Chapter Fourteen

When Peabody escorted Angie into Interview, Eve noted not only signs of fatigue but recent weeping. Careful makeup did a good job disguising both, but still they showed.

"Thanks for coming in," Eve began. "I know this is a difficult time. Please, have a seat."

Like Becca, Angie looked warily around the room. She sat, and when she spoke, even her voice sounded exhausted. "Am I a suspect?"

"No, you're not."

"Can I get you something to drink?" Peabody offered.

"Water. Just some water, thanks. Shauna's with Erin's family, finalizing some arrangements for tomorrow. I realized I'd felt I had to hold up for her, and it was the first time I'd been really alone since… since. So I fell to pieces. She was my closest friend. She was my sister. She was the one person who knew me all the way through and loved me anyway. And she's gone. She's gone."

Angie closed her eyes on tears that swirled in them. "So I was alone, and I fell to pieces."

Peabody laid a hand on her shoulder. "You needed to. I'll get your water. Lieutenant?"

"The same, thanks. Angie," she continued when Peabody stepped out, "we're doing everything we can to find the person responsible."

"I have to believe you are. I don't think I could stand it if I didn't."

"You can help us."

"I don't know how, but I'll try. Becca tagged me after you talked to her. She said you had a lot of questions, and she tried to answer. But she didn't think she helped."

"Every answer to every question helps."

Angie's eyes cleared as she looked at Eve. "I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't thought of it that way. Ask me anything."

"We're going to record this," Eve told her as Peabody came in with tubes of water. "Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, and Peabody, Detective Delia, in Interview with Angie Decker regarding the investigation into the murder of Erin Albright."

Angie shuddered once. "God, hearing it like that. Just hearing it. ‘The murder of Erin Albright.'"

She let out a long breath. "Ask me anything," she repeated.

"Again, Angie, thanks for coming in. You helped plan the party at the Down and Dirty."

"Yes. Becca and I—Becca DiNuzio and I are—were going to stand up for Erin and Shauna at the wedding. We decided, when they asked us, we'd plan out the events together. The bridal shop trip, the bridal shower, the pre-wedding bash. Help with the invitations and so on."

"You and Erin were very close friends, but she didn't tell you about the trip to Maui?"

"No." After cracking the tube, Angie drank. "Erin loved surprises. She loved the big reveal. I knew how much she'd wished she could take Shauna to Hawaii, since it was Shauna's dream honeymoon. But Shauna's very practical and Erin tries to be. Mostly succeeds, so they agreed they'd put it off, save until they could do it right. I had no idea she'd sold enough paintings to pull it off, or that she'd booked the trip."

Visibly, Angie struggled back more tears.

"She would have wanted to surprise me, too. Well, all of us. Shauna at the center, and the rest of us surrounding her. That's so Erin. The costume? God, that was Erin, too. Do it large or forget about it, make it fun or what's the point?"

She drank again.

"Do you know just one more sorrow in all this? That trip? Shauna's had that dream since she was a little girl. Now she'll never be able to go. It would break her heart all over again to go. So that dream's dead, too. Maybe that's a small, silly thing, but—"

"No, it's not," Peabody said. "It's not small or silly."

"She's holding up right now. She's so angry, and that's helping her hold up. I need to find my anger again, but right now? I'm too fucking tired to be angry."

"Shauna's staying with you."

"She doesn't want to go back to their apartment. I can't blame her, as I'm going to have a hard time going there myself. But I want to help Erin's family get her things. Becca's gotten some of Shauna's. Shauna's going to sublet it, look for another place. She can stay with me until."

"That's generous. You've only known her about a year."

"Erin loved her," Angie said simply. "And she loved Erin. She needs a safe place, and I have the room. Erin would expect it of me."

"Becca doesn't have the room?"

"Becca and Greg? No, not really. They'd squeeze her in, absolutely they'd do that. But I have the room—a dedicated guest room, and two baths. Shauna and I have gotten to be good friends over the last year or so, with the foundation we both loved Erin."

"Why do you think Erin asked Donna to bring the case to the D before she could speak, the woman glanced back.

"Allen, I need to step into the hall with the p-o-l-i-c-e." She eased the door shut but for a crack. "This is about Erin. We're sick about it. I don't want our daughters to hear yet. They're too young."

"Daddy, wipe my butt!"

"Potty training," Ms. Burger said. "She's very proud. So are we."

"Okay."

"It's just awful. She was a sweetheart. Both of them. Erin gave Trixie art lessons." Burger smiled. "Our older girl. She's six. It was so sweet of Erin to take the time."

"Since you live across the hall, you might have noticed visitors."

