“Since I’ve been on board, just me. Prior, to the best of my knowledge, Sara Hunning, Steven Grogan and two ferry officers on board.”
“There’s an Out of Order sign on the door.”
“Yeah.”
“But she came in anyway.”
“Nobody we’ve spoken to can absolutely confirm. She told the kid she was going in.”
Sealed, Eve stepped into the first of the four stalls, waved a hand over the sensor. The toilet flushed efficiently. She repeated the gesture in the other three stalls, with the same results.
“Appears to be in order.”
“It’s human,” Peabody told her, holding up her gauge. “Type A Negative.”
“Some smears, but no drag marks,” Eve murmured. She gestured toward a narrow utility closet. “Who opened that?”
“I did,” Jake told her. “On the chance she—or her body—was in there. It was locked.”
“There’s only one way in and out.” Peabody walked around to the sink area. “No windows. If that’s Carolee Grogan’s blood, she didn’t stand up and walk out of here.”
Eve stood at the edge of the blood pool. “How do you get a dead body out of a public restroom, on a ferry in the middle of the harbor, under the noses of more than three thousand people? And why the hell don’t you leave it where it dropped in the first place?”
“It’s not an answer to that,” Jake began, “but this is a tourist boat. It doesn’t carry any vehicles, has extra concession areas. People tend to hug the rails and look out, or hang in a concession and snack as they watch out the windows. Still, it’d take a lot of luck and enormous cojones to cart a bleeding body along the deck.”
“Balls maybe, but nobody’s got that kind of luck. I’ll need this room sealed, Inspector. And I want to talk to the missing woman’s family, and the witness. Peabody, let’s get the sweepers out here. I want every inch of this room covered.”
Eve considered Jake’s foresight in having the Grogan family sequestered in one of the canteen’s solid. It kept them away from other passengers, gave them seats, and access to food and drink. That, she assumed, had kept the kids calm.
Calm enough, she noted, for the smaller of the two boys to curl on the narrow seat of the booth with his head in his father’s lap.
The man continued to stroke the boy’s hair, and his face was both pale and frightened when Eve crossed to him.
“Mr. Grogan, I’m Lieutenant Dallas, with the New York City Police and Security Department. This is Detective Peabody.”
“You found her. You found Carolee. She’s—”
“We haven’t yet located your wife.”
“She told me to wait.” The boy with his head on Steve’s lap opened his eyes. “I did. But she didn’t come back.”
“Did you see her go into the other bathroom?”
“Nuh-uh, but she said she was gonna, and then we were going to get dogs and drinks. And she gave me the routine.”
“Routine?”
He sat up, but leaned against his father’s side. “How I had to wait right there, and how if I needed anything, I was supposed to get one of the guys who work on the boat. The uniform guys.”
“Okay. Then you went into the men’s bathroom.”
“It was only for a minute. I just had to . . . you know. Then I came out and waited like she said. It always takes girls longer. But it was really long, and I was thirsty. I used my ’link.” He slid his eyes toward his father. “We’re only allowed to use them if it’s really important, but I was thirsty.”
“It’s okay, Pete. She didn’t answer, so Pete tagged me, and Will and I headed back to where he was waiting. They’d been gone at least ten minutes by then. There was the Out of Order sign on the door, so I thought she might’ve used another restroom. Except she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t have left Pete. So I asked this woman if she’d just take a look inside. And then . . .”
He shook his head.
“She said there was blood.” The older boy swallowed hard. “The lady came running out, yelling there was blood.”