Page 44 of So Normal

“Carter. Tell me about Carter.”

“Carter’s a grad student,” Presley said. “He stops by once a week. Wednesday’s his day.”

Michael and Faith shared a glance. “Okay, we’re going to show you some pictures,” Michael said, “and you need to tell me if you recognize these men. Sound good?”

Presley nodded. Michael didn’t expect Presley to admit to recognizing them, but Faith was excellent at reading people. If Presley was lying, she would know.

Faith watched closely as Michael showed Presley a picture of Chester McIlhenny. Presley looked him up and down and shrugged. “Looks like an old white man to me. I might have seen him, but if I did, I didn’t notice him.”

Michael put Chester’s picture away and showed a picture of Everett Richardson. Presley peered closely. “Huh,” he said, “that one looks familiar. Yeah. Yeah, he bumped into me and knocked me back into the wall. I told him ‘Hey, what’s up, man?’ and he didn’t even look my way. Rude asshole.”

“Yeah? That make you want to get back at him?” Michael asked. “Maybe teach him a lesson about politeness?”

He shook his head. “No man, I didn’t think about it. I mean, I remember him because he bumped into me, but most people are rude. Maybe they don’t mean to be, but you know, I’m nobody to them. I’m just the guy who holds paper towels. People don’t think about me, you know.”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “I get that. Sit tight for a minute. Turk, watch him.”

Presley shrank back slightly as Turk bared his teeth again. Faith and Michael stepped outside. As soon as the door closed, Michael said, “So? What do you think?”

Faith shook her head. “It’s not him. He showed no sign of guilt or fear when he recognized Richardson. None of the glee you would expect if he had killed him either. Just mild irritation at his rudeness. He didn’t recognize McIlhenny at all.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Michael said. “Well, we’ll see if maybe he saw the killer.”

They walked inside, and Michael said, “One last question, Mr. Presley. Did you notice anyone behaving unusually on either Monday or Wednesday? Especially anyone following either of the men in the pictures we showed you?”

“No, nothing like that,” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing like that. People are …” he shrugged, “… just people.”

Michael nodded. “All right. Thank you, Mr. Presley. I think we’re done here.”

“You gonna let me go?”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, I’ll let you go. Don’t make this mistake again, Leon. I get that times are tough, but this isn’t the answer. I catch you selling drugs here again, and you strike out, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” Leon said instantly, bobbing his head up and down. “Yes, sir, I promise, no more drugs.”

Presley tiptoed slowly around Turk, who watched him impassively. As soon as he was clear, he rushed out of the room.

When he was gone, Faith turned to Michael. “You think he’ll keep his promise?”

Michael shrugged and stood, heading out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Faith asked.

“I’m getting a coffee,” Michael said. “You want one?”

“I thought you were cutting back,” Faith said.

“Yeah, well,” Michael said, walking away.

He didn’t finish the thought. If he had, it would have gone something like,yeah, well, once more, we’ve found a dead end and learned nothing we didn’t already know. Once more, our killer is free to murder someone else, and we have to sift through hundreds more people who could be responsible. Once more, Turk sniffed out a killer only to find he wasn’t a killer after all.

“And once more, my partner is going to insist on every excuse for Turk and treat me like the asshole,” he said under his breath.

Michael took another deep breath and shook his head. Leon Presley was about the most unremarkable suspect he’d ever interrogated. It was almost as though he was designed to be invisible. How do you find a killer whose only trait is being unremarkable? How do you find an unremarkable person in a sea of unremarkable people?

“Like finding a particular needle in a stack of needles,” he said to himself.

It was going to be another long night.

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