Page 18 of A Friend in the Glass

Rufus yanked open the container nearly bursting with noodles. Condensation splattered his t-shirt and he wiped it absently while saying, “So Shareed was using.”

“They thought she might be using. Which is the kind of rumor someone would spread if they didn’t like what she was looking into.”

“Ok,” Rufus answered, his tone as if he were trying to calm a wild animal. “I’ll shelve that. Can I ask you something else?”

Sam made a noise around a mouthful of dumpling.

“Who did Lew murder? You said on the phone, ‘that son of a bitch murdered’ and then you stopped.”

Sam swallowed. His voice had a flat obstinacy as he said, “Shareed.”

“That’s who you meant?”

“Well, he’s responsible for those soldiers with Stonefish. And Went; if Lew had manned up, if he’d kept them from piling everything on a kid who was barely old enough to shave, Went wouldn’t have done what he did. But I was talking about Shareed.”

“If you say Lew’s a piece of shit, I believe you, I swear. But we don’tknowhe killed Shareed. If it wasn’t an OD—don’t get mad, I’m just saying—if it wasn’t an OD, if she was murdered, and everything was set up to reflect this rumor that she was having drug issues…. Your Army wife made it sound like several people knew of her erratic behavior. All I’m saying is, when it comes to what happened in her hotel room, we’ve no idea if Lew was there.”

“That’s what we’re trying to prove.”

“It sort of sounds like we’re trying to make the pieces fit Lew Frazer.”

“Fine, Rufus.” He set the unfinished container of dumplings aside. “What am I missing?”

“I don’t know.” Rufus pushed aside his own untouched food and knee-walked across the floor toward Sam. “But maybe the narrative should be: I think Shareed was murdered by someone, and not, Shareed was murdered by Lew. At least, not yet.”

“Fine.”

“You’re just saying ‘fine’ because you’re mad at me.”

“I’m saying it because I don’t know what you want me to say. You think I’m wrong. Fine. I can’t prove it yet. Fine. There’s not a lot left to talk about.”

“I can call Erik—see if he’s willing to mention anything CSU might’ve found.”

As an answer, Sam grabbed the container and speared a dumpling.

Rufus nodded, muttered “Fine” under his breath, and got to his feet. He tugged his burner free from his pocket and dialed Erik’s number. “Hello, gorgeous.”

“What? Make it fast; I’m still dealing with the wreckage of a crime scene you and your butt buddy left me.”

“Did you find anything interesting at the pod?”

“Sure. I found my incompetent CI and his dong bait walking all over my fucking scene. You’re fishing, asshole, and I’m hanging up.”

“Don’t do that. Come on, I’m sorry I walked all over your scene. In my defense, there was a dead lady inside. Not that I knew she was dead. What if she’d been alive and I left her? Then you’d have a CI wanted for like, involuntary manslaughter or something.”

Erik made a noise of disgust. But he didn’t disconnect.

“I got you those pics of Chad yesterday, didn’t I? All I’m asking for now and then is a little pat on the head. Come on, I was severely neglected as a child.”

“You’ve got your boy toy. He can pat you on your head or your ass or wherever.”

“There’s something about it coming from a man with a badge.”

“Don’t you have someone else to bother?”

“Not really,” Rufus answered. “I live and die for you.”

This time, all Rufus got was a grunt. After a moment, though, Erik asked, “Have you heard about anything over at the Javits?”

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