Клео Коул - Espresso Shot

“So, Cosi, who’s this tall drink of water?” Sue Ellen asked me, jerking her thumb at my ex-husband.

I scratched my head, disconcerted for a moment by her choice of words. “Uh, this is Matteo Allegro. He’s my... business partner.” I could have said more, but what was the point?

She gave Matt’s strong form a quick, open appraisal. “Single?”

“Engaged,” I said.

“Is that so?” Sue Ellen replied, still looking him over. “Then he’s technically still available?”

Matt exhaled with what sounded like extreme irritation. “I’m standing right here, ladies, and I’m quite capable of answering my own questions.”

“He does look capable, doesn’t he?” Sue Ellen remarked to me with an arched eyebrow. Then she turned to Matt. “In cases like this, sir, it’s best if we direct initial queries to the professional on the scene. And since we have one here—”

“Professional?” Matt interrupted.

Ignoring Matt, Lori Soles now addressed me, her pen poised over her open notebook. “Tell us, Clare, did you hear the gunshot from inside the Blend?”

“No. We weren’t in the Blend. We were headed there, all three of us. Matt and I were walking with the victim. We’d just left Matt’s bachelor party at the White Horse on Eleventh. We reached this corner, and we were waiting for the traffic light to change. I heard a pop, and the woman fell—”

“One pop?” Sue Ellen Bass asked. “Only one? You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Several halogen lamps were turned on just then, and I lifted my arm to shield my eyes from the glare of tiny suns. More officers had arrived on the scene, some in uniform, others in plain clothes, and they appeared to be using the light to scour the dark ground—for forensic evidence, I assumed.

I also noticed a middle-aged Asian man and a young white woman in dark-blue nylon jackets. Together they crouched next to the dead girl and began to examine her body and head.

“Then what happened, Clare?” Detective Soles prompted.

“It took a few seconds for Matt and me to realize what had happened. Then Matt called 911, and I looked around for any sign of the shooter.”

“And?” she asked almost hopefully. But I had to disappoint her.

“The street was empty, the sidewalks, too. Whoever shot her had already ducked for cover.”

Sue Ellen glanced at the girl’s body for a moment, then back to me. “Did you know this woman, Cosi? Was she a client of yours?”

“Client?” Matt sputtered. “What do you mean, client ?”

I elbowed Matt. He grunted, and I shot him a look that said, I’ll explain later.

Sue Ellen stepped closer to Matt, lowered her voice. “Sorry, honey-lumps, I know you can’t wait to give me your statement.” She winked. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure to take it personally in a minute.”

Matt groaned.

“Go ahead, Cosi.” Sue Ellen nodded. “You were saying?”

“The victim wasn’t my client,” I clarified. “We don’t even know her name. We met her tonight for the first time in our lives. She was at Matt’s party at the tavern. Actually, she was the entertainer at the party...”

I proceeded to give the detectives a rundown of the events leading up to the shooting, making sure they got a detailed description of the drunken scumbag who’d nearly assaulted the girl at the bar.

Scribbling furiously, Lori took everything down.

When I was done, Sue Ellen shook her head. “An exotic dancer, huh? It’s no surprise she came to a bad end.”

Lori Soles waved over a pair of uniformed officers. She gave them my description of the jerk at the bar and sent them to the White Horse to find the guy, if they could, and report back. Then she got on her radio and had the police dispatcher issue a BOLO, otherwise known as a be on the lookout for—an acronym I’d learned a short time ago when a Brooklyn cop (unfortunately) had issued one on me.

“So do you think he’s the one who did this?” I asked, gesturing to the girl’s cooling corpse.

Lori exchanged a glance with her partner. “Both of us started out in vice, Clare. We’ve seen this kind of thing firsthand.”

“What kind of thing exactly?”

“These women play a dangerous game,” Sue Ellen said, folding her arms. “They spend hours a day titillating men; it’s no surprise a percentage of these guys turn out to be pervs and rapists. The shooter could have been this guy at the bar—”

“That’s right, it could,” Lori jumped in. “You witnessed him harass the victim, and that’s good. We can make a case against this guy if we find the weapon on him or even powder burns, but...” Again, she exchanged a glance with her partner. “It could very well be some other guy.”

Sue Ellen nodded. “The girl may have had a boyfriend she jilted or lied to about what she did for a living. Or she could have a whole other stalker scenario going on.”

“You mean someone who saw her dance and became sexually obsessed with her?” I assumed. “Something like that?”

“Exactly.” Lori’s gaze speared me. “Did the girl mention anyone like that? An old boyfriend? A guy who might have been harassing her?”

I shook my head. “Sorry. She didn’t mention anyone like that. Just that the agency hired her to do the job tonight.”

“Did she tell you the agency’s name?”

“No, but she mentioned it specialized in look-alike strippers. She said they have male performers, too...” I told them everything the girl had said. “I’m sure our friend Koa Waipuna can give you the name and contact number for the agency. The agency was supposed to send a man to look after her—”

“That’s right. That’s how it’s usually done,” Lori said. “What happened to hers?”

I glanced at Matt. “She said he was sick with the flu, but I suppose it could also be a lead...”

“Good.” Lori continued to scribble notes.

Sue Ellen frowned at her partner’s furious writing. “I still like the scumbag from the White Horse for this,” she said quietly.

“So do I,” Lori said, “but you know what Lieutenant Quinn always says...”

Sue Ellen rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah...”

Curious, I asked: “What does Mike say?”

Lori shrugged. “Until the case is closed, any lead’s a good lead.”

“Oh, right. I’ve heard him say that.”

Sue Ellen eyeballed me. “You two still together?”

I folded my arms, not entirely comfortable with the predatory gleam in the woman’s gaze. “Yes,” I assured her. “Mike and I are seeing each other. A lot of each other.”

Sue Ellen nodded, getting the message, but I swear she muttered, “Too bad.”

“Excuse me?” I said.

The detective didn’t repeat her words. “Don’t worry, Cosi,” she said instead, punctuating her point with a teeth-rattling slap to my back. “We’ll nail this shooter, just like you helped us nail that predatory perp at Club Flux last fall.”

“She did what ?!” Matt blurted as I regained my balance.

Nobody answered him, me included, apart from shushing him again.

“Excuse me, Detective...” One of the uniformed cops walked up to Lori, handed her a red leather wallet. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, Spinelli.” She opened the wallet, thumbed through the contents.

“What have you got there?” I asked. “Is the girl’s name inside?”

Lori nodded. “Hazel Boggs. Age twenty-two. She may have lived in Brooklyn, but she came here from out of state.”

“She’d told us she’d only been here a few months,” I said. “Her occupation aside, she talked more like an innocent than a hardened New Yorker. And her accent had a pronounced twang. It sounded West Virginian to me.”