Page 161 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“Brunette?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that all you saw?”

The woman hesitated.

“What?”

She shifted the cigarette between fingers. “I didn’t think it mattered.”

That was usually when things were important.

“What didn’t matter?”

“The other girl.”

A sighting! “Where did you see her?”

The woman pointed vaguely toward the alley. “The blonde one.”

“When did you see her?”

“After all the screaming started.”

“Tell me exactly what you saw,” JP said.

The woman glanced past him into the parking lot like she was replaying it. “I heard yelling first, a man screaming, then a girl screaming back.”

“Then?”

“I looked outside, and I saw the blonde girl came running out first.”

“Running where?”

“Toward the back alley.” She pointed again.

“And the brunette?”

The woman frowned, thinking carefully now. “She came out a minute or so after. Just a few seconds, maybe thirty seconds. Maybe less.”

“Was she running too?”

“Yes. But she looked confused, like she didn’t know which way to go.” Another drag off the cigarette. “She kept looking back toward the duplex.”

JP felt something move into place.

“Did she go after the blonde?”

“No.”

“What’d she do?”

“She stopped near the end of the street.” The woman pointed again. “She stayed there a second like she was waiting for someone.”

“Did she go back inside?”

The woman hesitated again. “No. She ran off down the street. I couldn’t see very far from where I was.”