by J. D. Robb
She knew what it was even before she untied it and examined the contents. She’d seen this sort of thing before. “Woo-woo,” she said to Lopez.
“What?”
“Magic stuff. Witchcraft or whatever. We got herbs, little crystals. I’d say she hedged her bets. Amulet and crucifix—and a spell deal in her pocket. Didn’t help her.”
Though she’d already noted time of death, she used her gauge to confirm. “Damn it, this thing must be broken. It’s given me TOD at just past thirteen hundred. She died right here in front of us at sixteen-forty-two.”
“Her skin’s cold,” Lopez murmured.
“We watched her die.” Eve pushed to her feet, turning as Peabody jogged up, Morris in her wake.
“This wasn’t on the party schedule,” Peabody said as she looked at the body.
“I bet it wasn’t on hers either.” Eve took the weapon and harness she’d asked Peabody to bring, and after strapping it on covered it with the jacket her partner held out.
She sat on the curb, changed her skids for her boots.
“You need to get a statement from Father Lopez so we can spring him. Have one of the uniforms drive him back when you’re done. You didn’t have to come,” she said to Morris. “I notified your people.”
“I called them off. I’m right here, after all.”
“Actually, I can use the head guy. My gauge is wonky. I recorded TOD as the damn TOD, since she died in front of me. But my gauge is putting it almost four hours earlier. Cause is pretty clear, but you might find something else. If you can take over on the body, I want to get on this blood trail, find the kill spot.”
“Go ahead.”
She followed the blood west.
The neighborhood was quiet. Maybe the heat kept people inside, she thought, or maybe most of them were at the sale at the Sky Mall or at the beach. But there was some pedestrian and street traffic.
Had no one seen a staggering, bleeding old woman and tried to help? Even for New York, that was too cold to believe. But the trail continued west for two blocks, right over crosswalks—as if the dying had felt obliged not to jaywalk. Then it headed north.
Buildings older here, she noted, squat towers of apartments and day flops, tiny markets and delis, the 24/7s, coffee shops, bakeries, and bodegas—and more people out and about on their Saturday business.
She continued another three blocks, then jogged north where the trail led into the mouth of a narrow alley between buildings.
And there, without question, was the kill spot.
Deep in the narrow trench, shadowed by overhangs, stinking of garbage from an overfilled recycler, blood splattered the pocked concrete walls, drenched the filthy ground.
She hitched open her field kit for a flashlight and played it over the walls, the ground, the neatly tied bag of trash beside the recycler.
“Did you tie that, Gizi? Bringing out the trash? Do you work here, live here? What were you doing in the alley otherwise? And how the hell did you walk better than six blocks after he sliced you to pieces? And why? Help would have been right around the corner.”
Crouching, she unknotted the trash bag. Fruit and vegetable peelings, she noted, packaging from a small loaf of bread, an empty box of powdered milk, a long, slim bottle that had held some sort of wine . . .
She retied the bag, tagged it for evidence, and shifting it, found the key.
Old, heavy, she noted as she studied it. But then there were old buildings here that might still run to straight lock and key. She turned to the alley door and its keypad. Entrance digitally secured, but inside?
She’d have to see.
She bagged the key, labeled it, then walked back to the alley door and tried to see it.
Wants to take her trash out, comes out with her little bag, walked to the recycler.
Was he waiting for her? Why? Did she walk into an illegals deal?
Puts her bag down, turns—spatter says she’d turned, about three-quarters away from the wall when she was attacked. So he came from behind her, most likely. From the mouth of the alley or through the door behind her.
Eve positioned herself, started the turn from the wall. The first slice ripped the back of her right shoulder with a shock of pain that knocked her against the recycler. She grabbed for her weapon, swung to defend, but somehow the knife plunged into her back, once, twice. Dimly she heard something clink onto the ground, and thought: My key.
