Easy Innocence

Chapter 29

THE BELL rang. Recess was over. Everyone had to go back inside. But Georgia lagged behind. She'd been sitting on the stone ledge that ran the length of the playground watching two robins hop across the grass. One of them held a piece of straw in its mouth, but as Georgia looked more closely, the straw turned into a snake, writhing and twisting in the bird's beak. The robin dropped the snake, and it started to slither across the grass, leaving bloody entrails in its wake. The bell rang again, sharper, more piercing this time. An acrid, fishy odor permeated everything. The birds disappeared, and Georgia slowly swam to the surface.

The phone. She covered her head with a pillow. A morning dream. They were always exceptionally vivid, even more so when she'd been drinking. The phone rang a third time. Shit. Who the hell had the nerve to call so early? She let the machine pick up.

After the beep, a familiar voice growled, "Davis. If you're there, get the damn phone."

She cracked an eye and checked her clock. It was fuzzy, out of focus. She squinted. Ten AM. Christ. How did it get so late? She rolled over and pulled the phone off the base, forcing back the wave of dizziness that rolled with her.

"Davis here." She croaked. Her mouth felt like sandpaper.

"It's O'Malley." His voice was accompanied by a high-pitched rushing noise. "Dan, where the hell are you? In the middle of tornado alley?"

"You know how hard it is to find a pay phone these days? I'm at the train station."

"Why?"

"Wake up, Davis. Smell the coffee."

She swung her legs over the bed and tried to focus. O'Malley was at a pay phone because... It came to her in a heartbeat.

"Shit. I'm sorry. I'm moving slow this morning," she said.

He grunted in response.

"What's going on?"

"I got wind of something. Thought it might be of interest to you."

She sat up straight. "Yeah?"

"You didn't hear it from me, right?"

"Course not."

"Uh-huh." He didn't sound convinced.

"Dan, you know me."

"I don't know anyone anymore." He paused. "But that's not your problem." He sighed. "Here it is. There was a homicide in Deerfield last night."

"Monday night."

"If today is Tuesday..."

"Sorry. Go on."

"They activated NORTAF and some of our guys are on it. A young kid. Name of Derek Janowitz. Lived in an apartment with a couple of Serbians."

"And?"

"He used to go to Newfield but dropped out a year or so ago. But here's the kicker. The dicks went through his stuff and found a PDA with all his phone numbers on it."

Georgia held her breath.

"Sara Long's cell was one of them."

***

Georgia got out of bed carefully. Her head felt like it might explode, and her stomach felt like a battalion of tiny soldiers were running maneuvers through it. She swore she'd never take another drink. Ever. She thought about toasting a bagel but couldn't stomach the thought of eating. She did manage to down two glasses of water and three Advils.

Before hanging up, O'Malley told her the Deerfield cops had interrogated the victim's two roommates. They claimed to know nothing about their friend's murder, and so far their alibis checked out. When she asked if Robby Parker, her former partner and the detective handling Sara Long's case, knew what had happened, O'Malley said,