Size 14 Is Not Fat Either Part 16

"What?"

"They had basketb.a.l.l.s on their heads." I grab the roll of bandages from him, pull away my sweater, and ram the roll of bandages into the biggest wound. "Half a basketball, over their faces, with little eye holes cut out-"

"My G.o.d." Tom, looking pale, blinks down at us. "Is that...is that Manuel?"

"Yes," I say, as Cooper leans forward and pulls down one of Manuel's eyelids.

"He's going into shock," Cooper says, pretty calmly, in my opinion. "You know him?"

"He works at Fischer Hall. His name is Manuel." Julio, I know, is going to flip out when he sees this. I pray that he doesn't come looking for his nephew.

"They did this as a warning," Manuel says. "A warning to me not to tell that I gave it to her."

"Gave what to who, Manuel?" Cooper asks him, even as I'm shus.h.i.+ng him, telling him to save his breath.

"The key," Manuel says. "I know I shouldn't have, but I gave her my key."

"Who?" Cooper wants to know.

"Cooper," I say. I can't believe this. I can't believe he's interrogating a dying man.

But he ignores me.

"Manuel, who'd you give your key to?"

"Lindsay," Manuel says. Manuel shakes his head. "I gave Lindsay my key. She was crying...she said she'd left something in the cafeteria, something she needed to get. At night, after it was closed-"

His eyelids drift shut.

Cooper says, "d.a.m.n."

But then the EMTs are there, shoving us both out of the way. And I'm actually relieved, thinking everything is going to be okay.

Which just goes to show how much I know.

Which is nothing.

15.

I told a white lie There's no sense denying.

To tell you the truth I wasn't even trying.

"Little White Lie"

Written by Heather Wells

You know what happens when someone nearly gets murdered during a Division III college basketball game that is being televised live on New York One?

Everyone keeps right on playing.

That's right.

Oh, they posted cops at all the exits, and after the game-which the Pansies lost, twenty-four to forty. They just never came back after the second half. And not even because they heard about what happened to Manuel. Because no one told them. No, basically, the Pansies just suck-the cops made everybody stop on their way out and show them their hands and feet and the insides of their bags, so they could check for blood and weapons.

Not that they told anyone that's what they were checking for, of course.

But they didn't find anything incriminating. They couldn't even hold the people with half-basketball masks for questioning, because roughly every male in the audience had a half-basketball mask.

And it was pretty obvious-to me, anyway-that the guys who'd stabbed Manuel were long gone. I mean, I highly doubt they stuck around to watch the rest of the game. They probably got out before the cops even arrived.

So they didn't even witness the Pansies' humiliating defeat.

Neither did I, actually. Because no sooner was Manuel loaded into an ambulance with his heartsick uncle at his side and carted away-the paramedics said he had lost a lot of blood and had some internal injuries, but that nothing vital had been punctured, so he'd probably be okay-than I was whisked off to the Sixth Precinct to look at mug shots with Detective Canavan, even though I EXPLAINED to him I hadn't seen their faces, due to the masks.

"What about their clothes?" he wants to know.

"I told you," I say, for the thirtieth time at least. "They were wearing regular, everyday clothes. Jeans. Flannel s.h.i.+rts. Nothing special."

"And you didn't hear them say anything to the victim?"

It's kind of irritating to me that Detective Canavan keeps referring to Manuel as "the victim" when he knows perfectly well that he has a name, and what that name is.

But maybe, like Sarah's gallows humor, saying "the victim" is a way of distancing himself from the horror of acts of such violence.

I wouldn't mind distancing myself from it, either. Every time I close my eyes, I see the blood. It wasn't red like blood on TV. It was dark brown. The same color the knees of my jeans are now.

"They didn't say anything," I say. "They were just stabbing him."

"What was he doing there?" Detective Canavan wants to know. "By the soda machines?"

"How should I know?" I ask with a shrug. "Maybe he was thirsty. The line at the concession stand was really long."

"What were you doing there?"

"I told you. I had to go to the bathroom, and the line at the other ladies' room was too long."

When Detective Canavan arrived at the sports complex-because of course we called him, to tell him what Manuel had said, about giving a key to Lindsay-I had suggested that he stop the game and question every single person present-particularly Coach Andrews, whom I now had reason to believe was more deeply involved than previously thought.

But President Allington-who unfortunately had to be informed of what was going on, given how many cops were lurking in the building-balked, saying that New York One would be on the story in a red-hot minute, and that the college had had enough bad publicity for one week. The last thing the school needed was reporters going around asking questions about a crime that, for all we knew, might in no way be connected to Lindsay-despite what I told everyone Manuel had said.

Then President Allington went on to a.s.sure us that, bad publicity aside, New York One would also be within their rights to sue if the game were stopped, claiming they stood to lose a million dollars in advertising if the game didn't continue.

I honestly never suspected those Bowflex commercials brought in so much revenue, but apparently Division III college basketball is considered must-see TV by those folks most likely to be interested in purchasing exercise equipment for the home.

"One thing I want to be sure everyone understands," President Allington also said to Detective Canavan, unfortunately (for him) within my earshot, though he was speaking softly so that no lurking reporters might overhear, "is that New York College is in no way responsible for either the death of that girl or the injuries sustained by Mr. Juarez this evening. And if he did give her a key with which she might have accessed the cafeteria, we are in no way responsible for that, either. Legally, that's still trespa.s.sing."

