Afterimage by Kathleen George

Author:Kathleen George
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 2007-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

WHEN COLLEEN LEFT THE restaurant after her dinner with Hoffman, she drove for a few blocks, waved off the police following her to let them know she was all right, then realized there was something she still wanted to do. She drove straight back to the restaurant, hoping the table hadn’t been bused yet. When she got inside, the waiter said an automatic “I’ll seat you in a minute,” but she was already checking the table she’d been at. It was empty. The waiter realized he’d seen her before. “Forget something?”

She moved toward the kitchen.

“Hey, that’s the kitchen.”

“I know. It’s important.”

He followed her through the door. The cook looked up, then back down at what he was cooking.

She showed her badge. “I have to locate our dishes and take the fork and the glass of the person I ate with,” she said as forcefully as possible. She saw their things. Not in the dishwasher yet. The waiter and cook watched, fascinated, as she picked through the dishes. She lifted a wineglass carefully by the base and saw lipstick on it. Hers. She chose the other one. “I need a clean napkin and a paper bag.”

“I could get you plastic.”

“Paper,” she said. There was no telling how much the dishes had been touched and whether they would be useful. The cook came up with a paper bag. She put the wineglass in it. She identified which plate was Hoffman’s and thanked her stars the busboy had left the dirty dishes intact with knife and fork, just as they’d been at the table. To be sure, she compared the forks. One was more oily with red sauce. The other more creamy. His. She put it in the paper bag. In a pinch, they might yield something.

“Do I need to tell you how confidential this has to be?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” the waiter said.

“Well, let me try to explain. If anyone, anyone at all, should ask you if I came back or what I took, you would be in great trouble by seeming to know. I suggest you erase this completely. Don’t tell even your mother or your girlfriend. It’s confidential. Period. A leak would endanger people and you’d be liable.”

The cook and the waiter looked sober enough, appeared to buy her lie. Still, two people were two too many.

Carrying what looked like a take-out bag, she got into her car once more and drove to Headquarters. She felt proud. She’d initiated something. She hurried up to her office, still wearing the gauze skirt and fancy tank top she’d fetched for dinner, but carrying a pair of jeans and a shirt along with the bag from the restaurant.

Christie was standing in the hallway. “Greer, you look great.”

“For a person who hasn’t slept for a long time. Thanks. Well, I have a present for you.”

“I ate.”

“It isn’t food. I ran back and grabbed his fork and glass.”

“You found him shaky? Suspicious?”

“Shaky, yes. Suspicious, I don’t know. He seemed completely shocked about Jamilla. But I thought getting his DNA sooner rather than later could be useful.

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