Free Shallow Graves by Jeremiah Healy Page A

in.“
    “Oscar Puriefoy.“
    “Yeah. Oz.“
    “And he comes into your apartment?“
    “Yeah.“
    I thought about the raised last flight of the fire escape. “He’s got a key?“
    The stop again. “No. No, he don’t.“
    “Then how did he get in?“
    “How do you think? He rang me from outside, and I opened the door for him.“
    “Go on.“
    “Awright, so Oz is in my apartment, right? So I says to him, go get us some wine, I forgot.“
    “You forgot the wine for the party.“
    “Yeah.“
    “How old are you, Ms. Fagan?“
    A stop. “Nineteen.“
    Underage to buy the wine even if she hadn’t “forgotten“ it. “Then what?“
    “Then Oz goes out and—“
    “Wait a second. Is the water still running?“
    “The water?“
    “From upstairs through the pipes in your kitchen.“
    “I think so. It was just like, water, awright? Besides, I had quite a lot to do.“
    Lindqvist’s influence again. “So Puriefoy goes out for wine.“
    “Right.“
    “And you give him your key?“
    “No. No, he don’t have no key, understand?“
    “Okay. How long is he gone?“
    “I dunno.“
    “Can you estimate?“
    “Ten, fifteen minutes maybe.“
    “Then what?“
    “He comes back.“
    “And you let him in and all.“
    “Right.“
    “What happened then?“
    “Oz is in the kitchen, opening the wine, and then Larry Shin comes by.“
    “Larry Shinkawa?“
    “Yeah.“
    “He rings the bell—“
    “—and I let him in.“
    “Shinkawa was invited to the party.“
    “Sure. Him and Mau was going out.“
    “That night?“
    “No, no. We was all going out after. They was, like, ‘dating,’ you know?“
    Fagan said the word like I might have heard it back when I was young. I wondered when it had turned sour. “Who else was coming to the party?“
    The stop. “That was it.“
    “Nobody else was invited?“
    “Well, this other guy was invited, but he couldn’t come.“
    “What other guy?“
    “This other model.“
    “His name?“
    “Quinn.“
    “First name?“
    “That is his first name. Quinn Cotter.“
    “Where does he live?“
    “I dunno.“
    “How’d you invite him?“
    “Saw him on a shoot. Why?“
    I no longer even remotely envied Chris the photographer. “This Cotter work for Lindqvist/Yulin, too?“
    “Yeah.“
    “Why didn’t Cotter come to the party?“
    “I dunno. Ask him.“
    “All right. How about a guy named Shawn?“
    “Shawn?“
    “Yes. I’m not sure which spelling.“
    “What do you mean?“
    Fagan seemed blank, and for just a second I wasn’t sure she knew what ‘spelling’ meant. “Did you ever hear Mau Tim talk about a Shawn?“
    “No.“
    “Somebody said he was her first boyfriend.“
    “News to me.“
    “All right. You, Puriefoy, and now Shinkawa are in your apartment. Then what?“
    “Larry Shin says, where’s Mau Tim, and I says she musta just got outta the shower, and he says, let’s go up and surprise her.“
    “Did you?“
    “Uh-unh. He did, not me.“
    “Puriefoy?“
    “No, him neither. Just Larry Shin.“
    “Then what?“
    “Larry Shin goes up, awright, and like two seconds later he’s down the stairs, saying that Mau Tim ain’t answering.“
    “You remember what he said?“
    “No, just like he was knocking and hollering for her, and she didn’t answer him.“
    “What did you do?“
    Chris the photographer called over. “Sinead?“
    “Right.“ She stood up. “That’s it.“
    “Wait. What did you and Puriefoy do?“
    “I don’t wanna talk about that, awright?“
    I didn’t want to see this woman again if I could help it. “Did you ever talk with Mau Tim about anything that was bothering her?“
    “No.“
    “How about going to New York ?“
    The stop. “Everybody talks about going to New York . It don’t mean nothing.“
    Chris said, “Sinead, how about it?“
    “Awright, awright.“ Her sunglasses slipped as she looked down at me. “That’s all I can tell you.“
    “Sinead, you seem to have been her best friend. Is there