Shallow Graves

first time. “Why ask me that?“
    “You were there that night.“
    “At her apartment, you mean?“
    “Yes.“
    “Sure, but she was killed by some burglar who probably needed money for drugs and panicked.“
    “Even so, you mind going over things for me?“
    “No.“ Shinkawa revived part of the smile. “No, I suppose not.“
    “The party was for her birthday?“
    “Right.“
    “You know who was invited?“
    “Well, originally it was just going to be .Mau, Sinead, Oz Puriefoy—you know who he is?“
    “Yes.“
    “Okay. And Quinn Cotter.“
    Sinead Fagan had mentioned him. “He’s a model, too?“
    “Right. Pretty popular in the sports lines. You saw him, you’d know him. Here...“ Shinkawa opened a file drawer and rummaged around. “This is his comp.“
    Shinkawa handed me a black-and-white composite card of a tall, broad-shouldered blond in his twenties with a cleft chin, plastered hair, and vapid eyes listed as blue on the back. The photos showed him in a martial arts uniform with boards to split, swim trunks with surfboard to ride, and cross-training gear with ten-speed bike to pedal. He looked like the kind of guy who’d enjoy bungee jumping.
    I handed the card back to Shinkawa. “Why didn’t Cotter come to the party?“
    “It’s a little involved. I had an out-of-town meeting, so originally I wasn’t going to be able to make the party. Then the meeting canceled, and Quinn bowed out of the party.“
    “Why did he bow out?“
    “Because I was boffing the girl of his dreams, John.“
    I stopped. “Cotter was interested in Mau Tim?“
    “And how. Tried to wangle a shoot with her through Erica, but his look and hers really clashed, you know?“
    Not in a way I could appreciate. “So Cotter saw you as a rival?“
    Shinkawa started a laugh that turned into a giggle. “No, he saw me as the guy she was more interested in. Mau thought Quinn was kind of a pea-brain, but I think that Sinead felt a little sorry for him.“
    “Because of him losing out on Mau to you.“
    “And also because another model got picked over him to work on a big running-clothes campaign we’re doing this spring.“
    “You have anything to do with that decision?“
    The big grin. “Everything. I think Quinn’s kind of a pea-brain, too.“
    “You know how I could reach him?“
    “Through the agency—wait, I might have...“ Shinkawa went back to the drawer. “Here. This is the number and address Quinn gave me a couple of weeks ago.“
    “When he thought he was still in the running for the running-clothes campaign.“
    Just the smile.
    The address was on Fisher Hill in Brookline, reading like a single-family home, not an apartment or condo. “Pretty spiffy.“
    “I think the guy house-sits. Good gig for a model.“
    “Can we get back to that Friday?“
    “That... Oh, right. What else?“
    “You decided you were going to the party when?“
    “Maybe eleven that morning.“
    “You call somebody?“
    “I left a message for Mau with Sinead. I guess that’s how Quinn knew not to show.“
    “Sinead calling him.“
    “Yeah. But I don’t really know that.“
    I said, “You talk with Mau Tim at all that day?“
    “No. She’d usually be on a shoot for the morning into the afternoon.“
    Yulin said otherwise. “You try to call her that day?“
    “No. I was seeing her that night.“
    “When did you get to the apartment house in the South
    End?“
    “I stopped home to change after work, get casual because Sinead was talking about dancing afterward.“
    “Where’s home?“
    “Over on Commonwealth. I’ve got a condo between Dartmouth and Exeter.“
    “Go ahead.“
    “So I got to the building at seven-thirty, give or take a few minutes. I rang Mau’s bell but didn’t get any answer, so I figured she was already downstairs at Sinead’s and tried there.“
    “You didn’t have a key to the front door of the building?“
    “No. Most of the time, Mau came over to my place.“
    “Okay. What happened after you rang Sinead’s bell?“
    “Oz—or Sinead—buzzed me in, and Mau wasn’t there. Sinead was saying she just took a shower.“
    “Where was Puriefoy?“
    “In the kitchen, opening some wine.“ Shinkawa looked off. “So, I guess it was Sinead who buzzed me in.“ He came back to me, smiling. “Hey, this is kind of cool, you know?“
    “What is?“
    “Reconstructing all this. Getting me to remember things.“
    Christ. “Then what happened?“
    “Let’s see. Oh, yeah. Then we talked