Which caused Detective Canavan to remark, "So what you're saying, Mr. Allington, is that if Lindsay used Manuel's key to gain access to the cafeteria, she d.a.m.n well deserved to get her head chopped off?"

President Allington looked understandably fl.u.s.tered by this statement, and one of his flunkies stepped in to say, "That is not what the president meant at all. What he meant was, the college cannot be held responsible for the fact that someone in our employ gave his keys to a student who later got herself killed on college property...."

Detective Canavan didn't stick around to hear more. And, to my everlasting relief, he took me away with him.

Or at least it was a relief at first. Because it meant I could put off having to talk to Cooper about my dad for that much longer.

Unfortunately, it meant I had to talk to Detective Canavan instead.

"And that's it? That's all you can remember? Jeans, flannel s.h.i.+rts, basketb.a.l.l.s on their heads. What about their shoes? Were they wearing tennis shoes? Loafers?"

"Sneakers," I say, remembering the squeaking on the floor.

"Well." He blinks at me. It's late, and he's probably been at the precinct all day. The number of Styrofoam cups littering the floor by his desk indicates how he's managed to sustain his energy level for so long. "That narrows it down."

"I'm sorry. What do you want me to say? They were-"

"Wearing basketb.a.l.l.s on their heads. Yes. You mentioned that."

"Are we done here?" I want to know.

"We're done," Detective Canavan says. "Except for the usual warning."

"Warning?"

"Not to involve yourself in the investigation into Lindsay Combs's murder."

"Right," I say. I can be just as sarcastic as he can. "Because I so stumbled across poor Manuel getting stabbed by her killers on purpose."

"We don't know the attack on Mr. Juarez and Lindsay's murder are connected," Detective Canavan points out. Seeing my raised eyebrows, he adds, "Yet."

"Whatever," I say. "Can I go?"

He nods, and I'm out of there like a shot. I'm tired. All I want to do is go home. And change my pants, which are stiff with Manuel's blood.

I go out into the lobby of the Sixth Precinct, expecting to see Cooper there, sitting in the same seat he always takes when he's waiting for me to come out of one of my many visits with Detective Canavan (today is a new record, twice in less than twelve hours).

But the seat is empty. In fact, the lobby is empty.

That's when I notice it's snowing really hard outside. I mean, really hard. I can barely make out the shape of the Range Rover parked in front of the station. But when I go outside and peer through the driver's-side window, I recognize Patty's husband Frank. He starts when I tap on the window, and puts it down.

"Heather!" Patty leans over from the pa.s.senger seat. "There you are! Sorry, we didn't see you, we're listening to a book on tape. One about parenting that the new nanny recommended."

"The nanny who terrifies you?" I ask.

"Yes, that's the one. G.o.d, you should have seen her face when we told her we were coming here. She nearly...Well, never mind. Get in, you must be freezing!"

I hop into the backseat. The interior is warm and smells faintly of Indian food. That's because Frank and Patty had been enjoying some samosas as they waited for me.

"How'd you know where I was?" I ask, as they pa.s.s me one, loaded with tamarind sauce. Yum.

"Cooper called," Frank explains. "Said he had to run and could we pick you up. Off on one of his cases, I guess. What's he working on, anyway?"

"How should I know?" I ask, with my mouth full. "Like he's going to tell me."

"Did you really see someone get stabbed?" Patty asks, turning around in her seat. "Weren't you scared? What is that all over your jeans?"

"I didn't have time to be scared," I say, chewing. "And that's blood."

"Oh, G.o.d!" Patty turns quickly around to face the winds.h.i.+eld again. "Heather!"

"It's okay," I say. "I can just get new ones." Although, with my luck, I'll have gone up a size, thanks to all the holiday cheer in which I imbibed.

Size 14 is still average for an American woman. Still, you don't want to have to buy all new jeans to accommodate your new size. That can be hard on the wallet. What you want to do instead is maybe reduce intake on the bodega fried chicken. Maybe.

Although it depends on how you look in the new jeans.

"It's really coming down hard," Frank observes, as he pulls out of his primo parking s.p.a.ce. In ordinary circ.u.mstances, that s.p.a.ce would be instantly taken by some waiting vehicle. But it's a blizzard, and no one is out on the streets. The flakes are falling thick and fast, already coating the street and sidewalks with an inch of fluffy white stuff. "I can't imagine Cooper's going to be able to do any real detecting in this weather."

Frank is just slightly obsessed with the fact that Cooper is a private detective. Most people fantasize about being rock stars. Well, it turns out rock stars fantasize about being private detectives. Or, in my case, being a nonvanity size 8 and still able to eat anything I want again.

Although I'm not actually a rock star. Anymore.

"Heather, I hope you're being careful this time," Patty frets, from the front seat. "I mean, about this dead girl. You aren't getting involved in the investigation, are you? Not like last time?"

"Oh, heck, no," I say. Patty doesn't need to know about my trip to the Tau Phi House. She has enough to worry about, being a former model and rocker's wife, not to mention the mother of a toddler who, at last reportage, ate an entire H & H everything bagel-almost as big as his own head-in one sitting.

The nanny hadn't been too happy about that one.

"Good," Patty says. "Because they don't pay you enough to get yourself nearly killed, like last time."

When Frank pulls up in front of Cooper's house, I see that a few of the lights are on...which surprises me, since it means Cooper must be home.

But before I can get out of the car, Frank says, "Oh, Heather, about the gig at Joe's-"