Roadside Crosses

could he get it inside?” Tammy’s denial was too fast and too adamant. She’d considered a bicycle too but didn’t want to admit the possibility, for some reason.
    Dance lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, I don’t know. One of my neighbors has a Camry. It’s a pretty big car.”
    The girl blinked; she was surprised, it seemed, that Dance knew the make of her car. That the agent had done her homework was making Tammy uneasy. She looked at the window. Subconsciously, she was seeking a route of escape from the unpleasant anxiety. Dance was on to something. She felt her own pulse tap harder.
    “Maybe. I don’t know,” Tammy said.
    “So, he could’ve had a bike. That might mean hewas somebody your age, a little younger. Adults ride bikes, sure, but you see teenagers with them more. Hey, what do you think about it being somebody in school with you?”
    “School? No way. Nobody I know would do something like that.”
    “Anybody ever threaten you? Have any fights with anybody at Stevenson?”
    “I mean, Brianna Crenshaw was pissed when I beat her for cheerleader. But she started going out with Davey Wilcox. Who I had a crush on. So it kind of evened out.” A choked laugh.
    Dance smiled too.
    “No, it was this gang guy. I’m sure of it.” Her eyes grew wide. “Wait, I remember now. He made a call. Probably to the gang leader. I could hear him open his phone and he said, ‘Ella esta en el coche.’  ”
    She’s in the car, Dance translated to herself. She asked Tammy, “You know what that means?”
    “Something like ‘I’ve got her in the car.’ ”
    “You’re studying Spanish?”
    “Yeah.” This was all very breathless and told in a voice with a higher pitch than normal. Her eyes locked onto Dance’s but her hand flicked her hair away and paused to scratch her lip.
    The Spanish quotation was a complete lie.
    “What I’m thinking,” Dance began reasonably, “is that he was just pretending to be a gangbanger. To cover up his identity. That means there was another reason to attack you.”
    “Like, why?”
    “That’s what I’m hoping you can help me with. You get any look at him at all?”
    “Not really. He was behind me the whole time. And it was really, really dark in the parking lot. They ought to put lights in. I think I’m going to sue the club. My father’s a lawyer in San Mateo.”
    The angry posturing was meant to deflect Dance’s questioning; Tammy had seen something.
    “Maybe as he came up toward you, you saw a reflection in the windows.”
    The girl was shaking her head no. But Dance persisted. “Just a glimpse. Think back. It’s always cold at night here. He wouldn’t-’ve been in shirtsleeves. Was he wearing a jacket? A leather one, cloth? A sweater? Maybe a sweatshirt. A hoodie?”
    Tammy said no to all of them, but some no’s were different from others.
    Dance then noticed the girl’s eyes zip to a bouquet of flowers on the table. Beside it the get-well card read: Yo, girl, get your a** out of there soon! Love J, P, and the Beasty Girl.
    Kathryn Dance looked at herself as a journeyman law enforcer who succeeded largely because of doing her homework and not taking no for an answer. Occasionally, though, her mind did a curious jump. She’d pack in the facts and impressions and suddenly there’d be an unexpected leap—a deduction or conclusion that seemed to arise as if by magic.
    A to B to X . . .
    This happened now, seeing Tammy look at the flowers, eyes troubled.
    The agent took a chance.
    “See, Tammy, we know that whoever attacked you also left a roadside cross—as a message of some sort.”
    The girl’s eyes grew wide.
    Gotcha, Dance thought. She does know about the cross.
    She continued her improvised script, “And messages like that are always sent by people who know the victims.”
    “I . . . I heard him speaking Spanish.”
    Dance knew this was a lie, but she’d learned that with subjects who had a personality type like Tammy’s, she needed to leave them an escape route, or they’d shut down completely. She said agreeably, “Oh, I’m sure you did. But I think he was trying to cover up his identity. He wanted to fool you.”
    Tammy was miserable, the poor thing.
    Who terrified her so much?
    “First of all, Tammy, let me reassure you that we’ll protect you. Whoever did this won’t get near you again. I’m going to have a policeman stay outside your door here. And we’ll have one at your house too until we catch the person who did