Page 115 of Kill For Me Kill For You
‘You’re going back to the hospital, Ruth. You’re going to be okay. They’ll take good care of you. Don’t worry – I’ll be sure to come by and visit . . .’
66
Amanda
TWO MONTHS LATER
Amanda stepped out of the elevator of her building into the lobby. It was almost seven in the morning and she only had a few minutes to get to 96thStreet subway station.
She buttoned the coat of her business suit, and as she passed her mailbox she noticed the little flap on the side was sticking up. It was too early for the mailman. She stopped and quickly opened the box with her key. Inside was a letter in a small Manila envelope. There was no address on it. Just her name.
She placed it inside her jacket pocket and opened the front door to a cold January morning. Ice had compacted on the sidewalk. As she took her first step outside, her right foot slipped and she felt herself sliding, tilting. She was going to land in the dirty slush and ruin her suit.
And then she was no longer falling.
A strong hand had taken her elbow, and her heels skidded a few times before she regained her balance. She gazed up and saw the man who had caught her.
It was Farrow.
‘Jesus, Amanda, you shouldn’t be allowed out on your own,’ he said with a smile.
‘God, I’m sorry. Hi, I mean, thank you.’
‘I was coming to see you. I heard you got a new job.’
‘Yeah, I’m working in a new art gallery. I’m the manager, if you can believe it. I even get to display my own work from time to time.’
‘That’s great. Listen, I just wanted a quick word. Do you have time?’
Amanda checked her watch. ‘I should be getting on the subway in like ten minutes.’
‘Come for a cup of coffee and I’ll drive you to work.’
‘You can get to Tribeca from here faster than the subway?’
‘I can if I put my siren on,’ he said with a smile. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’re not late.’
Amanda nodded and they walked a block to a Starbucks. Farrow paid for two coffees and they took the high stools at the window. Farrow said they were better for his back than low, hard chairs.
‘I wanted to check in, see how you’re doing?’ said Farrow.
Amanda took a sip of coffee. It was burning hot all the way down her throat, but she needed that warmth on a morning like this.
‘I’m okay. I’ve paid my back rent, got a new job. Things are looking up. Apart from Crone’s lawsuit. That prick’s still suing me.’
Farrow studied her closely for a moment, then said, ‘Actually, there are a couple of things I wanted to clear up, if you don’t mind?’
She swallowed, took another sip of coffee and said, ‘What kind of things?’
‘Well, we got a strange hit on a DNA search. You ever met a man named Frank Quinn?’
She shook her head.
‘He was murdered around Thanksgiving. We think the perp got onto his property from the alley. One of our forensic teams found a spot of blood on Quinn’s back wall. There were some fibers there too from black denim jeans. We could only get a partial DNA sample. The dried blood was degraded. Rain and God knows what else got on it. Not enough for scientific certainty, not enough to hold up in court, but the DNA from that blood was a partial match for your DNA. To me it looked like somebody might have cut themselves climbing the wall. I don’t supposeyoucould offer an explanation?’
‘I’ve no idea. I never heard of the guy.’
‘It’s just that the night we found Ruth after she had attacked that guard and was trying to get into Mr. Granger’s apartment, when I arrived with Dr. Marin, I saw you were limping a little going up those stairs.’
