“Just all the rest of the time.”
Olsen grinned. “And he’s so good at it. He says you’re the best LT he’s ever worked under, and Peabody’s as good as t
hey get. So.”
She offered a hand to Eve. “Thanks for making the time. Anything we can do to bag this bastard will have me doing my happy dance.”
When Olsen left, Peabody preened. “I have a rep.”
“That’s what you got out of all that?”
“Just taking a moment to bask.”
“Basking’s done,” Eve said as she rose.
“Good thing, as I’ve got a notification Oliver Quint’s just signed in. He’s one of the delivery guys.”
“Let’s get him in Interview.”
“I liked Olsen,” Peabody said as they headed out. “Do you think she and Baxter…”
“What is Baxter’s middle name?”
“Horndog. Yeah, that answers that.”
* * *
Quint was a skinny black guy with huge eyes and a tiny beard. He sat in the box with his narrow shoulders hunched and his dark moon eyes darting. Eve’s first thought was nobody that jumpy could successfully shoplift a bag of soy chips from a 24/7 much less orchestrate a trio of break-ins, rapes, and a murder.
But you had to start somewhere.
“Nervous, Oliver?”
“It’s Ollie, okay. My ma calls me Oliver when I’m in trouble. Am I in trouble?”
“Have you done anything to get you there?”
“Look, Chachie said how he found the wrist unit, and he needed some scratch, so I bought it off him cheap. Maybe I sort of figured he maybe stole it somewhere, but I didn’t steal it.”
Eve arched an eyebrow, studied the black, fake leather band and oversized unit on Quint’s bony wrist.
“That wrist unit?”
“Well, yeah. See, mine got busted, so—”
“So you’re wearing what you believe is stolen property to a police interview?”
“I…” He looked sincerely baffled. “My old one got busted.”
“We’re not interested in the wrist unit, Ollie.”
“Oh.” His big eyes blinked. “Hey, I only went by that party to hook up with Marletta, and we didn’t stay. Maybe an hour.”
“What party?”
“Um. Lorenzo’s party.” He tried a sheepish, “aw shucks” smile. “Maybe I figured there maybe would be Zoner and shit there, but I didn’t have any. I got a good job, and you could get bounced. Plus, my ma’d skin me.”
Peabody smiled at him. “Your ma sounds like a good, smart woman.”