Should Have Looked Away (4 page)

SIX

Will was speechless
. Detective Roberts was the last person he had expected to see at his door.

Roberts gave Will a polite but cursory nod. ‘Good morning, Mr Carter. I see you weren’t expecting me.’

‘Er, no. What do you want? I thought we’d covered everything.’

‘Almost. I’m here for two reasons. I was in the area earlier, so I thought I’d get this done now. Is your wife here? I just need to ask her a few questions about yesterday afternoon.’

‘But I told you, she and my daughter left. My wife didn’t even see the body, and you can’t expect a five-year old -’

‘Will?’ he heard Chrissy call out. ‘Who is it?’

Will swivelled round to the kitchen, then back to Roberts. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘you’d better come in.’

‘Thank you,’ said Roberts, as she stepped inside. ‘My partner, Detective Alvarez, should be calling soon. He’s just finishing off at another scene.’

Chrissy came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a small towel. ‘Who is it?’ she asked.

‘This is Detective Roberts. She is the officer I spoke to yesterday,’ Will explained.

Roberts held her hand out to Chrissy. ‘Julianne Roberts.  Nice to meet you.’

‘She wants to ask you a few questions about yesterday.’

‘Well, that shouldn’t take too long.’ Chrissy led the way back into the kitchen. ‘Would you like some coffee?’

‘Not for me, thank you,’ replied Roberts.

Louise was still sitting at the kitchen table, munching some toast. Chrissy ruffled her hair. ‘Why don’t you finish your toast up in your bedroom, honey?’

‘Okay.’ Louise jumped off her stool, and scampered upstairs. Will ruffled her hair too as she ran past.

‘So how can I help you?’ Chrissy asked Roberts.

‘Look,’ Will said, looking at his watch. ‘Can I leave you two here? I really need to get off to work.’

Roberts looked at Will. ‘That was the second matter I came for. We need to have that formal statement from you, so once we’re done here, I can give you a ride to the station house. We’re on West 54
th
, and someone can drop you off at work afterwards.’

‘Will works on 45
th
,’ Chrissy said, ‘so that would be just right. Saves you having to use the subway.’

Will nodded submissively. ‘Fine. I’ll just call in and tell them I’ll be late.’

‘Good.’ Roberts turned back to Chrissy. ‘Now, Mrs Carter: just tell me in your own words what happened at the mall yesterday.’

Chrissy shrugged her shoulders. ‘We’d almost done shopping. I needed to get some groceries from Whole Foods. Louise said she needed the bathroom, so Will took her up there while I went down to the store. When I was done, I went back up to the first or second level, whichever it is, and saw Will and Louise standing outside the bathroom. Will was on the phone to you guys.’

‘You didn’t go in?’

‘In to the men’s room? Why would I do that?’

‘I assume your husband told you what happened in the men’s room?’

‘Of course he did. My God, what a thing for a five-year old to go through?’

‘Mr Carter said he heard what sounded like two people attacking the victim. Then they hurried out. As you were going upstairs, did you notice two men - probably men - hurrying down to street level?’

Chrissy frowned. ‘No. No, I don’t believe I did.’

Will asked, ‘Surely the mall has security cameras. Wouldn’t these guys be on some kind of CCTV?’

‘Almost certainly, but if someone knows they’re on CCTV, they can do stuff like cover their faces, put up hoods, just to make identification difficult. We know what time window we have; we’re checking the CCTV now.’

Roberts turned to Chrissy, as Will stepped out of the kitchen to call his office. ‘And so,’ she said, ‘once you got to the scene, what happened?’

‘As I got to the top of the escalator, Louise ran up to me to tell me a man had been hurt in the men’s room; Will told me what had happened, and told me to take Louise home.’

‘On the way home, did your daughter say anything to you about the incident?’

‘Not really. She seemed rather quiet, so I just decided to leave it. She didn’t actually
see
anything, after all. Why? You’re not telling me you’re going to need to talk to
her
as well?’

Roberts shook her head. ‘I don’t expect we will. From your husband’s evidence, she wouldn’t have been able to add anything. We took a DNA sample from your husband yesterday, and there’s no match with the victim. By the way - did your husband tell you the man died at the scene?’

‘Yes, he did. My God, how awful. Who was he?’

‘I can’t quite say at this time. He was carrying ID, but until we’ve traced any family…’

‘I understand. Did you call the office?’ Chrissy asked Will, who had just come back in.

‘Yes. I asked for Dan, but it seems he’s out this morning as well.’

Roberts said, ‘Thank you for your time, Mrs Carter. If there’s anything else you remember in the days to come, here’s my direct number.’ She passed Chrissy a business card, then turned to Will. ‘So if you’re ready Mr Carter, we’ll head off.’

