‘Yeah, she was here,’ he confirmed.
‘We found blood on Brandy’s knuckles, which doesn’t look related to her death. She hit someone.’
‘So she and Cat struggled, and Brandy took the knife.’ Stride squinted at the lights. ‘If it was dark in here, whoever was waiting in the commissary may have thought Brandy was Cat. He heard the girl coming back and hit her with the wrench. Then he realized he killed the wrong girl.’
‘Maybe,’ Maggie said. ‘Or Cat killed Brandy and took off.’
Stride shrugged. ‘If Brandy came after Cat in the arena, I don’t see Cat going back for more. Plus, there’s no way Cat’s got the upper body strength to wield a wrench with the force necessary to split open someone’s skull.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Maggie agreed.
His phone buzzed and he yanked it out of his pocket. He saw the name on the caller ID.
Dory Mateo.
‘Dory,’ he said. ‘It’s Stride. What’s up?’
‘You better get to the Seaway right now,’ she told him. ‘Cat showed up in my room overnight. Someone beat her up.’
*
Stride couldn’t count the number of times he’d climbed the stairs to the second floor of the Seaway Hotel in his career. The flophouse on the south end of Superior Street, steps away from Curly’s Bar, was Ground Zero for trouble. Fights. Stabbings. Hookers on their knees in the doorways. Drunks that needed transport to rehab. The joke among the police was that the place could never burn because of the urine and vomit permanently soaked into its carpets.
Dory’s room was at the end of the hallway, overlooking the back alley. Her door was open, and he found her on the twin bed with her hands on her knees. The room was barely six feet by ten feet and was furnished with nothing but a bed, a warped dresser, and a sink. The bathrooms were communal. The room was lit by a single bare bulb with a string cord. He smelled smoke, and he saw an ashtray on the window ledge.
He walked inside and closed the door behind him. ‘Where’s Cat?’
Dory stared at the floor, her shoulders slumped. Her bleached blonde hair was flat and unwashed. ‘Taking a bath.’
‘How is she?’
‘Cuts and bruises.’
‘Did she say what happened?’
‘No. I woke up and she was sleeping on the floor. I could see she was hurt. I let her rest for a while, and then I put her in the bathroom and called you.’
He looked out the window. It was still dark outside. He noticed a pile of clothes crumpled on the floor. ‘Are these Cat’s clothes?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I need to take them with me. Do you have anything else she can wear?’
‘Sure. Why do you need them?’
‘Evidence. Two people were killed tonight.’
Dory finally looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot. Mucus dripped from her nose. ‘Don’t tell me Cat did it.’
‘I hope not.’ He slid a pen from his pocket and pushed around the clothes on the floor. He didn’t see any bloodstains. That was good. When he looked at Dory, he didn’t like what he saw in her face. Her skin was gray. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Bad night,’ she said.
‘Do you want me to get you some help?’
‘No.’
Stride sat down on the bed next to her. ‘I need to ask you some questions about Cat.’
‘Whatever. Go ahead.’
‘Do you recognize the name Margot Huizenfelt?’
‘Margot? Sure.’
‘Did Cat ever talk about her? Do you know if they knew each other?’
‘Margot talked to Cat for one of her stories. I set it up.’
‘You did?’
‘Yeah, she was willing to pay for an interview. Cat needed the money. It was months ago.’
‘How do you know Margot?’ Stride asked.
‘She knows lots of girls like me. What’s the big deal?’
‘Margot’s missing,’ Stride said. ‘She disappeared a month ago.’
Dory looked shaken, as if he’d slapped her out of a coma. ‘Missing?’
‘Someone took her.’
‘I didn’t know. Jesus.’
‘Did you ever see the story?’
‘What?’ Dory’s eyes were vacant and distracted.
‘The story Margot wrote about Cat.’
‘No, I didn’t. How would I? Why are you asking me about this?’
‘Margot may have been looking for Cat before she disappeared. Did she come to see you?’
‘Me? No, of course not. Why?’
‘To find Cat,’ Stride said.
