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“I think I may have found something you’ll be interested in,” she said finally, her voice different. “Something relating to Rebecca Stokes.”
“That’s great, Lindsey. What have you got?”
“Come by on Monday and I’ll show you.”
“Okay. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Dave. Get some rest.”
I started to call her right back, but the phone rang.
“Lindsey?”
“You’ve replaced me already, my love?”
I sat up uneasily. “Where are you, Julie?”
“I’m around, David. I can’t tell you right now. Soon we’ll be together.”
“Julie, we need to talk,” I said.
“I suppose Peralta is threatening to arrest me.”
“I don’t really know,” I said sharply. “I’d rather know why you met Phaedra down at a coffee place on Mill Avenue the night before she was found dead.”
“David, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen Phaedra for almost two months.”
“Why this game, Julie? Who are you running from?”
“Maybe the same man as you, judging from the story in the Republic this morning.” She was in the state at least, if she’d read the story today in the newspaper.
Julie said, “Haven’t you thought about what I said to you, David? I’m really in love with you.”
I said nothing. The line buzzed emptily.
“Don’t you think we could try to make something happen here?” she said. “I mean, finally make something go right in our lives?”
“Does the name Bobby Hamid mean anything to you?”
“No, David. You don’t understand. In time, I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Why can’t you tell me now, Julie?”
“I just can’t.” The line went dead.
I slammed the phone down and cursed the walls.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Rebecca Stokes was pregnant when she was murdered.”
“What are you talking about?” I was standing in Lindsey’s cubicle in the Central Records Division. I sat down. She was all in black: black T-shirt, black jeans, black boots. Even her lipstick was dark.
I’d spent a restless weekend, correcting papers and mulling over what I knew and didn’t know. Then early Monday morning, I’d headed downtown to see Lindsey.
“There was an autopsy,” she said, visibly pleased with herself. “The record was preserved.”
“How? There was nothing like that in the case file. I assumed the autopsy report had been lost.”
