.”
Sammy sighed. “You want me to tell you every step he took?”
“If it leads to where he lives, that’d be very helpful.”
Sammy brushed by Russo and stomped over to the spot by the fence. “Here. He was right here.”
The cop held his phone up to the fence as if he was taking measurements, then dropped the phone into his pocket. “Anybody on the other side of the fence?”
“Cindy was by the window.”
“Was that the girl on the couch?”
Sammy nodded. “He was looking up at her.”
“Where did he drop the mask?”
Sammy pointed a few feet away.
“You chased him?”
“Yeah.”
“Had that big stick again?”
Sammy glared at him. “I had a rock. Happy?”
“You chased him to First?”
She nodded. “If I didn’t stop for that stupid mask, I might’ve seen where he went.”
“Why do you think he dropped the mask, Russo?”
Russo shrugged. “Could be a real nutjob.”
Great, another psycho.
Chapter Twenty-Two
________________________________________
Sammy and Cindy sat on the sofa with the tablet between the two of them. It was the second time the movie trailers played and still no Maria. She’d probably lied about playing that interview the same as she’d lied about everything else.
“That looks like a good movie,” Cindy said.
Sammy had lost track of which movie she was talking about. “We should go to one.”
Cindy’s gaze drifted away from the tablet. “Do you really think that cop was telling the truth about the feds?”
“He would’ve arrested me otherwise.”
Cindy glanced at the last piece of chocolate on the low table.
“Take it.”
“I can’t take the last piece.”
“I had it last night.”
Cindy snatched it off the table, then tried to break the small piece in half. “We’ll both take a bite.” She took her bite and held the remaining piece between her fingers. “Open up. I’ll pop it in.”
The chocolate bounced off her tongue and into the back of her mouth. Sammy gagged on it before getting it down.
“I’ll get you some water.”
Sammy waved her off, but Cindy was halfway to the kitchen.
Maria popped onto the tablet holo-screen. “I found out where Peppermint was hiding. Stay tuned.”
Sammy slammed back against the sofa, almost sending the tablet crashing to the floor. A commercial about Robota the housecleaning bot played for the hundredth time.
Cindy offered her the glass. “What’s the matter?”
“Peppermint. She’s talking about Peppermint.”
Cindy scooted around to the other side of the sofa and peered at the screen. “I heard she was sailing the Caribbean with Gabriel Goff.”
Sammy took a sip of the water. “Yeah, I’m on pins and needles.”
The door swung open with a bang. Sammy jumped, spilling the water.
Igor stomped in, glaring at Sammy. “You bring cop here?”
“Forgot how to knock?”
“Knock?” he asked, following her to the kitchen. “You leave now, not tomorrow and not next day.”
Sammy grabbed a dish towel to dry off her shirt. “Going to get a court order to throw us out?”
“I cut power,” he said with a sneer. “See how you like it with no power.”
“I’ve seen how you added power. Big deal twisting a few wires together.”
“You connect wrong wire, you cause fire.”
Sammy snickered. “Wouldn’t want to cause a fire in a place where I don’t live.”
“Stupid selfish girl.”
“I’m selfish? You’re throwing us out of here to save your own stinking hide.”
“I have sisters and Mama to take care of.”
Somehow Sammy didn’t think Mama needed taking care of.
Cindy stood. “That cop said they don’t care about who killed Tatiana, right, Sam?”
Sammy nodded.
Igor glanced at Cindy. His face softened. “Why would they do that?”
Sammy threw the towel onto the counter. “I’ll invite him over, and you can talk about that and your visa extensions.”
