David Bell - The Hiding Place

“You should have got a cat.”

Stynes reached into his back pocket and brought out an old handkerchief he sometimes remembered to carry. He balled it up, taking great care to cover the skin of his own hand, and wiped Reeves’s nose back and forth, clearing most of the snot and tears. He tossed the handkerchief onto the ground.

“Thank you.”

“So, Nick, tell me about the guy who rented this apartment from you. You know, the apartment in which you sexually assaulted this girl today.”

Reeves took a long moment to answer. Stynes lifted his foot and gave Reeves a gentle kick in the leg.

“I’m waiting,” he said.

“Are you willing to work out a deal?” Reeves asked. “I tell you what you want to know, so you go easy on me?”

“You watch too much Law and Order , Nick. How about you tell me what I want to know, and then I won’t put you in a holding cell with a four-hundred-pound gay black man who likes pasty white guys? How’s that for a deal?”

Reeves nodded. He understood.

“He rented the place three months ago. A three-month lease.”

“Is that standard?”

“We offer it when we have a lot of vacancies. The rent is more per month, but you get the shorter lease.”

“Go on.”

“He showed up and paid the deposit-that was just ninety-nine dollars-and the first month’s rent. Then he didn’t pay again, so he was going to get evicted, except the lease was up anyway. And when I told him he was being evicted, he just took some of his stuff and left.”

“He pay with a check?”

“Cash.”

“His name?”

“Steven Kollman.”

“You ever talk to him or find anything else out about him?”

“Is he in trouble?” Reeves asked.

“Not as much as you. Yet.”

Reeves stared straight ahead. He seemed to be thinking something over. “I got kind of a weird vibe off the guy.”

Stynes looked at the two uniformed cops who were listening in. “ He got a weird vibe off the guy.”

“Seriously,” Reeves said. “He said he used to live here, and he was back in town to reconnect with his roots. That’s what he said. We never talked after that until I evicted him.”

“How did he take the news of the eviction?” Stynes asked.

“Like it was nothing. Like I’d told him it might rain tomorrow. I don’t think he cared. He just left.”

“Did this Kollman guy have any visitors? Did you ever see him with anybody?”

“Besides the girl from today?”

“Yes, besides the girl you assaulted. Yes. Any other visitors or friends?”

“There was one guy.”

“Who was he?”

“Just some guy. He came by not long after Kollman moved in. I saw them talking outside the building one night. It looked like the other guy was kind of pissed at Kollman, but then they were okay, you know? The situation calmed down. And then just a few days ago, the guy came back one night. I saw him going into the building. I was cleaning up some trash out back, but it sounded like they were arguing a little. I mean, the voices were raised loud enough a couple of times that I could hear it outside.”

“What happened?”

“I was going to go up and knock on the door and ask them to keep it down. We try to run a tight ship here.”

“I can tell.”

“Thanks. But when I started over to the steps, the other guy was coming down and left the building. That was it.”

“What does this guy look like?”

“I didn’t see him up close. That night on the stairs, I only saw him from behind. I was in the basement and he went out on the first floor.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was kind of tall and thin. He was dressed okay. Not like Kollman, you know? He always looked a little ratty. But this guy looked decent. Kind of middle class, you know?”

“Did you see his car?”

“No.”

“And was that the only visitor for Kollman? No girls? Nothing?”

“Nothing else that I saw. I swear. He was quiet. He was a good tenant, except he didn’t pay.”

Stynes straightened up. “All right, Nick. Thanks.”

“What happens now?”

“A free tour of our justice system, courtesy of the taxpayers of Dove Point, Ohio.”

“Oh.” Reeves closed his eyes, and the tears started again. “Please?”

“Get ahold of yourself.”

Stynes closed the door and turned to the two officers. They walked a few feet away.

“What’s his deal?” Stynes asked.

“He’s clean,” the one said. “Not even a moving violation.”

“Really?”

“And we didn’t find anything weird in his room. A little porn, but no kiddie stuff. No weapons or anything like that.”

Stynes nodded. “He’s all yours.”

“What do you think they’ll do with him, Detective?”

“The prosecutor’s office can sort it out, but I think he’s looking at lewd conduct with a child. They’ll threaten him with a felony, but he might get off with just a misdemeanor. And do me a favor? When you get him to the jail, let him wipe his face off.”

Stynes saw more uniformed officers a couple of buildings away. He walked down there and met a crime scene technician on her way out of the building.

“What’s it look like?” Stynes asked.

The tech looked to be about twenty-five. Like the rookie cops, they grew younger and younger all the time. Sometimes Stynes felt as if the rest of the world were a film being shown in reverse, and everyone grew younger while he aged.

“Not much,” the tech said. She wore a Dove Point PD polo shirt. “Your friend over there pretty well cleaned the place out. We’ve got a notice to hold the Dumpster. We can check it tomorrow in the daylight.”

“Prints?”

“A mess of them,” she said. “It’s a furnished apartment and not a particularly nice one. Every tenant for the last twenty years has touched every surface in there. We got some good ones, but there’s no way to know if they’re from your guy or not.”

“And that’s it?”

“Pretty much,” she said. “What did this guy do?”

Stynes looked up at the window of the apartment. “Right now, I’m not sure.”

The tech shrugged.

Stynes asked, “Is it clear up there? I can go in?”

“It’s all yours.”

Stynes went up the stairs, trying to ignore the smells in the hallway, the cooking smells and body odor and dirty diapers. The door to the apartment stood open, and Stynes went in. Most everything had been cleared away. He wouldn’t say the place had been cleaned, but there was no clutter or garbage present. If not for his arrest, Nick Reeves would be getting ready to rent this palace to the next lucky contestant. His arrest would likely cost Reeves his job.

Stynes looked around the place-kitchen, bathroom, small bedroom. He was on his way back to the living room when his cell phone rang. It was Dispatch.

“Detective Stynes? We found that detective in Columbus, the one you were asking about.”

“Great,” Stynes said. “Let me get a pen.”

“He’s on the line right now, Detective. I can put the call through to your phone.”

“Really?”

“Really. Stand by.”

The wonders of modern technology.

Stynes waited, listening to a couple of clicks. The dispatcher told him to go ahead. “You’re speaking with Detective Helton of Columbus PD.”

“Detective Stynes?” a surprisingly young voice said.

“That’s me. Thanks for taking the call.”

“No problem. We’re always happy to help out our brothers in the rural provinces.”

Shithead, Stynes thought.

“You’re wanting to know about an assault case, one that involved a Justin Manning.”

“Yes, that’s it,” Stynes said. “I know it might be a long shot you would remember anything, but I wanted to try.”