I called David straight from city hall, right outside my mother’s office doors.
“I need you to get out of your apartment immediately,” I told him when he picked up the phone. “Grab your computer, maybe a change of clothes, and get in the car.”
“What are you talking about?” He didn’t sound happy.
“The police are going to arrest you, and it’s better if they don’t find you right away. That gives us some more time.”
“Some more time to solve the case?” he asked, still unconvinced.
“Exactly, and to get you that Pulitzer.” I then realized that my plan, which had been concocted on the spot, had a very big flaw. “Oh shit!”
“What else is wrong?”
“If the cops get a warrant, they’ll search your place and find?—”
“Don’t worry about that. That’s been handled.”
“Oh my god, you sounded exactly like Olivia Pope inScandal. It gave me chills!”
He huffed out a laugh. “No clue what or who you’re talking about.”
“It’s impossible to pay you a compliment with your pop culture illiteracy,” I complained. “I compared you to someoneverysexy.”
“I see. I like that,” he told me, and the way he said those words, Iknewhe liked being called sexy. “I should probably let you go as it looks like I’m on the run.”
“We were flirting and not focusing on the case again, right?”
“Yeah, we were—we are.”
“Okay, bye!” I said. “Wait! It’s better if you take my car instead of yours. There’s a spare key card at my place. It’s inside the bowl at the entrance where I put all the random crap.”
“I don’t like your car,” he protested.
“Liar. Also, I don’t care,” I said. “The police will probably be looking for yours. And David, can you pick me up at city hall? My mother didn’t see it necessary to provide me with a ride back home.”
28
“Let’s see that CCTV footage,” David said, taking a USB drive from his pocket and connecting it to his laptop.
We were both at my sister’s place, a.k.a. my parents’ pool house. She was going to be held up between classes and an internship at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But she’d offered her place when I called her and told her I needed to lie low with David for a while. I was quick to accept.
“Did the Eastern Columbia’s security people give you a copy of the CCTV from the night of the murder?” I asked him, impressed.
“Miguel did, yes,” David answered.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Of course, you’re on a first name basis with them.”
“Just with Miguel, the other one is relatively new,” he said.
“And they still haven’t warmed up to your charms, have they?” I teased him.
“My many charms are what got us this CCTV material,” he said.
“Have you already watched it?” I asked as he opened the video file.
“Not really. I was going to do it at the security office, but then you called me and I went upstairs. I took the drive with me.”
There was silence then as we both knew why I had called him urgently.