Then she was sliding down toward that filthy ground. But hands grabbed her, wrenched her around, shoved her hard against the wall. Through eyes glazed with shock and pain she saw the face of a demon—curling horns piercing the forehead, skin red as hellfire slashed with black and dirty gold. It bared its fierce teeth as the knife tore through her chest.
She put up her hands to fight, and the blade sliced them. She opened her mouth to scream, to curse, but had no voice.
As she fell, the only thought in her mind was Beata.
She came to coated with sweat. The hand holding her weapon shook as she slapped the other over her body looking for blood.
But she stood, unharmed, just as she’d been before she’d felt the first blow.
“What the hell was that?” Dizzy, she bent over, head between her knees until she got her breath back.
“Dallas? Hey!” Peabody rushed forward. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Jeez, you’re white as a ghost.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “It’s the heat.” To prove it, maybe to assure herself of it, she swiped the back of her hand over her sweaty brow. “Who’s on scene?”
“Five uniforms, Morris. Crime scene got there before I left to follow you in.” Peabody scanned the alley floor, the walls, the stinking recycler. “That’s a hell of a lot of blood. How’d she manage to walk all that way after this?”
“Good question. It looks like she came down to take out her trash. The contents of the bag I tagged look like basic garbage from a single. And there was a key between it and the recycler. Could be hers, as it’s about the only clean thing in here. Contact crime scene. We need them down here. Stick with the bag until they get here. I’m going to check the buildings. If that’s her trash, she had to come from one of these two buildings.”
She didn’t draw a clean breath until she’d stepped out of the alley—and the instant she did, the shakes and dizziness vanished as if they’d never been.
She tried the ground-floor market first, moving past the displays of summer fruit and sleeves of flowers into the relative cool of the shop.
She walked to the counter where the woman sitting on a stool behind it greeted her with a wide smile. “Good afternoon. Can I help you find something?”
“NYPSD.” Eve badged her. “Do you know a woman, in her nineties, gray hair—long, probably worn in a bun, dark eyes, olive complexion, five feet four, about a hundred and twenty pounds? Weathered face. Shows its miles. Heavy East European accent. Might wear a cross and an amulet with a blue stone.”
“That sure sounds like Madam Szabo.” The woman’s smile faded. “Is she okay? She was just in this morning.”
“Do you know where she lives?”
“In one of the weekly units above. On three, I think.”
“Do you know her full name?”
“Ah, it’s Gizi, Gizi Szabo. She’s from Hungary. Is she in trouble?”
“She was attacked and killed this afternoon.”
“Oh my God. Oh no. Wait.” She pushed up, opened a door to what looked to be a tiny office/storeroom. “Zach. Zach, come out here. Somebody killed Madam Szabo.”
“What are you talking about?” The man who stepped out wore an expression of annoyance along with a short-sleeved, collared shirt and knee shorts. “She’s fine. We just saw her this morning.”
“This is the police.”
“Lieutenant Dallas, Homicide.”
Annoyance dropped away into quick concern. “What the hell happened? Did somebody break into her place?”
“I�
�d like to check her unit, if you know the number. And I’ll need your names.”
“Karrie and Zach Morgenstern,” the woman told her. “This is our place. Oh, Zach.” Karrie curled a hand around his arm. “She stopped in here almost every day since she came.”
“How long is that?”
“About a month maybe. She came to find her great-granddaughter. This is terrible; I can hardly take it in. I really liked her. She had such interesting stories—and she told my fortune once. She’s—what is it, Zach?”
“Romany. A Gypsy. The real deal, too. She’s in four D, Lieutenant. I carried some stuff up for her a couple times. Man, this is crap, you know that? Just crap. She was a sweetheart. Do you want me to take you up?”
“No, I’ll find it. The alley between the buildings. This building uses that recycler?”
“Yeah. Damn thing’s been broken for nearly a week, and we can’t get them to come and . . . ” Zach trailed off. “Is that where she was killed? In the alley? You mean we were right in here when . . . ”
“Nothing you could’ve done. Is there anyone you know who gave her any trouble? Anyone who’d want to cause her harm?”
