“Where were you last night, Hoop?”
“I was going to catch her after her class, see if I could talk her into a cup of coffee, or some pizza. Something. But I got hung up. A couple of the guys got into a shoving match, and I had to break it up. She was gone when I got over there. I beat it to the subway, figuring maybe I could catch her there, and when I didn’t I took it over to her place in Brooklyn. But the light wasn’t on in her room. She always turns the light on in her room when she gets home. I hung around maybe an hour—I don’t know. Went and had a beer, walked back, still didn’t see her light. Then I said what the fuck, and came back here.”
“What time did you get back?”
“I don’t know, close to midnight, I guess.”
“Anybody see you?”
“I don’t know. I was irritated and feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t talk to anybody.”
“What about your roommate?”
“He’s banging a girl off campus. He’s there more than here. He wasn’t around when I got in. I didn’t hurt Rachel. I didn’t hurt her.”
“Where’d you have the beer?”
“Some bar—a couple blocks up from the subway over there.” He gestured vaguely to indicate Brooklyn. “I don’t know the name.”
“These pictures look professional,” Eve commented.
“What? Oh yeah. I do some modeling. It’s good money. I’m writing a play. That’s what I want to be—a playwright. You have to live pretty lean to make it. So I pick up coin where I can. TA, dorm monitor, modeling. I got certified as an LC last year, but it’s not what I thought it would be. I never figured sex could be work—and boring.”
“Got a camera?”
“Yeah, somewhere. Why?”
“I wondered if you liked to take pictures, too.”
“I don’t see why . . . oh Rachel, her Imaging class.” He s
miled a little. “I should’ve thought of that one. As TA I could’ve monitored that class, hung out with her.” The smile faded. “I’d’ve been there last night when class ended. I’d’ve been with her.”
“Keep him on the short list,” Eve told Peabody as they headed back to the car. “He had motive, means, and opportunity. We’ll run him a little deeper, see if anything pops.”
“He seemed really torn up about it.”
“Yeah, really torn up over a girl who laughed at him, who wouldn’t fall at his feet begging for his pretty penis, and who let her friends know she’d turned him down.”
She slid into the car. “He’s got an ego the size of Saturn, and as a model potential knowledge of photography, and access to the necessary equipment. He knew where she lived, where she worked, he knew her movements and habits. She trusted him because she believed she could handle him. So we’ll take a good, long look at him.”
She headed back to Central to tie up loose ends. The tox report on Rachel Howard was waiting for her. At least she hadn’t known what was done to her, Eve thought as she scanned it. Not with all those opiates in her system.
So he’d tranq’d her, she thought, leaning back in her desk chair. Before transport, or during? Either way, he had a vehicle. Or he’d lured her somewhere. An apartment, a studio. Had to be private. Then he’d slipped her the drugs.
If it was the last scenario, she’d known him. She was too smart to be lured by a stranger.
She was his first, he’d said. But he’d been well prepared. Step by step. Selecting, observing, recording. Youth and vitality, she thought. He’d wanted to own them. And her innocence.
She’d walked out of class at nine. Had he waited for her? She spotted him, flashed that smile. Maybe he offered her a ride home, but she turned him down. Going to study with pals, but thanks. A couple of her classmates had verified that. She told them she was going to stay on campus, study with some friends.
He couldn’t afford to be seen, so how had he lured her?
Staged the run-in, she decided. He was good at staging. Maybe he’s on foot. Easy to meld and blend. But he has to make her take a detour, has to get her into his vehicle. Can’t take a chance on public transportation.
He wants her face in the media—his image—so he knows she could be recognized after the murder. And he could be described. So, no subway, no buses, no cabs. Private vehicle.
But why did she go with him?