He watched Dory physically shutting down, drawing away from him. Her eyes shot toward the door. ‘I never saw her.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I said no!’ Dory exploded. ‘I don’t know anything!’
He held up his hands to calm her. ‘Okay.’
‘Leave me alone!’
‘I’m not trying to upset you, Dory. I’m trying to help Cat.’
‘If you want to help her, get her the hell away from me. I don’t want her in a place like this.’
‘I will. I just need to know a little more from you first. What can you tell me about Cat and Vincent Roslak? He’s a shrink.’
Dory rubbed her fingers together, as if she needed a cigarette. She stared at the ceiling. ‘Yeah, I know who he is.’
‘Cat saw him at the shelter. Roslak was sleeping with some of the girls there. Do you know if he slept with Cat?’
‘How would I know? Cat doesn’t talk about bad shit.’
‘Roslak’s dead.’
‘I remember. So?’
‘He was stabbed to death.’
Dory paled. ‘So what? He was a bastard to lots of people, right? Sometimes bastards get payback. Cat carries a knife, but that’s just for show. She’d never use it. She knows what knives do, you know?’
‘Yesterday she assaulted a man.’
‘On the ship? Yeah, she told me. The pervert wanted to butt-fuck her, for God’s sake.’
Dory stalked to the window and pushed it open with a bang. There was no screen. She slid down the wall of the bedroom and sat on the floor. She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, lit one, and blew the smoke out into the darkness. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
‘Men,’ she said. ‘They’re all fuckers. Look at Marty Gamble.’
‘I know.’
‘Cat won’t let me say things like that. She still loves the son of a bitch.’
‘He was her father.’
‘Some father. What an asshole. I guess I can’t talk, huh? I’m no prize, either. Back then, I would do anything for money to stay high. If Cat knew the things I did, she’d hate me.’
‘What did you do?’
Dory sucked on the cigarette. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘I said I can get you help.’
‘I don’t want your help. I don’t care about me. I want to help Cat, but all I do is make it worse. Michaela must look down at me and spit.’
‘You do help me, Dory.’
Stride’s eyes swung to the doorway, where Cat stood in a fraying terry robe. Her cheek had a fierce bruise. She had a long scratch on her neck that glowed red from the hot water. She slipped inside and shut the door and got down on her knees beside her aunt.
‘You help me all the time,’ Cat said. ‘I’d be lost without you. You’ve always protected me.’
Dory flicked the cigarette out the window and shook her head. Like a dam breaking, she began to bawl. Her body wilted and she sank into Cat’s arms. Cat held her, letting Dory cry herself out in terrible sobs. Stride began to understand why, as young as she was, she wanted a child of her own.
Cat stared at him, and her sad, beautiful eyes suddenly looked older. ‘I’m sorry for running away. I didn’t hurt anyone. I swear.’
He studied her face, and all he could do was rely on what it told him. ‘I know you didn’t,’ he said.
24
‘Is Kim dead?’ Cat as
ked.
They sat on a green bench at the end of the Point. Calm waters from Superior Bay lapped at a strip of sand at their feet. It was finally light outside, but the morning was grim. This place on the harbor was like sacred ground for Stride. He had stopped and sat on this same bench at every crossroad in his life. It was the first place he had gone after Cindy died, in order to cry in private, away from the memories in their home. It was the first place he’d gone after Serena left.
‘Yes, she’s dead.’
Cat’s eyes closed. ‘I should have stayed.’
‘Then you’d be dead, too.’
‘Was she — stabbed? Is that what he did?’
‘Yes.’
‘I saw that a knife was missing.’ Cat hugged herself and shivered.
‘Did you take another one?’
‘Yes, but I lost it at the DECC.’
Stride nodded. ‘Do you have any idea who did this?’
‘No. I’m really sorry. Why is this happening to me?’
‘That’s what we need to find out,’ Stride said. ‘Tell me about last night.’
