A small annoying dog happed frantically in a doorway as cops moved pas it and up to the stairs to the next landing. An overly made up woman pulled on the dog's leash and tried to stop it from nipping at the cops' ankles as Pennington stood beside her. "She always had strange types visit her," said the woman, "but I didn't see or hear nothing this time. Poor, sad, creature…"
"Thank you," nodded Pennington and walked away, past the dog in his way as it bared its teeth.
Police wandered about the dark room, exploring the corners around Éclair's slain body. Pennington walked over to Topper as he examined the body with Flavio standing beside him. "All the same wounds," said Topper. "It's definitely him… but there's something else." Topper pointed to a small wound on Éclair's neck. "These have me stumped," confessed Topper. "The other girl we found had one just like it – see the way the edges are perforated."
"Yeah," nodded Pennington. "It looks just like a bite."
"Only there was no trace of saliva," said Topper, "and the diameter of the wound is too narrow to have been made by a normal adult. Know who she is?"
"A prostitute," nodded Pennington. "She lived here." A young cop stepped up to Flavio, glancing at Pennington.
"She won't come out," he told Flavio, who led Pennington behind a wooden partition past which was a small and neatly arranged area. There was a double bed, various possessions and dozens of children's drawings pinned to the walls. Someone lived there, but the room was empty.
"We found a young girl," Flavio told Pennington. "We think it's her daughter."
"Where is she?" asked Pennington and Flavio nodded toward the bed. Pennington stepped over and bent down, lifting the bed-spread. In the shadows underneath, he could make out the face of a little girl, hiding and clutching a bundle. Terrified, she edged away from Pennington.
"Come on," said Pennington. "I won't hurt you." Pennington looked closely at the bundle the girl was holding and turned around to Flavio. "She's got a baby with her." Then he noticed something, past Flavio. The wooden screen ther saw a crack running along the length of it. He could see the other room, everything in the other room. "Flavio, she saw what happened here."