Page 32 of Random in Death

“See, I have to, because Boss Cop, as Harve dubbed me. Shit, I forgot coffee.”

“I’ll spring for some.” Jake turned to the Vending in the lounge.

“No, Jesus, don’t drink that swill. Peabody, use my code—if you dare—get me a Pepsi. Don’t go for the house coffee,” she told Jake.

“Just water.” He shoved both hands through his mop of hair. “Water’s fine.”

“I’ll have what Dallas is having—the low-cal variety.” Nadine sat, linked her hand with Jake’s again. “I could use the boost. We didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

“You talked to her family. I’d really like to talk to her family, if they’d let me.”

Eve nodded at Jake. “I’ll test those waters. Is there anything you want to add or amend to the statement you gave me last night?”

“I can’t think of anything. I’ve played it over and over in my head, from the time she came out the alley door until… until the MTs pronounced her.”

“Let’s go back from there. You saw her on the dance floor.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Thanks,” he said when Peabody gave him a tube of water. “She was close to the front of the dance floor. You try to make a connection to the audience when you can. She was cute, and she was dancing, but staring up at us, so I smiled at her.”

“That was the last song in the set?”

“Yeah, pretty sure on that. When we broke, I sort of glanced back toward where Nadine was sitting. Figured she’d gone to the ladies’, or the bar.”

“How long from the time you looked at Jenna to the end of the set? Approximate.”

“Ah…” He closed his eyes. “Let me think back. No, I’ve got it, because Mac was just starting the drum solo, and I moved stage right to open it up for him. That’s when I looked out and saw her. So we’d have about two minutes left. Now and then Mac gets into it, goes over a little. But no more than two and a half minutes.”

“Two to two and a half minutes. Not much less, not much more?”

“No, between that’s close.”

“She was dancing with two other girls. Did you see them? Did you see anyone move toward Jenna—a boy or man?”

“Dallas, they’re packed together. Everybody’s dancing with everybody unless they’re on the edges or manage to clear a space. I looked at her because, well, she was right there, and she had heart eyes on me.

“Shit.” He paused a beat. “It doesn’t cost me to smile.”

He paused again, drank some water.

“You just sort of pick someone out, make that contact, that connection, but you’re focused on the work—the music, the moves.”

He shifted, leaned in a little. “It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve played that song, hit those notes. When Mac hits the last beat of the solo, I come on with a riff, right off that last beat. Then we hit the vocals, bang, four-part harmony.”

He leaned back again. “You’ve got to focus on the work. I couldn’t tell you anything specific about the other girls, or if somebody moved in on her, because I was totally focused. But it was just a couple minutes before we closed the set and I announced the break. Before I looked back for Nadine.”

“Okay. Nadine, you went to the john.”

“Right after they started the last song. I’ve seen how people crowd the floor for that one, so I grabbed my chance.”

“How long were you in there?”

“First, it took me a while to get there. The place was packed, and I stopped for a few seconds to talk to Glo. She was helping serve, because packed. I know I could hear the music when I got there. Lots of yelling and applauding when I was still in there doing a quick makeup repair. I was just coming out when I heard Jake do the taking-a-break thing, and they’d started the house reel.”

“Did you see anyone going into the men’s room?”

“Not when I went in. When I came out, let’s say I had good timing because there was a stampede of teens, both genders. I got through that, then went backstage to ask about Jake. Leon said he went out to the alley for some air. It was freaking hot in the club.”

“When you were in the john, did you hear anybody in the men’s?”

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