New York City
April 22, present day
Calliope was locking her front door when a man cleared his throat from the sidewalk behind her. She spun around to find a balding man with a slight paunch standing with his arms out in a placating gesture. His cheap blazer was spread open, revealing the badge at his hip.
“Didn’t want to startle you.”
“Can I help you?”
“I’m Detective Costello, First Precinct. I have some follow-up questions regarding your statement.”
“Oh, um, a detective from your office already called about a follow-up interview. I’m supposed to come in next week.”
“I know. I’m going to be at a funeral. An old partner of mine was killed in the line of duty. Anyway, I wanted to run a couple of things by you. My partner, Pete Brigger, may ask you some of the same questions. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”
He gave her a pleading smile. Calliope liked him on sight. He had kind, trustworthy eyes, and while he was clearly experienced, he didn’t seem jaded.
She trotted down the stairs. “Sure. Can we walk and talk?”
“I was going to suggest the same thing. Passed a donut shop on my way here, but it’s bad for the image.” He chuckled.
“So, you probably know I didn’t see anything.”
“Sometimes you see things you don’t realize are important.”
“I guess.”
“Before you left Van Gent’s office, did anything unusual happen?”
Calliope had omitted crashing the computer from her initial statement, but she knew it would have to come out eventually.
“Um, there were some issues with the computer. The system crashed.”
“Yeah, the feds are handling that. What about Van Gent? Was he acting differently? Anxious?”
“No. The opposite in fact. He was his usual boisterous self. He had just won some huge pot in a poker game. I’m pretty sure he was drunk.”
“Lucky stiff. Sorry, gallows humor sort of goes with the job. How much did he win?”
“Jeez, like two hundred grand. Oh, and that painting.”
“The painting we found at the scene?”
“Yeah. I guess he got taken. Phipps said it wasn’t worth anything.”
“It wasn’t. Cheap knock off. How’d he bring it into the office? Was it just packed in his suitcase?”
“It was in his suitcase in a plastic tube. Like a sturdy version of a poster tube, but shorter and wider.”
“What happened to the tube? It wasn’t logged at the scene.”
“Phipps threw it in the trash, but it was a recycle item so I took it with me.”
“I see. So you found a recycling bin.”
“Actually, I kind of forgot about it. A friend ended up giving me a ride home. The tube rolled out of my bag, and my friend wanted it to fix a leaky pipe in his apartment. I gave it to him.”
“Must be a handy friend.”