Page 42 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

“So you think his stories arereal?”

“I don’t just think it. Iknowit. Like the newspaper editor in India who was shot by a sniper. That happened. I Googled it. Same thing with the music producer in Korea who was killed when heaccidentallyfell off a balcony. Every detail that Mr. Sheffield told me was just the way it was reported online.”

“I think we should pay him a visit,” Kyliesaid.

“Wait a minute. That wasn’t part of the deal,” Theo said. “Mr. Sheffield is an old man who read all that shit on the Internet, and then he turned it all around, and he incorporated it into his own life. A lot of people at theGrove do that. Mrs. Myerson swears she went to the moon with Neil Armstrong, but they kept it a secret because he was married. Their brains are fucked up. You can’t just walk in and start grilling them like they’re—”

His phone chirped again. He didn’t look at it. “I’ve got to get out ofhere.”

“Before you go, I want you to take a look at this,” Kylie said. She opened her phone to the sketch Izaak Weathers had drawn of the suspect in Curtis Hellman’s stabbing, and handed it toTheo.

As soon as he looked at it, his demeanor changed. “Where did you get this?” hesaid.

“Somebody drew it for me. Do you recognize him?” shesaid.

“What do you want himfor?”

“He’s just someone Zach and I would like to talk to.”

“Aboutwhat?”

This was a different Theo. Suddenly, he was resistant, almost adversarial.

“Look, Theo,” Kylie said. “You’ve been incredibly cooperative—”

“And you haven’t. I answered, like, a hundred questions. All I’m asking is why you want to talk to this guy. It’s atwo-waystreet, Detective MacDonald.”

There’s a reason why cops are sotight-lippedduring an investigation. We have to be careful about giving up information that a defense attorney can claim we planted in a witness’s head. But Theo was right. He expected agive-and-takerelationship, and Kylie knew it was time togive.

“He’s a suspect in the Hellman homicides.”

Theo slumped back in his seat. “Fuck me,” he muttered.

“Do you recognizehim?”

Theo nodded. “I’ve seen him at the Grove.”

“Is he a resident?”

“No. About once a month he visits Mr. Sheffield.”

“Do you know his name?” Kylieasked.

“Which homicide?” Theo asked. “Warren or Curtis?”

Kylie held back a second and then gave it up. “Curtis. The stabbing on the Hudson River Greenway.”

Theo shook his head, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

“Do you know his name?” Kylie repeated softly.

“Not his real name,” Theo said. “But if you want this guy for stabbing Curtis Hellman, I’ll bet you any amount of money that his cover name is Barbara.”

CHAPTER 28

As soon as Kylieand I were back on the road, we called Captain Cates. Even just giving her the highlights, it took us close to ten minutes to catch her up on everything that happened since we left her office that afternoon.

“Fiveassassins?” she said. “This case is exploding at every turn.”

---