Out Front – The Waterfront
Max stood by, watching the coroner removing the body. It was covered by a tarp, but as the men lifted the body, the tarp slid down a bit. Max's sharp eyes caught the brown shoes and the edge of the familiar coat. Her ears caught the words discussing dental records and identification. Her heart was pounding so hard that she had trouble concentrating on what the men were saying.
But if the still body was Logan's wouldn't she have already known it in her heart? Max was sure that if he were really dead, she wouldn't even have had to come down here. She would have just felt it in her bones, wouldn't she? But the jolt of seeing his chair and the body – she had felt a cold finger of doubt. She had to get closer…to see his face.
The yellow tape kept Max back, while the men hustled the body into the back of the van and shut the doors. Some of the onlookers drifted off and Max nervously moved closer. The lower ranking officers were holding up other tarps over various parts of the crime scene, presumably to preserve any footprints or other marks that might give clues about the murder. Shoeprints and boot prints criss-crossed the patch of dirt. Max's eyes strained to look at every inch of the alley, even as the police began to disperse the crowd.
Then, she saw something. Among the mess of footprints were two sets of clear handprints, next to the wall, away from the body. Before she had a chance to turn them over in her mind, the handprints filled with rain and disappeared.
"Get back. We're pushing you all back outside the gate," the uniformed officers yelled, pushing the spectators beyond the chain link fence. The rain seemed to be slowing, and she could hear the detectives barking orders to continue processing the crime scene. The crowd grew bigger. Max could pick them out. Beige trench coat – detective. Dark uniforms – vice. Ties and sunglasses – maybe FBI, but maybe it was too early for them. College students and curious neighbors swirled around her.
They flashed by quickly. Was that a comlink she saw on a student? Not a regular cell phone earpiece, but a state-of-the-art government issue earpiece. Then, she saw another. The vultures had arrived. If Eyes Only was dead, his enemies would flock to the scene…just to be sure it was really him. And the FBI and the rest of the alphabet soup would also descend to spy on the feeding frenzy. The hair on back of Max's neck stood on end and her barcode prickled.
"That's my cue to go. I've got to get out of here. I'll be back," she whispered to no one in particular as she tore her gaze away from the scene. If Max wanted to examine the alley again, she was going to have to come back later.
Max made her way back toward the street, pretending to look at her watch. She rounded the corner and sped up. A couple of plain clothes cops stepped out of a car and headed toward her. Avoiding eye contact, she stopped to tie a adjust something on her bag, then crossed casually to the other side of the street. Halfway down the block, she stole a glance in a parked car's side view mirror, trying to see if they had paid any attention to her. A tree that grew out over the sidewalk blocked her path and she ducked under a low branch to get around it. Straightening up, she pulled up short as she found herself looking directly into a familiar face.