Page 80 of Random in Death

“Sort of.” He glanced at Hank.

“There were three of them. Excellent babe-age.”

From behind him, his bubbe gave him the flat of her hand over the back of his head. “You don’t talk about girls that way. You show respect.”

“Bubbe, it just means they were pretty. Like you.” That smile blasted out. “You have the most excellent babe-age.”

She gave him the flat of her hand again, but this time lightly, with affection. Then she set the tray she’d balanced on one hip on the table.

“You’ll have some babka, fresh this morning, and some sweet tea.”

Devin looked at her with those big, dreamy eyes. “Thanks, Bubbe.”

She stroked a hand over the brassy crown of his head. “Now, you tell the police whatever they need to know. With respect! Then you get back to work. We don’t pay for you to sit and eat babka.”

When she walked away, Hank forked up a bite. “It’s extreme. You gotta eat it, or she’ll give you all kinds of grief. Plus, extreme.”

“You danced with the victim and her two friends.”

“Sure, and a bunch of other babes. We weren’t there to hook, you know? Just swim. The music was tight and total. They, the babes, a unit, right, Dev?”

“Check it. I think Chaz danced with one of them again, just the one, but a unit. We didn’t hang with them, or anything like that.”

“Let’s go back to when you got to the club. You came as… a unit.”

“Five of us,” Hank confirmed. “Me, Dev, Chaz, Orlo, and Jonah.”

“When you got there, to the door, did anyone else come in with you?”

Dev shrugged, looked at Hank. “Maybe. We were all talking, and ribbing Orlo because he was supposed to come separate with his girlfriend, but she dumped him the day before. Harsh, man.”

“Maybe someone who was right behind the two of you. Your three friends were just ahead of you. We have Chaz opening the door, going in first.”

“I guess. I didn’t pay attention. We were pretty jacked about seeing Avenue A for free. No cover or anything. We all went last summer, so we knew it would slay.”

“The little guy?” Frowning, Hank squinted his eyes as if trying to see something in the distance.

And Eve felt the buzz.

“A little guy. Shorter than you, than both of you.”

“Yeah.”

“Can you describe him?”

“I didn’t really see him—I mean, pay attention. I only sort of noticed because when Chaz opened the door, he kind of blocked it for a couple seconds.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Devin confirmed. “He did this drama pause, said like, ‘Now it begins.’”

“That’s it, so when I had to stop short, the little guy bumped into me from behind. No big, but I thought, Jesus, man, we got all night.”

“How do you know it was a guy, or he was short?”

“Oh, right? I sort of halfway saw him slide in behind me and Dev when we were all walking up the block.”

“What did you halfway see? Any detail at all.”

“Well. Sad, sad baggies. Crap kicks, too. That sounds harsh, ’cause maybe that’s the best he could do, but that’s what I thought when I halfway saw him slide behind us.”

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