"Some, sure. They had a lot of friends. No loud parties, which we appreciate. I mean we could hear some—the soundproofing doesn't exist here—but they weren't obnoxious."

"This is just a routine inquiry. Can I show you some photos? Just to get a sense who visited, how often?"

"Sure. Oh yes." Burger studied Angie's ID shot. "What's her name? Andi—no, Angie. Angie and the other—pretty hair. Becca! They were here a lot, especially in the last few months. Helping with the wedding."

She stopped, teared up a little. "Oh, it's so awful. I haven't seen Shauna since it happened, but I just want to hug her. Becca's been by—she told me what happened—to get some of her things. And the—God—their wedding dresses."

"Yes. How about this one?"

Burger studied Lopez. "I think so, yes. Not like the other two. But I remember riding up on the elevator with her." She shrugged. "A little snooty, which Erin and Shauna aren't."

Eve went through the photos, got positives, negatives, then brought up Barney's.

"Sure, sure. Sometimes with the one with the pretty hair—Becca. I think they're together. Sometimes by himself. Sharp dresser, that one. I remember. I rode up with him and Shauna just last week, I think."

"The two of them?"

"Yes. I guess we all got off work at about the same time. Her work's not far from here. I guess it was about twenty minutes later when they went out again. I rode down with them—she'd changed her clothes. It was my turn to do the laundry, so I ended up riding down with them after I changed mine. We laughed about it.

"I was heading down to the laundry, and they were heading out to meet their cohabs for dinner. I said I'd rather go to dinner with them, something like that. Seems to me he'd walk home with her now and then. I think Erin said they'd been friends since high school. That's sweet."

"Yeah, well, thanks. I'm sorry to interrupt your evening."

"It's no problem at all. I really liked her. Both of them. Just the kind of neighbors you want. I hope you find who did this."

Eve waited until she'd gone in, then turned to look across the hall. She'd heard movement in there, and debated going in or just waiting.

She didn't have to decide, as the door opened.

Greg Barney stepped out carrying a large, lidded box.

He jolted, blinked, then let out a breath. "Jesus, you startled me. Did you need to go inside again? We thought you were done, but I can let you in."

"That's all right, just a routine check on my way home. What's in the box?"

"Oh, stuff from the friggie, the AC. Becca thought of it—she thinks of things. Since Shauna doesn't want to come back, Becca said we should clear those out. Not that much in there, really."

He glanced back. "It doesn't even feel like their place anymore. It already feels empty, even though the furniture's there, and dishes and all that. Becca's been coming by to get things for Shauna. And Angie's going to help Erin's family get her things."

He looked back at Eve. "The memorial's tomorrow."

"Yes, I know. Shauna's lucky to have friends who'd do this sort of thing for her."

"It's nothing. A quick stop after work. She doesn't even want this." He shifted the box. "Becca said just take it to our place. We can do the food bank thing or something. It's not that much."

He shifted his feet, shifted the box.

"But, um, there's some perishables from the friggie, so—"

"I'll ride down with you."

And wished she'd had a warrant or probable cause to look in the damn box.

"How's Shauna doing?" she asked as they waited for the elevator.

"She's fragile right now, maybe still in shock. Hardly eating, not really sleeping. But she's stronger than people think."

"People?"

"She's little, you know. Petite." He got in the elevator car, pressed for the lobby. "So people think she's delicate. She's going through a lot right now, but she'll be okay."

"You're there to help her."

"Absolutely. Are you making any progress? I know it hasn't been very long."

"I think so, yes. We're following leads."

"That's good news." He shifted the box again. "It had to be somebody in the club, some lowlife, right? I wish they hadn't gone to a place like that. A group of women going to a place like that. I don't mean to be critical, but it just seems like a bad choice. And it was, as it turns out. It was."

He waited for Eve to step out in the lobby, then tried to juggle the box to get the door.

"I've got it."

"Thanks. Not heavy, but awkward. I guess you deal with this all the time. I mean, it's a job. For us, it's trauma, tragedy. I hope you find that lowlife so Shauna can start putting this behind her. Maybe somebody who works there. That seems the most logical, doesn't it? Somebody who works in a place like that."

"We're looking at all possibilities. Do you need a ride? I'm parked right down there."

"Oh, no, thanks. Not going far, and it's really not heavy. Have a good evening."

She watched him walk away.

The helpful friend, she thought. The very nervous helpful friend trying to dig out information on the investigation.

And he had something in that damn box that wasn't out of the AC or friggie.

Something to think about.

And since the shoe place was only a handful of blocks, she'd think about it and walk down there.