The detective looked like she’d walked in from central casting. Jaded New York policewoman. Took no shit. Would kick your ass in a heartbeat. Then she smiled.
She had the kind of smile that would brighten even the worst murder scene, Stevens decided. It dominated the lobby of the Carlyle. “Erin Nordin,” she said, shaking Stevens’s hand. “A long way from home, aren’t you?”
Stevens introduced Mathers. “Seems to be my MO these days,” he said, matching the detective’s smile. “Not enough crimes in Minnesota or something.”
“So you thought you’d come to Manhattan and start solving ours.”
“Already been through Miami and Philadelphia. Hoping it gets easier the farther north I go.”
Nordin laughed, sharp, unself-conscious. It echoed around the room, drawing glances from the bellhops and a frown from the concierge. “You picked a bad place to start,” she said. “This Nadeau case isn’t exactly a slam dunk.”
“Tough, huh?”
“As they come. Nadeau’s having a fling with some Swedish boy toy in a thousand-dollar-a-night suite. Somebody walks in, shoots them both. Disappears.”
“Like a ghost.”
“No witnesses anywhere. According to the security footage, guy wore a Yankees cap and sunglasses with the tags on ’em. Walked in and walked out and vanished in the streets.”
Stevens looked around the lobby. Met Mathers’s eyes. Mathers shrugged. “You said Nadeau was having a fling,” Stevens said. “You check out the husband?”
Nordin shook her head. “Nothing doing there. He was the first guy on my list. Figured he was jealous, he wanted her dead.”
“She was cheating,” said Mathers. “Of course he’d be mad.”
“He was heartbroken,” said Nordin. “He wept like a baby. Swore he’d known for years and he just didn’t care. Loved her anyway. Crazy.”
“Crazy,” said Mathers. “He have an alibi, though?”
“Checked that out, too. He was in Paris. Actually, about the time Nadeau was killed, he was on an Air France jumbo jet somewhere over the Atlantic. Wasn’t him.”
“We’re dealing with a contract killer,” said Stevens. “Even if Nadeau’s husband didn’t pull the trigger, he still could have arranged the kill.”
“He could have,” said Nordin, “but I’d be damn surprised if he did. Marc Nadeau was as forthcoming as we could ask for. Opened his house to us, whatever we needed. And, like I said, he knew she was cheating.”
Stevens paced a couple of steps. “And no trace of the killer.”
“None.”
“Find the weapon?” said Mathers.
Nordin shook her head. “No, sir. Probably in the East River somewhere with the rest of the guns.”
“Damn it.” Mathers looked at Stevens. “This guy’s like a damn ninja.”
“Or a robot,” said Stevens.
Nordin watched them a moment. Then she gestured to the elevators. “You guys want to see the room?”