I pointed a finger at the kid. “He bumped into me on our way out.”
“This was him? How confident are you?”
I wasn’t offended by the question. If a cop was going to take the word of someone with a vision prescription as strong as mine, he needed certainty.
“Positive,” I replied. “And yesterday he was examining the Kinetoscope. He was looking forsomethingand got angry at me.” I waved the film canister at Calvin—the something in question.
“All right,” he murmured. He thanked the medical examiner, she tossed the sheet over the body, and he brought me out of the alley and onto the street.
We walked to the end of the block, putting the madness of the crime scene behind us. Without the murder and mayhem to distract me, I realized it was nearly eight o’clock. I was exhausted, hungry, and had an excellent stress headache starting.
“Let me guess,” I began, as Calvin raised his arm to flag a taxi. “I’m getting kicked out of the Scooby Gang?”
“That’s right.”
“I suppose I don’t have to remind you to lock up the Emporium when you’re done,” I said, smiling wryly when Calvin looked at me.
A taxi pulled up to the curb beside us.
Calvin leaned down and gave our apartment address through the open passenger window. The driver nodded and motioned for me to get inside. Calvin opened the back door.
“Will you come home tonight?” I asked.
“I’ll do my best.” He leaned forward, the car door between us as he kissed my mouth.
“I’m sorry about your day off.”
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart.”
I reluctantly got into the back of the cab. Calvin shut the door, and the driver pulled onto the road.
Chapter Seven
I WASN’Twearing shoes.
My keys were in my messenger bag.
My phone was in my messenger bag.
My messenger bag was in Neil’s car.
And I was standing outside of my locked apartment building with nothing but a canister of murder film.
Someday they’d write a book about me.A Study in Unfortunate Events: The Sebastian Snow Story.
A lady was exiting the building just then. I grabbed the front door and held it open for her, trying to look as if I had been in the process of entering myself. I think she bought it until she noticed I was only wearing medical booties on my feet.
“It’s a long story,” I said when she gave me a curious once-over. “I’m the new tenant on the fourth floor.”
“I thought that was a redhead who’d moved in.”
“I’m his less interesting and more accident-prone half.”
“Oh.”
I stepped inside. I was really only half of the way home—what with still having to get into our actual apartment—but at least I wasn’t standing on the New York streets without shoes anymore. I couldn’t go back to the Emporium, and even if I did, there was no guarantee that either Calvin or Neil would still be there in order for me to bum keys or pick up my bag. And showing up at Calvin’s precinct because I was locked out was… embarrassing.
I supposed I could ask a neighbor to call the super.
