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“We went to the ballet—Giselle—then to a party. Friend’s house on Riverside Drive.”
“That’s not exactly next door. What were you doing back here at four in the morning?”
“It’s not against the law to walk around at four in the morning.” The woman spoke up, a whiny baby-doll voice that instantly put Eve’s nerves on edge.
“Nope, but sucking up illegals at a party half the night is. We can get through this quick and easy, or we can make it tough and I can take you into custody, run a tox screen.”
“We were just trying to help,” the man protested.
“That’s why I’m not going to run the tox. Let’s start again.” She pulled out a notebook. “I need your names.”
“I’m Maxville Drury. Look, I’m an executive at Fines and Cox, the ad agency. I don’t want any trouble.”
“You guys do the blimps, right, and the holoboards along the FDR?”
“Among other things.”
“Do you have any idea how irritating they are?”
He managed a smile. “Yeah.”
“Just wondered. Miss?”
“Loo Macabe. I’m a shoe designer.”
“You design those?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Interesting. Now that we’re pals, why don’t you tell me exactly what happened? You were here for the ballet, you went to a party. Then?”
“Okay.” Maxville drew a deep breath. “We left the party. I didn’t notice the time, honest to God. We were feeling good, up, you know? It’s a hot night, and we were just sort of joking around about what it would be like to cool off in the fountain. One thing led to another, and we ended up back here. We were thinking we could not only cool off in the fountain, but heat up. You know?”
Eve glanced at Loo’s face, caught the foolish little smile. “Must’ve been some party.”
“I told Max how I have this contest going with some friends on who can make it at the most New York landmarks. And we thought, what the hell, let’s chalk up a couple points.”
“So you came back here, and . . . ?”
“I just sort of jumped in,” Max continued. “Jesus, I almost landed on him. I hauled him up, dragged him out. Loo called for an ambulance. I tried to give him mouth-to-mouth, CPR. I tried. I don’t know if I did it right, everything got all jumbled up. I don’t know if I did it right.”
Because he was looking up at her for some kind of reassurance, Eve sat beside him. “He was gone, Max. He was gone before you got here. There was nothing you could have done. But you tried, and you called for help. So you did it right.”
She watched dawn come up, a hazy light in a milky sky. Street and security lights faded out, and the grand fountain spurted into life, spewing its towers of water into the heavy air.
The sounds of morning were the clank and bang of recycle bins being emptied, of maxibuses belching. Of the airtrams and buses beginning their early run across the sick white sky.
The dog walkers came out with their braces of canines, and the joggers who preferred the sidewalks to the parks or the health clubs.
Glide-carts opened for business, and pumped out their greasy steam.
She watched the dead wagon pull away with its burden of a young man with long, graceful limbs and a minute hole in his heart.
And she watched the Channel 75 van pull up.
“I’ve got the next of kin, Lieutenant.” Peabody stepped up beside her, and with Eve watched Nadine step out of the van. “And when I checked I learned that the victim’s parents have already reported him missing.”
And she would have to tell them he’d been found.
