“That’s it?” Eve said after a pause.
Campbell nodded. “Affirmative, Lieutenant. These five street-level licensed companions, excluding the deceased, routinely work that block.”
“Have you observed any relationship, including animosity toward the deceased, from any of these individuals?”
“In my observation, individuals Chumbly and Varr engaged in conversation with each other, while the deceased did not.”
“Quint and Messner also engaged in conversations with each other, and on occasion with Chumbly and Varr, while the deceased appeared to distance herself.”
“We observed no particular animosity,” Campbell concluded, “and no sense of solidarity.”
“Okay, thanks for coming in. Dismissed.”
Peabody lingered when the droids left. “Should I do a run on those names?”
“I’ll do a quick one once I finish the book.”
“I saw we got the lists of employees, artists, and art students from Whittier. It might be more productive if I started on that.”
“Do that.”
Eve finished the book, started the runs.
She’d just finished when Shelby’s list came through.
Shelby had found a handful of relatives with contacts. A few more who’d gone off the grid, or were deceased.
Eve started at the top with great-grandparents.
By the time she got down to an aunt, she wondered how anyone could claim that blood ran thicker than water.
Carmen Young, Mitzi Lee Starr’s sister, answered fast, and looked terrified. “New York police? What happened to Ethan? Is he hurt? Is he—”
“Ms. Young, I’m not contacting you about Ethan.” Her son, Eve noted from Shelby’s list—age sixteen. “I’m contacting you about your niece.”
“Niece? I don’t understand, neither Alice nor Chloe are in New York. They’re in school right here in Richmond! Ethan’s in New York on a school trip. If something happened—”
“I hope he’s enjoying the city, and this has nothing to do with him. Again, I’m contacting you about your niece Leesa Culver. Your sister’s daughter.”
“My…” The fear died, and lapsed into resignation. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know Mitzi had a daughter. She, Mitzi, ran away at sixteen. I was a couple years older, had already moved out. She hasn’t contacted me since. Is her daughter in trouble in New York?”
“I regret to inform you Leesa Culver was murdered last night.”
“Oh God, oh my God.” She covered her mouth with her hand, and her eyes went wide with horror. “Murdered? Oh God. Give me a minute, please. I was just about to go into a meeting. Let me postpone that. Just one minute.”
The ’link went to holding blue, thankfully without music.
As she waited, Eve took another quick look at Shelby’s notes.
Carmen Young, age forty-six, married to Liam Young for twenty-two years. Three offspring, with the visiting Ethan the middle child. She worked as an office manager in Richmond, Virginia.
When Carmen came back on, she appeared to have steadied. She wore her brown hair in a long bob around an attractive face with dominant bright blue eyes.
At the moment, they held a sheen of tears.
“Can you tell me what happened to her?”
“She was strangled.”
