“He came by to fix a leaky pipe while my grandparents were hosting bridge night,” Theo explained.
Jemma smacked my arm with the back of her hand. “You should ask Bodie to fix your pipe.”
I crossed my arms. “I fixed it myself.”
Nobody needed to know that I’d done so with the aid of a YouTube tutorial, after I nearly flooded the apartment and Wyatt swooped in to save the day.
“Then unfix it so you can ask him,” Jemma suggested.
The door that led into the front section of the building opened, and the blond, broad-shouldered detective I’d seen on two previous occasions stepped out into the courtyard. He wore a gray suit and carried a tablet in one hand. He paused for a split second, taking in his surroundings, and then strode over our way.
His presence distracted Jemma and Theo enough that they stopped hassling me about my love life. I’d never been so happy to see a cop.
“Ladies,” the detective said, his piercing blue gaze passing over each of us in turn. He tapped the badge clipped to his belt. “Detective Callahan, NYPD. Do you all live in the building?”
Jemma and Theo pointed at me and said in unison, “She does.”
“With my niece,” I added, and realized that probably didn’t matter to him.
“My grandparents live here,” Theo said.
“And Jemma’s my best friend,” I said, indicating my BFF. Again, I realized that probably wasn’t relevant to the detective, but something about his sharp blue eyes made me want to blurt out all my secrets, not that I had any. Well, not many.
Jemma gave him a little wave and a smile. “Jemma Ghosh. How can we help you, Detective?”
Callahan woke up the tablet and turned the screen our way. “Do you recognize this person?”
The photo on the screen looked like a slightly grainy still from the surveillance camera in the lobby. It had caught a person dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up as they walked across the lobby, from the direction of the front doors.
We took a closer look at the screen, all of us shaking our heads.
“No. Sorry,” I said. From their fair-skinned hands, I could tell that the person was white, but that was it.
“Is that the murderer?” Theo asked, a light of excitement in her eyes.
“A person of interest,” the detective replied. “We’re hoping to speak to them to see if they have any information that would aid us in our investigation.” He swiped the tablet’s screen to bring up another photo taken from the surveillance video. “How about this woman? Does she look familiar?”
“That’s me,” I said right away.
Detective Callahan didn’t appear at all surprised, and I suspected he’d figured that out before asking the question.
He shut the tablet’s case. “You found a bouquet of flowers in the trash can.”
I nodded. “Roses.”
“Was there a card attached to the bouquet?”
“No,” I replied. “I took a quick look in the trash can, but I didn’t see one there either.”
The detective produced a business card from the inner pocket of his suit jacket and offered it to me. “If you remember anything related to the case or have any information to share, please get in touch with me.”
I accepted the card. “Of course.”
He gave us a nod and continued on his way across the courtyard, disappearing through the next set of doors.
Jemma snatched the business card from my fingers.
“DetectiveThomasCallahan?” she read with obvious disappointment. “I was hoping his name would be Thor.”
