The Silent Girl

examine the interior, and dusk was just now deepening toward night, bringing with it a damp chill that made Maura wish she had brought more than just her raincoat. At the far end of Knapp a lamp glowed, but this end of the street was deep in shadow, and the building, with its barred windows, its gated door, looked like a prison sealing in its ghosts.
    Jane peered through the restaurant window and gave a visible shudder. “We’ve already been in there, you know. It’s a creepy place, and it’s probably crawling with roaches. Just bare walls and empty rooms. There’s really nothing left to look at.”
    “The blood will still be there,” said Maura. Soap and scrubbing erased only the visible evidence; the chemical ghost of blood remainedon floors and walls. Luminol could reveal old smears and footprints that may have been missed during the original investigation.
    The glare of headlights made her turn and squint as a vehicle rounded the corner and slowly rolled to a stop. Frost and Tam stepped out.
    “You got the key?” Jane called out.
    Frost pulled it from his pocket. “I had to sign our lives away before Mr. Kwan would hand it over.”
    “What’s the big deal? There’s nothing to steal in there.”
    “He said if we damage anything, we’ll hurt the resale value.”
    Jane snorted. “I could improve its resale value with a stick of dynamite.”
    Frost unlocked the door and felt around for the light switch. Nothing happened. “Bulb must’ve finally burned out,” he said.
    In the darkness beyond the threshold, something moved, startled by the sudden invasion. Maura turned on her flashlight and saw half a dozen roaches skitter away from the beam and vanish beneath the cash register counter.
    “Ewww,” said Frost. “I bet there’s, like, a thousand of them swarming around under there.”
    “Thanks a lot,” muttered Jane. “Now I’ll never get that picture out of my head.”
    Their four flashlight beams sliced back and forth, crisscrossing in the darkness. As Jane had described, the room was bare walls and floor, but when Maura looked around the room images from the crime scene photos superimposed themselves. She saw Joey Gilmore sprawled near the counter. Saw James Fang crumpled behind the counter. She crossed to the corner where the Mallorys had died and pictured the corpses as they had fallen. Arthur slumped facedown onto the table. Dina stretched out on the floor.
    “Hello?” a voice called from the alley. “Detective Rizzoli?”
    “We’re in here,” said Jane.
    A new pair of dueling flashlight beams joined theirs as two men from the crime scene unit entered the room. “It’s definitely darkenough in here,” one of the men said. “And there’s no furniture to move, so that’ll make things quick.” He squatted and examined the floor. “This is the same linoleum?”
    “That’s what we’re told,” said Tam.
    “Looks it, too. Stamped linoleum, lots of dings and cracks. Should light up really well.” He grunted as he stood up, his belly as big as an eight-month pregnancy.
    His much thinner associate, who towered over him, said: “What are you hoping to find in here?”
    “We’re not sure,” said Jane.
    “Must have a reason you’re looking again after nineteen years.”
    In the silence, Maura felt her face flush and wondered if the full responsibility for this outing was going to fall on her shoulders. Then Jane said, “We have reason to believe it wasn’t a murder-suicide.”
    “So we’re looking for unexplained footprints? Evidence of an intruder, what?”
    “That would be a start.”
    His stouter colleague sighed. “Okay, we’ll give you soup to nuts. You want it, you got it.”
    “I’ll help you unload the van,” said Tam.
    The men carried in lighting equipment and video gear, electrical cords and chemicals. Although all the lightbulbs in the restaurant had burned out, the power outlets were still live, and when they plugged in the cord to illuminate the dining area, the glare of the lamps was as harsh as sunlight. While one of the criminalists videotaped the room, his partner unpacked boxes of chemicals from a cooler. Only now, in the light, did Maura recognize both men from the rooftop crime scene.
    Slowly, the videographer panned the room with the camera and straightened. “Okay, Ed? You ready to start?”
    “Soon as everyone gets on their gear,” Ed answered. “Masks are in that box over there. We should have enough for everyone.”
    Tam handed Maura a