There was a knock at the front door.

‘I expect that’s Alvarez,’ Roberts said. ‘I didn’t take as long here as I thought.’

Will and Roberts said their goodbyes to Chrissy and Louise who was sitting at the top of the stairs, and left. Detective Alvarez was waiting outside.

‘We’re done here,’ Roberts said to her partner. ‘Let’s just take Mr Carter here uptown so he can give his statement and get back to work.’

The two officers led Will fifty yards or so to their car, and within twenty minutes they were pulling up at police headquarters. Will looked around as Alvarez parked. It was a four storey, beige coloured building, with a set of dark green double doors at each end. The front of the building, between the first and second floors, was emblazoned with metal letters
midtown north precinct
. Just above the
o
of
north
a flagpole protruded, on which hung the American flag. The building was sandwiched between an apartment block and its large parking garage and a five storey structure which at the time was covered with blue hoardings and canvas.

54
th
Street was comparatively narrow, and even with the traffic flowing one way, towards Broadway, clearances were tight. Other police vehicles were parked here, at a forty-five degree angle with the rear wheels parked on the kerb and sidewalk. Alvarez did the same. Once parked, Roberts and Alvarez led Will into the building and up to the Detective Suite on the second floor.

SEVEN

On arrival at
police headquarters, everything seemed to go smoothly and efficiently. Will was ushered into an interview room, offered coffee, and dictated his statement as Detective Alvarez typed it. Alvarez passed the laptop over to Will so he could check for accuracy; once Will had confirmed it was, Alvarez connected the laptop to the printer by the wall, and printed the statement. Will read it one more time, and signed it.

‘Everything okay, sir?’ Alvarez asked. ‘Nothing you want to add?’

Will shook his head.

‘Or change?’

Will shook his head again. ‘No.’

Alvarez stood up. ‘I’ll just check with Detective Roberts that we’re done here, then you’re free to go.’

Free to go? Have I been under arrest or something?
Will thought. He said, ‘Is it likely to be long? I really need to get back to work.’

‘I’ll be back presently.’ Will’s statement in hand, Alvarez left the room.

Will slumped back into his chair as Alvarez left. He stared around the room. Bare walls; minimal furniture - a table, three chairs, a smaller table for the printer - and a large mirror. He looked over at the mirror:
fifty says it’s one of those two way things like you see on TV
. He considered walking up to the mirror and trying to see though it or pulling a face, but resisted the temptation. Instead he sat in silence, arms folded. He could hear voices outside. He sat up slightly as Alvarez came back in.

‘Well?’ he asked.

‘We’re done here, Mr Carter. Detective Roberts says you’re free to go, and thank you for your help and patience.’

Will stood up. She said somebody would be able to give me a ride to my office. It’s on 45
th
.’

‘Somebody will, but you might need to wait a while. She and I have to go visit some witnesses right now, and the fellas in uniform are stretched at the moment. You’re welcome to wait here: would you like another coffee? Maybe a doughnut?’

Don’t bother,’ said Will. ‘I’ll get a cab, or the subway.’

‘As you wish, Mr Carter. I’ll just need to log you out of the building.’

*****

In the end, Will walked the nine blocks to his office. There were no cabs around, and by the time he would have found a subway station, gotten down to the platform, waited for a train, climbed back to the street and then walked some more, he could have made the short distance down Ninth Avenue several times. So walk he did, taking twelve minutes door to door.

C & G Estates occupied part of the third floor of a modern, brownstone building. Next door stood a two-storey shop. Fronted in bright yellow bricks, it comprised apartments on the second floor and a small esoteric supermarket below. A bright yellow sign reading
amish market
stood out on the glass canopy. The apartment building the other side was undergoing refurbishment, the front being hidden by scaffolding. On the other side of the street was another residential building, the first two floors being taken up by a parking garage. C & G Estates rented two spaces here, and it was here where Will would have parked had he gone in by car. Will hated driving in heavy and congested traffic, which was unfortunate for somebody living and working in Manhattan, as Dan Gleave would tell him, but he had always preferred to use the subway. It was only if he was due to travel out of the Borough that he would use the car.

Feeling vindicated by his decision to walk, Will strode past the stationary traffic on 45
th
.  All three lanes were blocked, and horns were already being sounded. Somebody must have been moving either in or out of one of the apartments, as a large removals truck was parked. No less than four FedEx trucks were also parked here, three on Will’s side, and one on the other. A brown UPS vehicle had joined its compatriots, as had a white Post Office truck.