Cat took a deep breath. Her fists clenched. ‘Kim heard something upstairs and she went to check it out. The next thing I knew, she was screaming. It was just like — it was just like with my mother, you know? When I was a kid. Kim yelled at me to run, so I did. I grabbed a knife and I ran. I didn’t get far before I saw him coming after me.’
‘You saw him?’
‘No, I only saw a flashlight on the beach. I made it to the bridge and he followed me into the city. When I got inside the DECC, I thought I could hide there, but I heard someone coming. I figured it was him, but it was Brandy.’
‘What did she want?’
‘Money. Food. Whatever I had. I told her I didn’t have anything, and she went crazy and started punching me. I think she was high. I dropped the knife, and I got out of there. I found my way to the skywalk and headed for downtown. From there, I walked all the way to the Seaway. That’s it.’
‘Did you see or hear anyone else inside the DECC?’
‘Just Brandy.’
‘Brandy’s dead,’ he told her.
‘What?’
‘Someone hit her with a wrench.’
Cat leaped to her feet. ‘It wasn’t me!’
‘If it was self-defense, you can tell me the truth,’ Stride said. ‘Or if you thought it was the man chasing you, I need to know that. Even if you’re scared, you can’t lie to me about this, Cat.’
‘I’m not lying! I didn’t do it!’
Stride took her hand and made her sit down again. ‘Okay, I’m sorry. I needed to ask.’
‘Brandy came after me, not the other way around,’ she insisted, kicking the sand.
‘Okay.’
‘There’s somebody out there who wants me dead. That’s all I know.’
‘We’ll find him, but I need your help.’
‘Anything. I just want to make this stop.’
‘I need to ask you about Vincent Roslak,’ he said.
Cat flinched. ‘Vincent doesn’t have anything to do with this.’
‘You know who he is, right? You saw him for counseling?’
‘A few times. What difference does that make?’
‘Vincent Roslak was stabbed to death eight months ago. Last night, Kim Dehne was stabbed to death, too.’
‘There’s no connection,’ Cat said.
‘There is a connection. You. Somehow, this may be the link that explains why someone is coming after you.’
‘No, no, no, it can’t be. Vincent moved away. I never saw him again. You’re wrong.’
‘Did you sleep with him?’
Cat wiped her eyes, which were moist. ‘Don’t make it dirty. He cared about me.’ Her voice hardened. ‘Then he went away and that was the end of it.’
Stride put an arm around her shoulders, but she tensed at his touch. ‘Listen to me, Cat. Roslak abused the trust that his patients put in him. We don’t know how far it went. If you told him things about other people, he may not have kept it confidential. Or maybe someone was afraid about what you might tell him, and that’s what got him killed. Maybe that’s why you’re in danger.’
Cat sniffled. ‘I told him stuff from my past. That’s all. Years ago. My parents.’
‘What else? You were on the street, Cat. You saw things, you did things, that people like to keep in the shadows.’
‘I know, but I can’t think of anything like that.’
‘What about men you slept with?’ Stride asked.
‘It’s not like I know their names. They come, they go, you know what I mean?’
She laced her fingers with his and held on tight. He could almost feel her wishing and praying that the past was behind her. She was young. It would be a while before she learned that the past never went away.
‘I don’t want to talk about Vincent anymore,’ she said. ‘Please.’
‘Okay, but there’s someone else I need to ask you about.’
‘Who?’ Her voice was soft and fragile.
‘Margot Huizenfelt.’
‘I don’t know who that is,’ Cat said.
‘She’s a reporter. Dory says she sent Margot to you. She’s missing.’
‘Oh, her,’ Cat said. ‘Yeah, a few months ago, a woman found me under the overpass. She said she was a reporter. She mentioned Dory. She offered to buy me lunch. It was winter, so a hot lunch sounded good.’
‘What did she look like?’ he asked.
‘Heavy. Butch.’
‘That sounds like Margot.’
‘You say she’s missing? Is it because of me?’
‘I don’t know yet, but she may have been the person who was looking for you in the graffiti graveyard. What did the two of you talk about?’
