J. Black - Laura Cardinal - 01 - Darkness on the Edge of Town

Was he watching her now? She looked around, but saw nothing. Imagined she heard footsteps, but it was only the rain.

The wind blew harder. The tree shadows lashed back and forth on the wall of the band shell in tortured shapes, as if they were being strangled.

She stared out at the park.

Something caught her eye in the gleam of the streetlight, wet and shiny at the edge of the stage. A matchbook.

Laura had been over every inch of this stage earlier today, and she knew the matchbook had not been there when they removed the body. The crime scene had been clean. The matchbook could belong to anyone; kids, tourists, curiosity seekers. The morbid.

Donning latex gloves, she hunkered down beside the matchbook. The words “The Copper Queen Hotel” were stamped on the front. Holding the edges with her fingertips to avoid smearing any prints, she pried it open.

On the inside cover, someone had written a message in block letters with a roller ball pen. The cardboard was so soggy it threatened to come apart in her hands, the letters starting to blur where the raindrops hit them.

Laura scooted back under the overhang. Holding the matchbook open against the concrete, she aimed her flashlight at the block letters.

CRZYGRL12.

The rain hissed, chortled, murmured.

CRZYGRL. Short for crazy girl? The twelfth in a line of crazy girls?

She caught a movement in the corner of her eye. Suddenly, a bright light shone in her face and a voice demanded, “What are you doing?”

8

Laura squinted into the glare of a MagLite.

“What are you doing?” Detective Holland repeated. The MagLite steady on her face.

She wondered if he was keeping it on her purposely. Letting her know she was the trespasser here rather than the lead on this case? It made her angry, but it also goosed her heart up a notch. What did he think—she was planting evidence?

“What’s that?” he said, motioning at her hand with the light.

She stood up and brushed off her slacks. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking on the crime scene, same as you.”

“Earlier today, did you see anything like this?” She held the copper-colored matchbook up to the light.

“Nope.”

“Take a look.”

“I don’t have gloves.”

“I’ll hold it for you.” She opened the matchbook as carefully as she could. “CRZYGRL12. What do you think that means?”

He stared at the letters on the matchbook, his gaze stony. But she could tell that something was going on behind his eyes, the cogs turning.

Laura said “I need a paper bag for this.”

He just watched her.

“I have plastic evidence bags but no paper. This thing’s falling apart and it’s wet. If we’re going to put this into evidence, I’ve got to have a paper bag. I’ve got some in the 4Runner. Would you mind running down and getting me one?”

She tossed him the keys and he caught them. But he made no move to go.

“I’m parked outside the Jonquil.”

“Is that an order?”

“It’s a request.” She added, “Don’t you want to catch this guy?”

He stood there for a moment. Drawing it out—that she needed a favor from him. Then he shambled down the steps, in no hurry.

Way down the block she heard the big engine of his Chevy Caprice start up.

Laura wondered how long Buddy Holland had been up here. She would have heard him if he’d just driven up. If she could have planted the matchbook, so could he.

The rain kept coming down. After a while, her back started to hurt, and she needed to sit down. She sat against the bandshell wall as far away as she could get from where Jessica Parris was. She tried not to look at the spot. Breathed through her mouth and let her mind wander.

She remembered someone telling her that before the citizens of Bisbee built City Park, this place had been a cemetery. Where did she hear that? On a trip down here a few years ago? Probably. She used to come down overnight with her boyfriend, a member of the Pima County Sheriff’s SWAT team. Mostly they came down to cool off from the Tucson summers and make love. It didn’t work out because he had an ex-wife who kept tabs on him even though they’d split up years ago.

Counting Tom Lightfoot, that made six serious or semi-serious relationships since college, if she included her ex-husband Billy, who was before, during and after.

Suddenly she flashed on the night two months ago at the Vail Steak House, going off to the bathroom with Karen, who did the books for the Bosque Escondido. They’d run into each other in the bar on Laura’s first foray out into the world with Tom. Tipsy, blundering into the vinyl-walled cubicle, verging on conspiratorial giggles, Laura asking: What do you think? Like asking someone off the street to tell her if she ought to buy a certain car. On cue Karen said what Laura wanted to hear. He’s so good-looking, and he can’t keep his eyes off you. You guys make a really cute couple.

It doesn’t bother you that he doesn’t have a real job? Laura asking this as if Karen’s opinion was more important than her own.

Who cares? You earn enough for both of you .

A car cruised up the street and the engine died. Buddy appeared at the steps to the band shell a minute later. He pulled a folded evidence envelope from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Sorry it took so long.” He didn’t tell her why.

She placed the matchbook in the envelope and marked it with a pen. “To preserve the chain of custody, I’ll keep it with me tonight and take it to the crime lab when I get back to Tucson.” Looking for a reaction. He didn’t give her one. “Do you have any ideas who CRZYGRL12 is? Is she a local?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Anything come to mind at all?”

At first she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “It could be something to do with the Internet.”

“What, like an e-mail address?”

He rubbed his nose. “Or a nick.”

Looking at her for some sort of reaction. All she could offer was confusion. “Nick?”

“Nickname. In a chat room.” He stared out at the park. “Are we about through?”

“Why did you come up here tonight?”

“Same as you. I wanted to see the place how he saw it.”

She didn’t get back to the Jonquil Motel until a quarter of four. The rain stopped on the walk back.

A fluorescent bulb sizzled above the yellow and green door to her room. The glare of the light was so harsh she had to blink. When she stuck her key in the lock, it didn’t turn.

She jiggled the key in the lock, cursing under her breath. Stared down at the stubborn lock. Funny: Her hand didn’t look like her hand. It looked strange, but she couldn’t figure out why.

Brain fart. She’d gone without sleep for long periods before—the job required it. Forty, sometimes sixty hours straight. She was young, she was healthy, but tonight she felt every one of her thirty-one years bearing down on her like a weight.

Abruptly, the lock turned. She got the door open, stripped off her clothes and crawled under the covers. But even when she closed her eyes the light from above the door seemed to sizzle behind her eyelids, little fireworks popping in the dark.

9

THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Musicman bought a cupcake and a box of birthday candles, even though the box of candles was a waste of money because he used only one. He chose a blue candle because blue was her favorite color. He set it down next to the present, even though the present was not for her. He’d wrapped it with care, beautiful eye-catching paper with a bright golden bow.

While waiting at the checkout counter, he’d picked up a paper. Jessica Parris’s death made the front page. Lots of strokes and attaboys. He was disappointed, though, that cable hadn’t picked it up.