Will looked up the street to see what was causing the gridlock. Only the centre lane was in use, and it looked as if a van was trying to turn into one of the parking garages further up the road, but part of the entrance was being blocked by a parked vehicle. Up ahead, he could hear raised voices under the constant horns. The benefits of not bringing in the car. He wondered what Alvarez or Roberts would have done had they given him the ride they had promised. Dropped him at the end of the street, or switched on the siren?

Still in brisk walking mode, Will eschewed the elevators and bounded up the stairs to the office. May met him at the door. ‘I thought you were never going to get here. I thought for one terrible moment they’d arrested you.’

May following behind, Will strode into his office. He took off his coat and hung it over his chair back. ‘The thought had crossed my mind I was waiting for so long. I walked here.’

‘Walked?’ asked May, a horrified look on her face. ‘I thought you said they were going to give you a ride here.’

‘It was only nine blocks,’ Will explained. ‘From West 54
th
. And yes, they did say they’d drive me here, but it seemed something came up and they had nobody to spare.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yeah. Between you and me, I think once they’d got what they wanted from me, they lost interest. Anyway, the traffic’s gridlocked down there, so it was probably quicker to walk.’ He looked up. ‘Anything going on? Any calls? Where’s Dan, by the way? You said he wasn’t coming in this morning.’

May sniffed, as she was wont to do when she disapproved of something. ‘He said he’ll be in around lunchtime. Said he had some personal business to take care of.’

Will laughed. ‘Personal business? What’s her name?’

May sniffed again. ‘I – er…’

Will waved his hand dismissively. ‘Just joking, May. What about Eddie? Where’s he?’

‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Eddie’s had to go over to Queens. You were supposed to collect some keys from Ms Pierre.’

Will slapped his head. ‘Shit, I clean forgot all about that. The police! She called, then?’

‘No. I saw it in your diary, and got Eddie to go over there.’

Will paused. ‘May, you’re a treasure. What would I do without you?’

‘Let’s not go over that ground again.’ She handed Will a list of three phone numbers. ‘These are your call-backs. I’ll give Dan his when he gets in, although…’

‘Mm?’

‘This one’s rung three times already. Says it’s urgent.’ She waved a small slip of paper in the air.

‘I’d better call them then.’ Will held out his hand and looked at the number. ‘I recognise this number. It’s old Mr Clay. Yes, I’d better call him, as Dan’s not in yet. Get me his file, would you? I’ll call him now.’

‘Sure.’ Just as May turned to leave, the telephone outside rang. It was an external call.

Will stood up. ‘Don’t worry, you get that. I’ll get the Clay file.’

As May took the call, Will went into Dan’s office. It was virtually a mirror image of Will’s, exactly the same dimensions. When C & G took up the lease of the premises, that was one of Dan’s stipulations: that their offices must be exactly the same size. Will suspected that if his had been larger than Will’s that would have presented no problem, but then Dan always did have ego issues.

Will tugged at one of Dan’s filing cabinets: it was locked. Will cursed and looked around. Key? He went over to Dan’s desk and pulled out a small tray which fitted above the top drawer. It contained little inserts for paperclips, pens, treasury tags and cabinet keys. Hoping that this was the right key, Will took it out and tried it. Success. He pulled out the Clay file, under C, and locked the drawer, and returned the key to the pull-out shelf.
What’s the point in locking a cabinet with a key you keep in an unlocked desk,
he thought, shrugging. As he pushed the tray shut, he tested the top drawer. It was unlocked. So were the other drawers. He looked up to check May was occupied on the phone, then looked through Dan’s drawers, one by one, and being sure not to disturb any contents.

There was nothing of any significance in the drawers: pretty much as the same as his, files, stationery, chargers. Will paused as he saw a red file in Dan’s bottom left drawer. It stood out as it was not the same type of file stationery that they used. Will checked for May again, and opened the file. He heard May finish her call, so took a quick glance at the top sheet of paper and closed the file and drawer. He picked up the Clay file and left. ‘Found it,’ he said to May as he walked back to his own office. He sat down and called Mr Clay. After two rings, it went to voicemail. Will left a brief message for them to call back and that Dan would be back in this afternoon.

He leaned back in his chair and skimmed though the Clay file. He whistled: Clay was indeed one of the high net worth clients Dan was always talking about. He shut the file and looked out of his office. He could see Dan’s open door, and felt a little guilty and ashamed about snooping through his partner’s desk. Not that he found anything. In any case, there was something more pressing on Will’s mind.

If only Louise had not needed the bathroom yesterday afternoon, then all this stuff with the police would not be going on.

And that was something else that puzzled him. They had told him he was not a suspect, there was no DNA match, he had given his statement, both verbally and written. Both times, the statements he had given were accurate.

So why did Detectives Roberts and Alvarez keep asking him if he wanted to add something?