‘She asked me lots of questions. How I got there. The life I led. My parents. Eventually, she said she wanted to write a story about me. She gave me a hundred bucks, so I said sure.’
‘Did you ever see the article?’
Cat shook her head.
‘What else did you tell her?’
‘Oh, you know, why I was on the street, what my days were like. She asked where I slept, how I got money and food, what I thought about men and life and all sorts of crazy things. I felt like I was on a reality show or something.’
‘Did you give her your name?’
‘Yeah, but she promised she wouldn’t use it.’
‘Did Vincent Roslak come up?’
Cat shook her head. ‘No. I didn’t talk about him.’
‘Anyone else? Any names?’
‘I didn’t mention anybody. She wanted to know how I got hooked up with people. You know, did I have a pimp or something. I just said there was a guy in Canal Park who was connected.’
Stride didn’t think it would have taken Margot long to home in on Curt Dickes.
‘She said I was pretty and that guys must really like me,’ Cat went on. ‘She wanted to know if I ever did guys who paid better than others. Rich guys. High roller types, you know?’
‘Did you?’
‘Yeah, a couple times Curt got me dates for twice what I usually make. One time, like a year ago, I even got a fancy dress and a limo ride out of the thing. That was cool.’
‘Where did the limo take you?’ Stride asked.
‘Some resort on the north shore. There was a guy waiting in one of the rooms. He had bucks.’
‘Do you know who it was? Did you recognize him? Or did you get a name?’
‘No, we just did it. Ten minutes, like most guys, and I was out of there. Nice tip, too, like I was a waitress or something.’
‘What did he look like?’
Cat shrugged. ‘I don’t look at their faces.’
‘Do you remember the resort?’
‘No. I guess we drove for at least an hour. I don’t remember where it was, except it was right on the lake.’
‘You told Margot all of this?’
‘Yeah, I told her the story.’
Stride smiled at the girl. ‘Thank you, Cat.’
‘You think it’s important?’
‘I think if I were a reporter, I’d have turned over rocks to find out who that guy was,’ Stride said. ‘I’m betting he’s not the kind of man who would want Margot tracking him down.’
25
Steve Garske peeled off his gloves and flopped down on the sofa next to Stride. His legs jutted out like stilts. He rubbed his hands through his blond hair, leaving it with wings, and he blinked as if he were not entirely awake. He grabbed a mug of cold coffee from the end table and slugged it down.
‘It’s too early to be conscious on a Sunday morning,’ he said, glancing at Stride, whose own face was dead with exhaustion. ‘I know, I know, I get no sympathy from you.’
‘None,’ Stride said. ‘Did you have a gig with the band last night?’
‘No, just my usual insomnia. I’m still on island time. I had late rounds at St. Luke’s, too. Anyway, Cat’s fine. I cleaned the cuts with antiseptic, and I’m going to put her on a round of antibiotics just to be on the safe side.’ He added, ‘How’s the shoulder, Oh brave warrior?’
‘Hurts, but it’s getting better.’
‘We should X-ray it. Swing by tomorrow while you’re out and we’ll take a picture. In the meantime, ice it.’
‘Will do. How about her baby? Are there any risks from the fight?’
Steve shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. There’s no sign of abdominal injury. Cat says she wasn’t kicked or punched there. The baby should be fine. Even so, I want her in soon for a full check-up.’
‘Sure.’
Steve studied Stride’s living room. He ran his index finger along the wood of the end table and held it up to examine. He shook his head. ‘I’m going to get you a Swiffer. Have you dusted this place since Serena left?’
‘I don’t think of it as dust. I think of it as skin cells I might need again someday.’
‘Uh huh. It’s the brain cells I worry about.’
‘You should be worried,’ Stride replied with a smile. ‘Is Cat on the porch?’
‘Yeah, she’s working on that puzzle you’ve had sitting there all winter. You mind telling me why a man who lives in Duluth buys a jigsaw puzzle with a photo of the lift bridge? Couldn’t you find a picture of the pyramids, or Hawaii, or something like that?’
The Cold Nowhere js-6 Page 14