Secret Prey

that’s right. A mix of gas and oil in a gallon jug,’’ the deputy said.
    ‘‘Was there anything weird about the bottle?’’ Lucas asked.
    After a moment of pregnant silence, the deputy said, ‘‘Like what?’’
    ‘‘Like scoring? Like with a glass cutter?’’
    Another beat. Then, ‘‘How’n the hell did you know about that? We never put it in the report . . .’’
    WHEN HE WAS DONE WITH THE MEMOS, LUCAS printed them and walked them down to Roux’s office and left them with the secretary. Homicide was just down the hall, so he stopped by.
    Sherrill was at her desk: ‘‘Lunch?’’
    She was sitting next to Sloan, who was eating a corned beef sandwich. ‘‘If you don’t think people’ll think you’re fucking me,’’ she said, just loud enough for Sloan to hear.
    Sloan never flinched. ‘‘Let’s go,’’ Lucas said. And to Sloan: ‘‘Have you got an hour, in an hour or so? To go over to O’Dell’s place, and look around?’’
    ‘‘Sure.’’
    LUCAS AND SHERRILL WALKED DOWN THE STREET TO a cop hangout, got sandwiches, and Sherrill said, ‘‘I hope I can get past this wise-mouth stuff with you. I’ve been a wise-ass ever since we got together, and I’m having a hard time getting off that wavelength.’’
    ‘‘I’ll recite you a poem sometime,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘It makes women feel all gushy and tender; they roll right over on their backs.’’
    ‘‘You just did it to me.’’
    ‘‘What?’’
    ‘‘Wise-assed me. I heard you read poetry. I always thought it was neat. Now you wise-assed it.’’
    ‘‘Yeah.’’ He looked up at her, serious now. ‘‘I’m sorry I wise-assed it. I do like poetry, and I do like reading some of it to women.’’
    ‘‘Say a poem to me.’’
    He thought, and then said, slowly, ‘‘ ‘It was Din, Din, Din you limpin’ lump of—’ ’’
    ‘‘Get the fuck out of here,’’ she said. ‘‘You did it again.’’
    ‘‘We gotta do something about this,’’ he said, grinning at her. ‘‘I really am serious. We’ve got to have at least one honest talk. Penalties for any wise-ass remarks.’’
    ‘‘Tomorrow night. For dinner.’’
    ‘‘Tomorrow,’’ he agreed.
    Sherrill’s phone rang, and she took it out of her purse, listened, and handed it to him: ‘‘Rose Marie. Christ, she knew right where to call.’’
    Lucas put the phone to his ear. ‘‘Yeah?’’
    ‘‘I didn’t interrupt a tender moment, did I?’’
    ‘‘Yeah. I was about to bite into a cheeseburger.’’
    ‘‘I called Towson about your memo. He wants to meet.’’
    ‘‘It’s too soon.’’
    ‘‘No it’s not. I’m sending a copy over for him to read. You should get over there at two o’clock. Frank is gonna go along. From the memo, I don’t think we’re likely to get her unless she kills somebody else. So you guys are gonna have to figure something out.’’
    LUCAS DROPPED SHERRILL BACK AT THE OFFICE, picked up Sloan, and they walked together over to O’Dell’s apartment building. The security guard recognized Sloan and sent them up.
    ‘‘The basic problem is, if you go down in the elevator, you can’t get back up without a key card,’’ Sloan said. ‘‘Even if you have a key card, there’s a monitor camera in the elevator, so a guard might recognize you . . . not that they spend a lot of time looking at the monitor,’’ Sloan said, as they got in the elevator.
    ‘‘So she gets off at another floor . . .’’
    ‘‘Nope. Can’t get off at another floor. If you get in at the lobby, you can go to any one floor. If you get in at any other floor, you can only go down to the lobby. Unless you have a key card.’’
    ‘‘How about the fire stairs?’’
    ‘‘The doors are locked in the lobby and the skyway. From those floors, you can’t get in without a key, you can only get out. And you can’t get out on any floor except the lobby or the skyway, even if you have a key.’’
    ‘‘A key, not a key card,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘That’s right—like a Schlage.’’
    ‘‘How close do they track the cards?’’
    ‘‘They know how many each person is signed out for. O’Dell had three, two for herself, and one for her father, who lives way the hell out in South Dakota. We found her two cards, and her father still had his when he was here to pick up the body. So that was all of hers. But somebody else in the building? Who knows? There are almost three hundred cards out. I suppose we could try to find