Even the Wind: A Jonas Brant Thriller by Phillip Wilson Read Free Book Online Page B

formed as she puckered her mouth.
      ``I’m sorry,’’ Brant said, meaning it.
      ``Where?’’ Chua asked, gagging a second time.
      ``Her body was found in an alley off Copley Square yesterday,’’ Clatterback said.
      ``I see,’’ Chua said, fighting to regain her composure.  
      ``Were you and Ms. Carswell close?’’ Clatterback again.
      ``Miss.’’
      ``Excuse me?’’
      ``Miss. She isn’t married. Wasn’t married, I mean. Neither of us are. Were. Sorry, it’s just…’’
      Chua rose and crossed to the kitchen where she began rummaging through an overhead cabinet.
      ``I need a cigarette.’’
      She returned to the lounge with a packet of Winston’s and a gold-plated lighter. Removing the plastic wrapping from the cigarette packaging, she hesitated for a moment.
    ``Yesterday, was it?’’
      ``That’s right,’’ Brant said. ``In the afternoon. There was no ID on the body. One theory is that it could have been a robbery gone bad. But there are indications she may have known the person who killed her. Or that she was killed somewhere else and moved to the location where we found her.’’
      ``How is that possible?’’ Chua asked, lighting a cigarette and blowing a stream of smoke through her lips and nostrils. ``I mean how can you tell a thing like that?’’
      ``When did you last see her?’’ Brant asked, ignoring the woman’s question.
      ``Three days ago, in the morning. We passed in the kitchen. I was getting in and Allison was getting ready to leave.’’
      ``How did she seem? Was anything out of the ordinary?’’
      Chua pursued her lips, shrugged, picked a piece of tobacco off the tip of her tongue. ``She was in a hurry. I think she had a meeting or something. I don’t know. To be honest, we didn’t really know each other very well. As I said, we’d only been living together for a few months.’’
      ``What do you know about her? Does she have family?’’
      Chua brushed an errant lock of hair from her cheek. She sighed, sucked again on the cigarette. ``She didn’t talk about them very much if she did. She might have mentioned her mom and dad.’’
      ``And where do they live?’’ Clatterback asked.
      ``Upstate New York, I think.’’ Chua shrugged. ``Maybe Syracuse. Someone’ll have to tell them, right?’’
      ``We’ll take care of it. Do you have a number?’’
      Chua shook her head.  
    ``Do you know if Allison was seeing anyone?’’ Brant asked. It was the question he’d been holding in reserve.
    ``You mean apart from work?’’
    ``I’m not following,’’ Brant said.
    ``Oh, you mean like a boyfriend? There was one.’’
    ``Young? Old? Black? White? Asian?’’
    Chua leaned forward far enough to flick the burnt end of her cigarette into the crystal ash tray she’d placed on the coffee table.
    ``I’m not really sure.’’ She frowned, knitting her brows together in thought again. ``He never came into the apartment. He always stayed outside, in the car. I got the sense he was older. Maybe he had a wife. I don’t know.’’
    ``What makes you say that?’’ Brant asked, trying to keep his voice neutral. It was something to go on.  
    ``Just a feeling. He drove an SUV. You know, one of those big things with a bike rack on the roof.’’
    ``Color? The boyfriend, not the vehicle.’’
    Chua shrugged, straightened her back. ``He usually picked her up at night.’’  
      ``What about build? Tall, short, thin? Anything would help.’’
      Chua hesitated. ``Tall, I guess. I didn’t really pay much attention.’’
    ``Well, that could be helpful,’’ Brant said, flipping the cover of his notebook closed to signal the interview was drawing to a close. It was a rookie move — close the notebook and get them talking — but effective nonetheless.  
    ``Honda.’’ Chua finally said, filling the silence.
    ``Excuse me?’’
    ``The make of the car. I’m pretty certain it was a Honda. Maybe black. Yes, now that I think of