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A bored-looking supervisor sat behind a Dutch door, filling out paperwork On the counter next to hi in and out

Maia had freshened up in the car while she was putting together her cover story She couldn’t do e on her cheek, but she’d fixed her h perfuainst the Dutch door, a little closer to the supervisor than was necessary, and sot the desired effect

In his haste to stand up, the supervisor dropped his clipboard "Oh, um, no"

He was about thirty Pale Dark hair and chewed cuticles Like ravitate to lonely jobs in the bowels of the depart alternately ignored and terrorized

Maia offered her hand "My na down?"

"Um, no, ma’amI mean, I would’ve remembered if they mentioned somebody like you"

His hand was cold and daave it a nice firm shake--friendly, uninhibited "It’s about the Orosco case I hate to bother you, but I wanted to see the evidence It is here, right?"

She handed hi a believable cold case to investigate, and the acco file information, had taken her all of five minutes--one phone call to an acquaintance in Austin

The supervisor looked at the number "Ohoh, yeah Been here for years Yuck"

"Would it be okay if I--" She gestured to his side of the door, gave hi it No fe the supervisor wouldn’t object

He didn’t

"Just let ate while Maia scanned the logbook, saw the entries she wanted to see, then signed herself in as Minnie Mouse and put the incorrect date and time The supervisor didn’t notice

Once inside, he was more than happy--thrilled, he insisted--to walk her back to cold storage

"Thanks, these places are such ratefully "I don’t kno you keep it all straight"

"Oh, well, yeah"

Maia figured it was time to make her point She asked the supervisor if she could make a quick cell call

"Oh, sure," he said "Don’t know if you’ll get a good signal in here"

She got a signal She was just calling upstairs

"This is Maia Lee," she said into the phone

Momentary silence, then the man on the other end said: "We need to talk to you in person Now"

"I know," Maia said "I’m in the basement"

"What do you mean you’re in the baseave the evidence supervisor a conspiratorial smile "Bosses Such a pain Please, lead on"

The piece of evidence she pretended to as a hu murder back in 1998 The victim and the prime suspect had both been from Austin, so SAPD and APD had cooperated on the case The weapon had never been found The pelvis, with penetration wound, had been kept in cold storage--just in case they ever found a blade to led Maia’s , rather than justa cast of the wound, but her contact had assured her it wasn’t the strangest thing in the evidence rooo," the supervisor said proudly

"Wow" Thankfully, Maia’s nausea was never bad at night, but it still took all her willpower not to gag She proerator wondering what to eat again as long as she lived

"That’s a pelvis, all right," she ed "You sure it’s okay"

"Oh, hell, nobody cares about this stuff Help yourself It’s a cold case Literally, right?"

He sounded proud of his little joke Maia tried to smile

She took a closer look at the entrance wound, acting like she knehat she was doing Finally she sighed "Noda for a secondary laceration, butwell, I guess it’s back to the drawing board"

"Aw, really? I’erator Her host didn’t notice the blood kit in the s which she’d slipped into her pocket

They walked together toward the front of the evidence roo, if somebody wanted to switch a DNA sample in the evidence room, how easy would that be?"

"Ied "I witness everything in and out No chance"

"What if the person were a cop?"

He laughed uneasily "You’re kidding, right?"

Maia sh she felt depressed as hell She’d found out what she wanted Sure--the supervisor on duty would keep out ninety-nine percent of the people Nobody off the street could waltz in But with somebody as determined, who kne departularly left their patrol cars unlocked, most deterrence inside a police station was cop aura Cops had a hard tih to mess with police property

And the naure what to do with that information when her supervisor friend stopped dead in his tracks

Detective Kelsey had understood her phone call He was standing red-faced at the Dutch door, swinging the supervisor’s clipboard by its broken pen chain

KELSEY SLAMMED THE INTERROGATION ROOM DOOR "You have any idea how es I could level?"