Release

"Yeah, the guy was like, this total freak. Never hit her or nothin', least not as I could tell, but he didn't like Sarah talkin' to no other guys, that's for sure." Alex didn't turn as the body was wheeled past in its thick black bag, but the man she was questioning, Sarah Littrel's neighbor, Buck Harris, watched it pass with a single-minded fascination. Once the coroner had disappeared around the corner, he turned back to her. "Sonofabitch nearly broke my wrist just for sayin' good morning to her last year."

"Did you hear anything last night, yelling, screaming?" Mr. Harris shrugged and scratched at the three day's worth of beard on his face.

"I was kind of busy, banging the wife," he said with a lascivious grin. Now Alex really wished Bobby was there. One look from those dark, intense eyes, a quick jerk of the head, almost bird-like, and men like Mr. Harris found more appropriate phrases for their nightly activities. She was relieved when Detective Sledge came striding up the hall.

The man was nearly a stranger around One Police Plaza, only transferred in a few months ago. She couldn't remember seeing the tall, black haired man with the deep, lake blue eyes more than a handful of times -- which was a shame. He was nice to look at. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, strong jaw, and he certainly knew how to dress himself. Dark, charcoal gray suits with deep, rich colored shirts, sometimes blue to match his eyes, but often red or burgundy; both colors were very complimentary. He didn't seem to like ties. She had the feeling he took as long preparing his wardrobe as she did. Now Bobby, on the other hand ... he always looked fine, but it seemed incidental.

"Ready?" the tall detective asked with a lift of his eyebrows. Today he was wearing the burgundy, which, coincidentally, matched her sleeveless top almost perfectly. She thanked Mr. Harris for his help and left their card, requesting that he call if he remembered anything else. She turned to her interim partner as they headed for the elevator.

"What do you make of it?" she asked. Sledge shrugged, a stiff gesture.

"Possessive boyfriend suspects victim of cheating," he said, his tone clipped, curt. "He rapes, then stabs said victim twice in the abdomen and writes 'whore' on the apartment wall with her blood before disappearing. He's probably in Arizona by now."

"What's in Arizona?" Alex asked, glancing up at him. He wasn't as tall as Bobby, around six feet was all, but even short men were taller than her.

"Sand and snakes, mostly," Sledge said with another of those mechanical shrugs. "I only lived there for a while, but it's about as far from here as you can get, culturally speaking."

"Ah, I'd been wondering where you bought your tan," she said with a small smile. "Silly me."