Monday, July 5th ]
"Nice digs," Fin commented as he knocked on the door of the Baker's apartment.
Munch took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his coat sleeve. "Yeah, though it'd be a lot nicer if the elevator was operational."
"What? Five story climb up the stairs too much for you, old man?" Fin teased.
Munch opened his mouth to respond when the door of the apartment opened and a woman said politely, "Can I help you, gentlemen?" She was dark-haired and good-looking. Fin would have guessed her age to be in the mid-thirties if it wasn't for the gray that streaked through her hair and the lines caused from stress and worry that stretched across her face.
"Yeah," Fin flashed his badge, "I'm Detective Tutuola and this is Detective Munch. We were wonderin' if we could talk to your son."
The woman's face paled and she asked in a strained voice, "What'd he do this time?"
"Nothing as far as we know," Munch said in assurance, "Something's happened to one of his friends though and we wanted to see if he knew anything about it."
"Oh, come in please. My son should be home any minute." The woman stepped aside with a resigned sigh, color returning to her cheeks. She closed the door behind them and led them into a small living room. "Can I get you something to drink?" she asked as they sat down in chairs.
The two detectives shook their head. "Nah, we're cool," Fin said.
The woman sighed again and sat down on a couch. "What do you want to know?"
"Do you know a friend of Amos' named Eve?" Munch asked.
"A bit. She's come here with him once or twice. Good-mannered girl, respectful, although since she knows my Amos I imagine she's a different person when she's alone with her friends."
"What makes you say that?" Fin asked.
"Well, Amos isn't exactly the kind of teen parents want their children to hang out with. He gets into trouble a lot and usually drags his friends into it with him. What happened to Eve?"
"She was raped."
Mrs. Baker's expression was grim. "You think my Amos did it?"
Munch moved to assure the woman once again. "We have no suspects at the moment, ma'am. It's just your son was the last to see the victim before the assault and we need to talk to him."
The three adults looked up when they heard the door open and slam shut. "Mom! I'm home!" a strong male voice called out, accompanied by the heavy tromping of feet coming their way. A teenage boy of about eighteen stepped into the room and froze, his dark brown eyes locking onto the strangers sitting in his home. "Who're they?" he asked in a sharp tone.
"Amos, these detectives want to talk to you." His mother's tone warned him that he had better cooperate or else...
He glanced at his mother and sighed in defeat. "What's up?" He moved to stand next to the couch but didn't sit down. He leaned against the arm of the couch and took a yellow baseball cap off his head, twisting it in his hands. Fin noted the lack of a tattoo on his left hand's ring finger. The detective didn't immediately rule out the boy as a suspect though. The girl could have lied to cover for her friend, although why she'd do it, Fin had no clue. Women could be really strange that way sometimes.
"What'd you do today?" Fin asked, studying the boy. His tense posture spoke to the fact that he knew something.
"Oh, you guys wanna know about Eve." Amos relaxed a little and dropped the hat onto the couch beside him. Fin wondered if there was something he was hiding that had nothing to do with the girl.
"How perceptive of you," Munch commented.
Fin gave his partner a glance. "What do you know about what happened to her?"
"Not much." Amos shrugged.
"Well, please, enlighten us with what little you do know," Munch requested, looking at the boy pointedly.
Amos crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. We hung out today until about ten-thirty and then her dad gave her a call and I had to take her to her place. She called my cell from the hospital sometime around two, no later than two-thirty though, and said she needed me to pick her up. I dropped off the people I was with at a nearby subway station and went to get her."
Fin's brow furrowed and he asked, "Why drop 'em off?"
The teen shrugged. "Eve sounded close to tears on the phone and I know that she hates having people see her in an emotional state and I respect that. So I dropped off the two guys I was with and went to get her."
"Then what?"
"When I got her, she looked like total shit," Amos shook his head. "I've seen her dead drunk before, hung-over and even one time when she was tripping hella bad but she never looked as shitty as she did then. When we got into my car, she broke down and was sobbing and muttering incoherent shit. The only thing I could make out was 'home' so I took her to her place. She flipped out when we got there though and made me go through it and make sure no one was hiding inside before she'd step foot in. I made her a cup of tea, with plenty of sugar 'cause she likes it that way and I figured she could use the energy boost, and she collapsed on her couch. Then I asked her what was wrong."
Amos whistled, shaking his head again. "Holy shit, I've never seen her react like that. She threw the cup of tea at me and anything else she could get her hands on and screamed out some pretty bad stuff. I'm pretty sure her neighbors could hear it."
"What kinda stuff?"
"Stuff like, 'It's all your fault,' 'Burn in hell,' 'Fucking males,' 'I'll castrate every one of you bastards.'" Amos grinned and shrugged. "Shit like that."
"You find that funny?" Munch looked at the teen with an expression that said he was reassessing the boy's mental state.
"Well, she always says that kind of stuff, especially when she's drunk. She does it to get a rise out of the guys. She never means it, though this time I think she was serious." Amos straightened out his expression. "It was fucking scary. I thought she was actually gonna make good on the castration threat." He laughed nervously.
"What happened then?" Fin prompted.
"She just collapsed on the couch again and started sobbing. I tried to comfort her but every time I touched her or came close to her, she cussed at me and started crying even harder. Finally, I just left 'cause I figured me being there wasn't helping her."
"Do you have any idea who'd want to hurt her?" Munch asked.
"Nah, no one." Amos glanced at his watch. "Hey, listen, I'd love to talk to you guys for longer but I've gotta shower and then go work. So, are we finished?"
"Yeah, just give us the names of those guys you were with and where they're at right now," Fin said and Amos nodded, writing down the information on a scrap piece of paper he pulled out of his pocket and then handed it to the detective.
Munch gave the teen a card. "If you think of anything, be sure to give us a call."
"Sure, will do." Amos pocketed the card and walked out of the room.
"Is that all detectives?" Mrs. Baker asked, standing up and following them to the door.
"Yeah, thanks." Munch and Fin exited the apartment.
"You buy that kid's story?" Fin glanced over at his partner as they headed for the stairwell.
Munch shrugged. "Since he has no alibi, I'm hesitant to believe every word is the Gospel truth. He was the last one with the girl before the attack. Did you notice the lack of the tattoo she described?"
"Yeah, but she could be covering for him. Wouldn't be the first time."
Munch flourished the piece of paper Amos had given him. "Let's go see if these guys have anything more to add. If we're lucky, they might even a different version of events."