Danny and I step out of the car and walk up to Maera Murphy's house, which is about a half hour away from the Jacobs' home. I'm not really looking forward to this, either. I don't know how this girl's going to react to the news that her boyfriend's dead. Teenage girls can be crazy.
I knock on the door and look at Danny. He's watching me, and he gives me a small smile. A small vote of confidence and it calms me down a bit. I smile back. It's gonna be alright.
The door opens and a middle-age woman appears. Her eyes are red, cheeks swollen. There's no doubt she's been crying and she just steps aside to let us in.
"You're the detectives some the city. We've been expecting you." Danny and I enter the house and I start to ask how she knew, but I'm cut off by the answer. "Cindy Jacobs called and told us."
"Mrs. Murphy, does 'us' include
Maera?" If she knows, that saves me the trouble of having to
tell her. And maybe it'll make the questions easier and faster to get
through. Or, maybe the girl will be in
hysterics and we won't get
any answers. Mrs. Murphy nods.
"We need to ask her a few
questions, if that's alright." She nods again and leads us to
where Maera is. Maera's sitting on the couch, eyes red-rimmed, but it
doesn't look like she's actually cried. Shock,
maybe.
"Maera...
Hi, I'm Detective Flack and this is Detective Messer. I'm sorry for
your loss, but.. but we need to ask you for some questions. Is that
ok?" Maera looks at me and nods and I sit down on the couch,
turning to face her.
"Maera, Ms. Jacobs told us that
Kevin was in New York City visiting Eric Rodgers' mother. Is that
right?" Maera nods. Her eyes are blank and this girl really
spooks me. There's just something about
her. "Can you tell
me if they had any plans, anything that could help?"
Maera shakes her head. "No, they were just going to hang out. Maybe go to the Statue of Liberty, but nothing big." I nod.
Danny steps in. "Did Kevin have any problems at school? Someone that didn't like him, maybe someone he was upset with.." Again, Maera shakes her head.
"No, everyone loved Kevin." And whoa, that sounded slightly bitter. There's something there.
"Another girl?" I ask and Maera just looks at me. "I mean, another girl that maybe liked him?"
"Kevin wouldn't do that!" Maera's mother jumps on it first. I think she might be more upset over this than her daughter is. "Kevin's a very nice boy and would never hurt Maera."
"Mrs. Murphy, we just need to know. It's just a question." Danny gives her a small smile before continuing, "We don't mean anything by it."
"Kevin wasn't interested in any other girls." Maera says softly, drawing our attention back to her.
"Well, what can you tell us about Eric?" And wow, that's the wrong question to ask because Maera goes pale.
"He's Kevin's
best friend. They're.. close." Well, duh, the best friend part
would be an indication of that. Maera looks really upset now and I
really want to know what's going on, but before I can ask, Mrs.
Murphy all but orders us out of the house.
"She's upset, Detectives. Please, leave." Danny and I share a look before nodding and starting back out of the house. I'm about out the door when I feel Danny tug on my arm. I turn around to see what he wants. He has a slip of paper in his hand. He looks back quickly to makes sure Mrs. Murphy and Maera aren't looking and then hands it to me. A receipt for the tolls on the highway. From yesterday. By the looks of it, either Maera or Mrs. Murphy has been to the city. Nice how they didn't mention that. I'm tempted to go back and demand an answer, but Mrs. Murphy's already asked us to leave and I doubt she'd give us an honest answer, if an answer at all. I nod and hand it back and watch Danny place it back in the little table near the door.
We're walking down the sidewalk to our car when I notice a
girl approaching us. She's a teenager, maybe 16 or 17, with long
brown hair and piercings almost everywhere. But she has a pleasant
smile and
I'm curious as to what she wants.
"Hi!" she greets us cheerfully. "Maera's pretty lucky to have to hunks like you walk out of her house."
I glance at Danny and see his amused smirk. I mentally roll my eyes. Right to his ego. Hell, right to my ego, too.
"Hi, actually, we're detectives with the NYPD." The girls eyes flash and now she's really interested. "Can I ask who you are?"
"Gisele. Gisele Baker, Maera's neighbor. What did she do when she was in New York?" I glance at Danny again and our eyes meet. Confirmation of the receipt, at least.
"She's been to New York?" I ask. Maybe Gisele can give us a little insight...
"Oh yeah, left the night before last and came back yesterday. I caught her on her way out. Looked kinda upset, but eh, what's she gonna tell me? We don't exactly run together."
I nod. "What about her and Kevin Jacobs?"
Gisele arches one pierced eyebrow. "Maera and Kevin? They broke up about a week ago. Actually, Kevin dumped her. She didn't take it all that well." Gisele's eyes narrowed. "What's Kev got to do with this?"
Kev? "You and Kevin, you're close?" Danny asks.
Gisele shrugs and kicks at the ground. "He was a good friends until he and Maera got together. Then he kind of distanced himself. Maera's really clingy, y'know? Needs to know where he's gonna be and when. Jealous and paranoid, to boot. He hung out a lot with Eric, though. Eric Rodgers, our friend." Danny and I both nod. "In fact, they went to the city to visit Eric's mom, I think. Or maybe that's this weekend. Anyway, she's a nice lady." Gisele looks me in the eye. "What's going on?"
I take a breath and look at Danny. He shrugs, as if to say I dunno, but then nods.
"Kevin Jacobs was found dead yesterday morning."
Gisele's eyes
go wide and she covers her mouth. She stumbles backwards and I reach
out and grab her arm to steady her. She shakes her head and pulls
away. "I'm uh, I'm.. I have to go." Gisele turns
and
runs down the sidewalk and into the house next to the Murphy's. I
shake my head. Poor kid. I turn back to Danny and his
expression says the same thing.
We climb into the car and
start back to the city. I kind of wish we hadn't checked out of the
hotel already. I just want to curl up with Danny and take a nap. But
we have to get back, Mac is expecting us and
plus, this case
isn't going to solve itself. I look at the clock. We'll get back
around 7. Just in time to give Mac a report on the trip and grab some
stuff from my locker and go home. Thank God.
Danny breaks the silence in the car. "So, what are you thinkin'?"
I run a hand over my face. "I dunno. Kevin and Maera weren't dating, but she and Ms. Jacobs and Mrs. Murphy don't say anything about it? That's just weird." The girl's just weird.
Danny nods. "I want to know why she was in the city." That's a good question. "But I wasn't talking about the case." Oh.
"Oh." I glance at him. "What?"
"Just... what do you want to do about this?" Danny gestures between us. "I mean, I know this is different, so--"
"Danny." I cut him off with a smile and he looks at me. "I meant what I said. It's not a one night stand. You're my friend and I trust you."
Danny's looking at me and I can almost hear his thoughts. No one has said that they trust him in a long time, what with the Tanglewood case and him shooting that cop. Mac hasn't helped much and Aiden gives her support, but she hasn't said outright that she trusts him. And I think Danny needs to hear that. I glance at him. "What are you doing when we get back to the city?"
"Well, other than telling Mac what we found out... nothing."
"Want
to come over to my place? I have beer. And you've seen my DVD
collection. We could watch a movie or do something... else."
Emphasis on the else part. I cast a look in Danny's direction
and
catch him licking his bottom lip. That's hot.
"That's sounds good." He smiles at me and I know he's plotting what the "else" could mean.
I smirk. Good? Oh, no. It's fuckin' great.
