[Thursday, February 18, 09:00]
Outside suite 1302 of a glass and steel condominium in Manhattan, Flack handed Stella the warrant and gestured for her to do the honours. She flashed him the briefest of smiles, but he considered it an improvement from her storm cloud demeanour yesterday.
She pounded on the door. "Grayson Bailey, New York Police Department," she announced.
The man in question opened the door and took in the two detectives and four uniformed officers standing in the hall. "What do you want?"
Stella slapped the papers against his chest and pushed her way into the apartment. "To search the premises for the weapon used on Juliana." She set her silver kit on the kitchen counter with a thunk and pulled on a pair of gloves.
"Grayson? What's going on?" Ruby called, alarmed, emerging from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, in the middle of putting on a bold red necklace.
"We have a warrant to search the premises, ma'am," Flack explained, gesturing at the papers that Grayson was holding. "Kitchen, kitchen, bathroom, living room," he assigned the other officers. "I'll take the bedroom."
"You can't come barging in here!" Ruby protested, moving to block his way.
"Judge says we can," he countered, walking right up to her but being careful that they didn't touch. His record didn't have a single complaint of excessive force on it and he intended to keep it that way. "Please move aside, ma'am."
Grayson came over, taking her by the hand and guiding her towards her coat and purse by the door. "It's okay, hon. They're trying to find out who attacked Juliana."
"But it wasn't you, they don't need to turn our home upside down!" she cried. "Grayson is a good man. He had nothing to do with what happened to Juliana!"
The man helped her into her coat and pressed her purse into her hand. "It's okay," he repeated. "They're not going to find anything." Grayson kissed her cheek and held open the door. "I promise, everything will be fine. I'll call you when they're done."
She returned his kiss on his nose, threw a dirty look at Flack and Stella, and made her way to the elevator.
The man closed the door and turned back to face the cops dispersed in his condo. "Look, I know you have to search the place, but could you… avoid… throwing everything on the floor?" he asked gingerly.
Patzo had unceremoniously thrown all the couch cushions aside and was digging through every crevice to find anything that matched Hawkes's description of the weapon used in the attack. He looked up at Flack for his opinion on the matter.
"I don't have anything to hide," he continued, "I just don't want to spend the rest of the day putting my place back together." He understood their suspicion and the fervor behind their search. But at the end of the day, he was innocent, and maybe his full cooperation would lessen the mess he'd be left with. The man looked hopefully at Flack.
"I'll think about it," he said dismissively. He still remembered the man's complete lack of concern for Juliana's survival when they had first delivered the news. Flack turned and made his way to the bedroom, listening to the sound of Patzo discarding more objects onto the floor. The bedroom was tidy, with a vanity against one wall and a large closet built into another. Flack headed straight for the matching pair of bedside tables, pulling open the drawers and removing the contents. He found a book, a pen, a notepad, a Portuguese-English dictionary, a bottle of Advil, an eye cream, and some condoms. No knife. A check of the bedding and mattress also yielded nothing. He tried the vanity next and already had two drawers open before he paused.
Pictures of Grayson and Ruby decorated the edges of the large mirror. In the top left, they were much younger, dressed in caps and gowns at their college graduation. He had his arm around her shoulders, face scrunched up as she planted a big kiss on his nose. Next was a photo of the pair at the gates of the Bronx Zoo. Then a plain door marked 4F between them, Ruby holding the keys proudly. The pictures continued, Bronx Zoo, Bronx Zoo, nicer apartment, Chicago, Bronx Zoo, first car, Grand Canyon, Bronx Zoo, Miami. The zoo seemed to be an annual tradition, date stamps in the corners of the photos showing June 2nd every year. Anniversary, probably. Flack took in the chronicle of their lives, big milestones, vacations, and trips to the zoo over the span of years. But it was the second-last picture that made everything click. Grayson and Ruby in front of a giant field of colourful tulips, wearing matching orange baseball caps and waving little Dutch flags. "We've got it all wrong," he murmured.