Richard Montanari by The Echo Man

yet, but Jessica had taken a few still pictures on her cellphone.
She made it a practice never to print off any crime- scene photographs that she
took with her own camera, even though there were no rules against it. It just
made it a little too likely that personal photographs would get mixed in with
official photographs, and things like that were what defense attorneys lived
for. PhotoShop had changed everything.
        Byrne
stared at the images for a full minute, scrolling through them one by one.
        'No
ID yet?' he asked.
        'Not
yet,' Jessica said. 'Body's still on scene.'
        Byrne
handed back the phone. 'Any witnesses?'
        'Nothing.
I'm heading back there in a few minutes.'
        Byrne
looked across the room. David Albrecht sat at one of the desks, playing back
footage on his camera's viewfinder.
        'Who's
the kid with the camera?'
        Jessica
explained David Albrecht's presence.
        'Great,'
Byrne said. 'Just what we need.'
        Byrne
checked the body chart, taking in the general details of the wounds to the
victim, the placement of the body. 'Want some company?'
        'I'll
drive,' Jessica said.
        'Let
me get my stuff out of my car.'
        In
the rear parking lot they stopped at Byrne's car. It was a Kia Sedona minivan.
Jessica had never seen it before.
        'When
did you get this?'
        'It's
a loaner from my cousin Patrick. Colleen is going to be moving soon and we're
trying to keep the costs down. I'm bringing some of her stuff to a storage
locker this week.'
        'Do
you like it?'
        'Oh
yeah,' Byrne said. 'Kias are true babe magnets. Had a few college cheerleaders
flash me the other day.'
        Byrne
unlocked the passenger door, reached in, grabbed some things from the back
seat. When he closed the door and turned around, Jessica did a double take.
        Kevin
Byrne had a stylish leather messenger bag over his shoulder.
        'Oh
my God,' Jessica said.
        'What?'
        'Hang
on.' Jessica took out her cellphone, opened it, pantomimed dialing a long phone
number. A really long phone number. She held up a finger. 'Hi, is this
Hell?'
        Byrne
shook his head.
        'Yes,'
Jessica continued. 'I was calling to get the current temperature. What's that
you say? Five below? Snow squalls expected?'
        'Funny
stuff,' Byrne said. 'Let me get a table so I can catch the whole act.'
        Jessica
smiled, closed her phone. She leaned against the car, crossed her arms. 'I
can't believe it. Kevin Byrne carrying a purse. I am so blogging about
this.'
        'It's
a man bag.'
        'Ah.'
        'And
it's a Tumi. Tumi makes good stuff.'
        'There's
no question about that,' Jessica said. 'I have a Tumi purse myself.'
        'This
isn't a purse, okay? It's a—'
        'Man
bag,' Jessica said.
        'And,
just for the record, I never want to hear the words metro and sexual in the same sentence. Okay?'
        'Promise,'
Jessica said. Her fingers were secretly crossed behind her back. 'So, what made
you decide to do this?'
        Byrne
leaned closer. 'It's just getting harder and harder to leave the house, you
know? You have to have your keys, your cellphone, your pager, your sunglasses,
your regular glasses, your iPod—'
        'Wait.
You have an iPod?'
        'Yes,
I have an iPod. What's so odd about that?'
        'Well,
for one thing, you still buy vinyl records. I just figured in a few years you'd
make the giant leap to audiocassettes. Maybe even CDs one day.'
        'I buy
vinyl because it's collectible. Especially the old blues.'
        'Okay.'
        'Remember
your uniform days when everything went on your belt? Ami what didn't go on your
belt fitted in your shirt pocket?'
        'I
remember, but keep in mind there's even less room up there for female cops.'
        'I'm
a detective,' Byrne said. 'I've noticed that.'
        I le
took a few steps back, gestured to the cut of his