Seven Minutes to Noon

Alice, drinking in every reaction. “Andre Capa is an artist who lives nearthe Gowanus Canal. He has nothing to do with this case.”
    Alice was confused. Andre Capa was the last witness to Lauren’s life. Erin Brinkley had written about him seeing Christine Craddock cross the Gowanus Canal. Alice herself had seen him watching her that early morning on her solitary walk. She had seen him so many times. She had smelled him, he had come so close. Unless...
    “Who was following me, then?” Alice felt a swell of panic at the thought that the limo driver — whoever he was — might still be out there.
    “He’s one of our men,” Giometti said.
    “A cop?” Alice was stunned. “What do you mean?”
    “Alice.” Frannie leaned forward and softened her voice. “We’ve been keeping an eye on you since Lauren disappeared. First Christine Craddock, then Lauren, then...”
    “Me?”
    “We didn’t know.” Viola picked up a paper clip from the surface of her desk and bent it out of shape. “We couldn’t take any chances.”
    “Have I been in danger?” Alice asked. “Am I now?”
    “We’ve been covering every possible base,” Frannie said. “We’re getting closer, we think. But there’s more work to do.”
    “Why did you lie to me about Andre Capa?” Alice felt a rise of indignation; after she herself had tried so hard to share the truth with them, they had outright lied to her. “Why did you tell me that he was stalking me and that you arrested him? Why ?”
    Giometti uncrossed his legs and leaned toward Alice. “You read the newspaper.”
    “Yes.”
    “All those articles about the cases?” he said.
    Alice nodded.
    “Some of the stuff that writer’s been reporting has been undisclosed information,” he said. “We talked to Erin Brinkley, the reporter. She said a woman’s beencalling her anonymously, feeding her tips. Some of them are just wrong.”
    “We needed to know if you were the leak,” Frannie clarified. “I’m sorry, Alice, but we had to test you.”
    It began to dawn on Alice now. “You mean you deliberately lied to me to see if the story about Andre Capa stalking me and being arrested would turn up in the newspaper?”
    “That’s right,” Giometti said.
    “And it didn’t.” Frannie dropped the twisted paper clip into a wastepaper basket at the side of her desk. “So now we can work with you, if you’re willing.”
    “How?” Alice felt very cold, as if someone had cranked up the air-conditioning. She glanced around the room at all the detectives, sweating in their shirtsleeves. One guy, at the neighboring desk, had a small fan pointed at his face.
    “We have a plan, Alice,” Frannie said. “We think you might be in danger. We’re going to help you, and we’re hoping you’ll agree to help us too.”

Chapter 28
    “This is Dana,” Frannie told Alice. “She’s been detailed to the case.”
    Dana was a light-skinned black woman whose hair was a waterfall of miniature braids. Medium height, with a lithe, elegant build, she was a colleague of Giometti’s from the Homicide Unit at the Sixtieth Precinct and a stranger to Carroll Gardens, which was exactly the idea. Here, she could pass as Alice’s friend, unrecognizable to the neighborhood as a cop. You never would have suspected Dana was a detective with a gun holstered to her ankle under the flowing red batik pants.
    “You’ll need to keep Dana’s identity private,” Frannie said. “You can’t tell anyone. It could get around and really screw things up.”
    “What about Mike?” How disappointed would he be, Alice wondered, to learn that Alice had agreed to help the investigation — which meant they wouldn’t be able to leave town after all?
    “Only Mike.”
    “The kids?”
    “Do them a favor,” Dana said in a smooth, mellow voice, “and don’t tell them. They’ll be more comfortable with me if they think I’m some long-lost friend of yours. Kids who know secrets, they feel like they’ll explode if they don’t tell someone.”
    “Okay,” Alice said. “Are you a long-lost friend who’sstaying with us? Or one who stands outside our front door all the time?”
    Dana and Frannie both laughed. “That’s a good one,” Dana said. “I like this one.”
    “Don’t get too cozy,” Frannie warned. Then, to Alice, “She won’t be staying with you. She’s an old friend from college who’s visiting and spending time with you. When she’s not with you, someone else will have the eye.”
    “The