Expecting to Die (Alvarez & Pescoli)

“Baby? Jesus. No . . . I mean, we were careful. She told me she was on the pill, for Christ’s sake.” Panic rose in his eyes and his knee was jumping frantically. “You mean she lied to me?”

Pescoli said, “I mean we’ll need to take a swab of your mouth for a DNA sample.”

“Oh, God. No.” He was wagging his head. “My mom can’t find out about this. She would kill me. I mean it.”

“Come in to the station,” Alvarez suggested. “Or we can send a tech out here.”

“No! Don’t! Shit! Can’t you just do it right now?”

“We prefer for it to happen in the lab.” Alvarez didn’t want any chance for some lawyer to scream about lack of control or any question of the chain of evidence. “By a tech.”

“Oh . . . okay.”

“Today.” Alvarez met his eyes.

“Yeah . . .” He licked his lips as if they were suddenly dry, and his eyes rounded. If he’d known about the pregnancy, he was certainly putting up a pretty good act. “I just can’t believe it,” he said, hanging his head and shaking it slowly, as if he were trying to put things right in his mind and kept failing. “Knocked up? Des?” He clasped his hands over his eyes. “How the hell—?”

Alvarez heard the sound of a motorcycle, engine racing loudly on the street in front of the house.

Donny’s head snapped up. “Look, this”—he moved his hands back and forth to include both of the police officers—“is over. I gotta go.”

Pescoli didn’t budge. “You’d better not be lying to us, Donny, because we will find out and then, if you haven’t been truthful with us, we’ll wonder why and we’ll be back.”

“Come into the station for that swab,” Alvarez reminded.

He nodded and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

The roar got closer, coming from the driveway on the other side of the hedge, only to stop suddenly as the engine was cut.

“Can you just leave now?” Donny pleaded, climbing to his feet.

Footsteps approached, and a second later Alex O’Hara stepped through the open gate to the backyard. In faded jeans and a black T-shirt printed with an image of a Harley-Davidson, Alex was a little leaner than Donny and two or three inches shorter. His dark hair was clipped tightly to his head and he definitely resembled his brother, TJ, but Alex seemed older and, if not wiser, then cagier. At least in Alvarez’s opinion. It was the way he carried himself with a bit of bravado, and the too-quick grin, eyes hidden by reflective shades. But he was here and that was good luck.

CHAPTER 10

Alex O’Hara almost stumbled when he caught sight of the cops. “Whoa,” he said and sent a quick look to Donny, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

A warning.

These two, and God only knew how many others, knew more than they were saying.

“Alex O’Hara,” Alvarez said as the kids started to back up. “Stick around.”

“Didn’t mean to interrupt.” He was still backpedaling.

“You’re not interrupting at all. In fact, you saved us a trip, as we were going to talk to you next.” She was stretching the truth a bit, but he didn’t know that. “We met last night,” she reminded him, though she doubted he’d forgotten. “I’m Detective Alvarez and this is Detective Pescoli.” She motioned to Pescoli, who was studying the newcomer.

“Yeah. I know.” He nodded. He stopped heading for the gate, folded his arms over his chest, and waited.

She said, “Since you’re here, we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“About Destiny Rose Montclaire,” Pescoli added. Even in the shade of the porch, she felt like she was melting, the edges of her hair around her scalp moist.

“I barely knew her,” Alex said, then glanced at Donny, as if to confirm, but this time his friend just stared at his clasped hands, which were now hanging at his knees.

Alvarez said, “But you’d met.”

“Yeah.” One more look at his friend. He got no response. Donny, it seemed, was lost in his own world. “Look, I only met her a couple of times, I think.” His gaze swept from one cop to the other. “Wait a minute. Don’t I need a lawyer or something to talk to you?”