“I really don’t.” Zach looked at Karrie, got a shake of the head. “She was nice. Colorful. Did some fortune-telling out of her place.”
“You said she was here to look for her great-granddaughter.”
“Yes.” Karrie sniffled, blinked at tears. “God, it’s really hitting me. She came over—the granddaughter—about a year ago. She didn’t live far from here, and she came in a couple times. That’s why Madam rented the place upstairs. Anyway, the granddaughter came to work, wanted to dance—on Broadway, like they all do, you know? Then about three months ago her family stopped hearing from her, couldn’t reach her. And the place she worked waitressing said how she just stopped showing up. They contacted the police, but the cops didn’t do much, I guess . . . Sorry.”
“No need. Do you know the granddaughter’s name?”
“Sure. Madam Szabo talked to everybody about her, put out flyers.” Karrie continued as she reached under the counter, “She worked at Goulash—Hungarian restaurant a block west. We hand out flyers for her. You can have this. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? I think that’s what her name means.”
“Beata,” Eve murmured, and felt as if her heart cracked in her chest. Such grief, such sorrow it almost took her to her knees as she studied the photo on the flyer.
The face that had been the light in the black.
“Ma’am? Um, Lieutenant? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for your help. I may need to speak to you again.”
“If we’re not here, we live up on six. Six A, front of the building,” Karrie told her. “Anything we can do.”
“If you think of anything, you can contact me at Cop Central.” Eve dug into her field kit for a card. “Anything strikes you.”
Eve walked out just as Peabody approached. “Sweepers have the alley,” she said.
“Vic was Gizi Szabo, and had a weekly unit on four. Claimed to be a Gypsy from Hungary.”
“Wow. A real one?”
“Nobody claims to be a fake one,” Eve returned, and felt herself steady a little. “Been here about three months, looking for a great-granddaughter who went missing.” Eve used her master to access the apartment building’s entrance. “Did some fortune-telling out of her place.”
One glance at the ancient elevator had Eve choosing the stairs. She handed Peabody the flyer. “Run them both,” she said. “Had Morris confirmed TOD before you left?”
“His TOD jibed with your gauge. Around one this afternoon.”
“That’s just bogus.” And it infuriated her more than it should have. “I know when somebody dies when I’ve got my hands on their fricking heart, and I’m talking to them.”
“Hungarian Gypsy fortune-teller. Maybe it’s some sort of—”
“Don’t even start with that voodoo, woo-woo, Free-Ager shit. She was alive, bleeding, and talking until about an hour ago.”
At the door of 4 D, Eve took the key she’d found out of the evidence bag, slid it into the lock. And turned the knob.
Four
It reminded her of her first apartment—the size, the age. That’s what she told herself when struck, just for an instant, with a sharp sense of recognition.
The single room had no doubt been rented furnished, with a couple of cheap chairs and a daybed with a cracker-thin mattress, a chest—newly and brightly painted—that served as dresser and table.
Boldly patterned material had been fashioned into curtains for the single window, and with these and scarves and shawls draped over the faded chairs, spread over the narrow bed, the room took on a hopeful cheer.
One corner held a sink, AutoChef, friggie, all small-scale, along with a single cupboard. Another table stood there, painted a deep, glossy red under its fringed scarf. For seating, there were two backless stools.
Eve saw the old woman there, telling fortunes to those who sought to know their future.
“She made it nice,” Peabody commented. “She didn’t have a lot to work with, but she made it nice.”
Eve opened the single, skinny closet, studied Szabo’s neatly hung clothing, a single pair of sturdy walking shoes. Kneeling, she pulled two storage boxes out of the closet.
“Beata’s things. Clothes, shoes, ballet gear, I’d say. A few pieces of jewelry, face and hair stuff. The landlord must have boxed it up when she didn’t come back, didn’t pay the rent.”
It hurt, hurt to look through, to touch, to feel Beata as she dug through pretty blouses, skimmed over worn slippers.
