Criminal

down the wrong way.” She coughed a third and fourth time. “What’s that?”
    Amanda looked out into the street. An Atlanta Police cruiser zoomed by, lights rolling, no siren. The next cruiser was the opposite: siren blaring, lights off.
    “What on earth …,” Amanda began.
    Evelyn turned up the police radio. All they could hear was the usual chatter, followed by mics being clicked so that the speakers could not be heard. “Idiots,” Evelyn mumbled, turning the volume back down. Another cruiser screeched by. “What could it be?”
    Amanda was sitting up in her seat, straining to see what was happening. Then she realized there was an easier way. She tossed her paper cup out the window and pushed open the door. By the time she reached the sidewalk, another car zoomed past, this one a Plymouth Fury like her own.
    Evelyn joined her on the sidewalk. “That was Rick and Butch.” Homicide. “They’re going to Techwood. All of them are going to Techwood.”
    Neither woman said what they were thinking. They headed toward the station wagon. Amanda edged Evelyn toward the passenger’s side, saying, “I’ll drive.”
    Evelyn didn’t offer protest. She rode shotgun as Amanda backed up the car, then headed up North Avenue. They turned on Techwood Drive. A police cruiser blew past on Amanda’s left as she turned onto Pine.
    Evelyn grabbed the dashboard. “My Lord. Why are they in such a hurry?”
    “We’ll find out soon enough.” Amanda pulled up onto the familiar berm. There were already five cruisers and two unmarked Plymouths. Today, no children were playing in the courtyard of Techwood Homes, though their parents had finally made an appearance. Shirtless men in tight jeans stood with cans of beer in their hands. Most of the women were just as scantily clad, but a few looked as if they’d just returned home from office work. Amanda checked her watch. It was past one o’clock. Maybe they’d come home for lunch.
    “Amanda.” Evelyn’s tone held a low tremor. She followed the other woman’s gaze to the second apartment block on the left. A group of patrolmen were clustered outside the door. Butch Bonnie pushed past them as he ran out into the courtyard. He fell to his knees and spewed vomit onto the ground.
    “Oh, no.” Amanda searched in her bag for a tissue. “We can get some water from—”
    Evelyn stopped her with a firm hand. “Stay exactly where you are.”
    “But he—”
    “I mean it,” she said, her voice taking on a tenor Amanda had not heard before.
    Rick Landry exited the building next. He used his handkerchief to wipe his mouth, then tucked it into his back pocket. Had his partner still not been vocally ill, Landry probably would’ve never noticed Amanda and Evelyn. As it was, he walked right over to them.
    “What the hell are you broads doing here?”
    Amanda opened her mouth, but Evelyn beat her to a response. “We had a case here earlier this week. Top floor. Apartment C. Prostitute named Jane Delray.”
    Landry stuck his tongue into his cheek as he stared first at Evelyn, then Amanda. “And?”
    “And, obviously something happened here.”
    “It’s Techwood, darlin’. Something happens here all the time.”
    “Top floor?” Evelyn asked. “Apartment C?”
    “Wrong and wrong,” Landry said. “Behind the building. Suicide. Jumped off the roof and went splat.”
    “Fuck!” Butch Bonnie gave a heave that rivaled the sound of a pig rutting in the wild. Landry’s gaze faltered. He didn’t quite look back at his partner, but he wouldn’t look at Evelyn or Amanda, either.
    “You.” Landry motioned over one of the uniformed patrolmen. “Get all these people outta here. Looks like we’re filming a damn Tarzan movie.” The cop rushed to disperse the group of onlookers. There were yells and protests.
    Evelyn said, “Maybe someone saw—”
    “Saw what?” Landry interrupted. “They probably didn’t even know her. But, give ’em another minute, they’ll all be wailin’ and howlin’ and flappin’ their gums about what a tragedy it is.” He shot Evelyn a look. “You should know better than that, Mitchell. Never let ’em crowd up. They get too emotional and pretty soon you’re callin’ in SWAT to thin ’em out.”
    Evelyn spoke so quietly that Amanda could barely hear her. “We’d like to see the body.”
    “We what?” Amanda’s voice trilled around the words.
    Landry grinned. “Looks like Ethel ain’t up for this, Lucy.”
    Evelyn didn’t back