Page 52 of The Burnt
“Declan?” Sawchuck said, taking the toddler away from him and raising her up in his arms. She began to calm down.
“Uh, her name is Susie,” Declan offered.
“Professor Diller?” the second cop called out. “If you’ll come with me, please.”
The smelly guy stood and followed the cop, but not before he turned to Declan and said, “You’ll make a terrible father.”
Declan was relieved when the bathroom door opened and Susie’s mother returned.
“You have a beautiful daughter,” Sawchuck said, handing Susie back to her.
“Thank you—hey, has anyone seen my father? He was just there.” She pointed to the now empty chair across from Declan.
“The professor?” Declan asked.
“Yes!”
“They just came to collect him. They went that-a-way,” he said, pointing down the nearest hall.
“Oh, Jesus.” She slung the baby bag over her neck and took a child in each arm, then ran down the hall. “Dad, don’t say anything until the lawyer shows up!”
Sawchuck shook his head. “See. Things haven’t changed much since you left, have they? Come on. Let’s go to my office where we can talk in private.”
Declan walked through a tightly packed series of desks. He vaguely recognised a few of the officers.
“What’s he doing back?” one said.
“In for questioning, probably,” the other replied.
Then he heard it—“Fag.”
Declan turned around and caught the eye of the officer who had whispered the last word. “You should know.”
The guy leapt to his feet but Sawchuck intervened. “At leasttryto behave like adults!”
Declan followed Sawchuck to his office and took a seat. “Like I said—some things never change.” He moved behind his desk and sat down. “Let’s get down to business. I wanted to check in with you on the investigation of Archie Whitcher’s murder. As I told you last night, we’ve had the house under surveillance.”
“Oh?” Declan replied.
“Yeah. That neighbour of his has been coming and going from Archie’s house on a regular basis.”
“And you didn’t try and stop her?” Declan asked.
Sawchuck paused. “We were more interested in watching from a distance to see what she was up to. Got any ideas?”
“Well, I can tell you, she’s got a key. She said she was going over to make sure the heat was on so the pipes wouldn’t freeze.”
Sawchuck leaned forward. “How very neighbourly of her. And of you, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, other than that first time you said you went into Archie’s house, you’ve been there two other times since we started surveillance.”
“Not to Archie’s house, I haven’t,” Declan deflected.
“No. You were visiting Kathrine O’Grady. You seem to be getting kinda chummy with her.”
“I’m just trying to clarify information that may help with my enquiries. She phoned me because she was scared. She said shethought she saw the man in the brown coat come back and it made her nervous. Have you had any luck tracking him down?”