She knew better, she reminded herself, knew better than to become personally involved. Beata Varga wasn’t her victim, not directly.
The promise is in you.
The voice spoke insistently inside her head, inside her heart.
“Tag these,” Eve ordered, shoving to her feet. She crossed over to the chest, studied the photo of Beata propped there and fronted by three scribed candles. Beside the photo a handful of colored crystals glittered in a small dish along with an ornate silver bell and a silver-backed hand mirror.
“What do we have on the granddaughter?” Eve asked.
“Beata Varga, age twenty-two. She’s here on a work visa, and employed—until she went missing three months ago—at Goulash. No criminal. The family filed a report. A Detective Lloyd is listed as investigating officer. Missing Persons Division out of the One-three-six.”
“Reach out there,” Eve told her. “Have him meet us at the restaurant. Thirty minutes.”
She opened the first drawer of the chest, found neatly folded underwear and nightclothes, and a box of carved wood. She lifted the lid, studied the pack of tarot cards, the peacock feather, the small crystal ball and stand.
Tools of her trade, Eve thought, started to set the box aside. Then, following impulse, pressed her thumbs over the carved flowers on the sides. Left, left, right. And a narrow drawer slid out of the base.
“Wow.” Peabody leaned over her shoulder. “A secret drawer. Frosty. How did you open it?”
“Just . . . luck,” Eve said, even as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
Inside lay a lock of dark hair tied with gold cord, a wand-shaped crystal on a chain, and a heart of white stone.
“They’re hers.” Eve’s throat went dry and achy. “Beata’s. Her hair, something she wore, something she touched.”
“You’re probably right. Szabo probably used them, along with the cards and crystals, maybe the bell and the mirror in locator spells. I’m not saying you can find people with spells,” Peabody added when Eve just stared at her. “But that she thought she could. Anyway, Detective Lloyd’s going to meet us.”
“Then let’s see what else we can find here first.”
The old woman lived simply, neatly, and cautiously. In the cloth bag in the bottom of the chest Eve found a small amount of cash, another bag of crystals and herbs, a map of the city, and a
subway card, along with ID and passport and a number of the flyers with Beata’s image and information.
But taped under the friggie they found an envelope of cash with a peacock feather fixed diagonally across the seal.
“That’s about ten thousand,” Peabody estimated. “She didn’t have to read palms to pay the rent.”
“It’s what she did. What kept her centered. Bag it, and let’s seal this place up. We should get to the restaurant.”
“She made it nice,” Peabody repeated with another glance around. “I guess that’s what travelers do. Make a home wherever they land, then pack it up and make the next one.”
Beata hadn’t packed it up, Eve thought, and wherever she was, it wasn’t home.
Goulash did a bustling business on Saturday evening. Spices perfumed air that rang with voices and the clatter of silverware, the clink of glasses. The waitstaff wore red sashes at the waist of black uniforms while moving briskly from kitchen to table.
A rosy-cheeked woman of about forty offered Eve a welcoming smile. “Welcome to Goulash. Do you have a reservation?”
Eve palmed her badge. “We’re not here for dinner.”
“Beata! You’ve found her.”
“No.”
“Oh.” The smile faded away. “I thought . . . I’m sorry, what can I do for you?”
“We’re meeting Detective Lloyd on a police matter. We’ll need somewhere to talk. And I’ll need to speak with you and your staff.”
“Of course.” She looked around. “We’re not going to have a table free for at least a half hour, but you can use the kitchen.”
“That’s fine. Your name?”
“Mirium Frido. This is my place, my husband’s and mine. He’s the chef. Is this about Beata? Beata Varga?”
“Indirectly.”
“Give me one minute to put someone else on the door.” Mirium hurried over to one of the waitresses. The girl glanced at Eve and Peabody, nodded.
Mirium signaled Eve forward, then led them through the dining room, past the bar, and through one of a pair of swinging doors into the chaos of the kitchen.