HYDE
Chapter 4




With Kerri between McKenna and Maureen, the three walked across Second Avenue to a diner. The waitress didn't look happy with having Kerri for a customer, but she took their breakfast order anyway. As soon as the waitress left, McKenna got down to business. "Can you tell us why Benny beat you?"
     Kerri looked to Maureen before answering. Maureen smiled encouragement and placed her hand on top of Kerri's. "Because I talked to a man," Kerri whispered. "He don't want me talking to no one."
     "Who was the man?" McKenna asked.
     "I don't know. We was working the copy store and the man talked to me."
     "Working? What kind of work?"
     "You know. Just working."
     "Panhandling?" Maureen asked.
     "Yeah, I guess so."
     "Where's the copy store?" McKenna asked.
     Kerri pointed west, toward the back of the restaurant. "One block that way and one block down."
     "Second Avenue and East 30th Street?"
     "I don't know."
     "That's it," Maureen volunteered. "Tower Copy. It's reset into the building, so there's an overhang out front. The homeless are always there because it's out of the wind and rain. Soon as the place closes, they set up camp."
     "Okay. Tell me about the man," McKenna said.
     Kerri squinted her eyes as she tried to remember. "He was just a man. He asked me if I wanted someplace to stay and I told him I stayed with Benny. Then Benny came back and..."
     "Where was Benny?"
     "He went around the corner to pee."
     "Okay. Benny came back. What then?"
     "The man told Benny he should get me off the street. Benny got mad and told him to shut up, but the man didn't. He said that Benny was a worthless bum. Then he put ten dollars in my cup and told me I should leave Benny."
     "So Benny beat you up over that?"
     "Yeah. He kicked me a little there, then told me he was going to Citibank. But we didn't go there, yet. We walked around a while. He hit me a lot and made me cry."
     "What time did you and Benny get to the Citibank?" McKenna asked.
     "I don't know. Late. We always get there late, when there's not too many people."
     "How did you get into the bank?"
     "I'm smart," Kerri answered proudly. "Someone always lets me in with one of those cards. I just tell them I'm real cold and I'm just going to stay for a little while. Sometimes they give me money from the machine, too."
     "And then you let Benny in, after they leave, right?"
     "Right."
     "But not last night. Kerri, how come Benny was sleeping outside when you were in the bank?" McKenna asked.
     Kerri's smile vanished and she looked to Maureen. "It's all right, Kerri. You can tell him," Maureen said.
     "Because he was being mean to me," Kerri said. "I made believe I was asleep when he tried to come in."
     "But you weren't asleep?"
     "No. I was fooling him." Suddenly, Kerri was enjoying the little joke she had played on Benny.
     For a moment, McKenna thought it strange that Maureen also found it funny, and then he figured it out. If Benny hadn't beaten Kerri, she wouldn't have locked him out of the bank and he'd still be alive. Maureen caught McKenna staring at her, made an effort to take the smile off her face, and nodded at him to continue.
     "What time was it when you were pretending to sleep?" he asked Kerri.
     "I don't know."
     "Did you see Benny lie down outside?"
     "No. He was talking to another man when I really fell asleep. They were drinking together outside."
     "Do you know this other man?"
     "No, but Benny must. He don't drink with just anybody."
     "What were they drinking?"
     "I don't know. Some kind of alcohol. The man had a bottle and he gave Benny some in his cup."
     "What happened to the man?"
     "I don't know." Kerri was getting bored with the questioning and having a hard time concentrating.
     "Would you know him if you saw him again?"
     "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not."
     McKenna wanted to pursue that line of questioning, but the waitress came with their breakfast orders and Kerri was no longer in the mood for talking. McKenna and Maureen just picked at their food, while Kerri attacked hers with enthusiasm, but very little in the way of table manners as she devoured her order. Maureen gave Kerri her half-finished plate, and Kerri polished that one off too.
     "You want more?" McKenna asked.
     "Not now. I'm full," Kerri stated.
     "Kerri, did Benny always use his own cup?" Maureen asked. It was her first question and gave McKenna an indication that his partner had something on her mind.
     "Sure, always," Kerri answered. "He didn't want to get nobody else's germs. He was real careful about germs."
     "Where's his cup now?" McKenna asked.
     "I don't know. I guess he put it away. He's real neat, you know."
     "What does his cup look like?"
     "It's white with some kind of writing on it."
     "What kind of writing?" he asked.
     Kerri's face went blank. She showed her displeasure at the question by ignoring it and turning to Maureen.
     "Kerri. This might be important," Maureen said softly. "What kind of writing did Benny's cup have?"
     Kerri's brows furrowed as she concentrated. "I don't know, but it was red-colored. Maybe it said his name."
     "That's probably it," McKenna agreed, which caused Kerri to smile. "Thanks, Kerri. You've been a big help. Is it okay if we talk about you now?" he asked.
     "I guess," Kerri said, noncommittally.
     "How come you stayed with Benny?"
     Kerri looked surprised. "Because he's my man. He takes care of me most of the time."
     "But he beats you."
     "Everybody beats me. He ain't no different."
     "Where are you from, Kerri?"
     "Down south."
     "What state?"
     It was a hard question for Kerri. "Is Mississippi a state, or is it just a river?"
     "It's both," McKenna said.
     "That's where I'm from."
     "How long have you been in New York?"
     "I don't know. A long time."
     "How long have you been with Benny?"
     "A long time."
     "How did you get here?"
     "I hitch-hiked."
     "Do you have any family in Mississippi?"
     "My mother, I think. I know she moved, but maybe she's still in Mississippi."
     "Did you go to school in Mississippi?"
     "When I was little, but it was too hard for me."
     I'll bet it was, McKenna thought as he watched Kerri grimace while she remembered. Then she said, "I don't like to talk about school."
     "Okay," McKenna said. "Let's talk about something different. How old are you, Kerri?"
     "Old. I was born in 1968."
     Yeah, that's real old, McKenna thought. Twenty-eight long and miserable years old. "You're a big girl now. I want to thank you for answering our questions," he said.
     Kerri preened at the compliment, but had more important things on her mind. "I have to go to the bathroom."
     Maureen pointed out the rest rooms in the rear of the restaurant. "Well, what do you think?" she asked McKenna as soon as Kerri left.
     "I think your pal Benny deserved to freeze, but I'm not sure that's what happened to him. He looked too relaxed lying out there, not all huddled up the way a person lies when they're cold. Maybe he just drank till he passed out, then froze, but he sounds too sharp for that."
     "He was," Maureen agreed. "Benny drank, but he was on the street a long time and he was very careful. He would never drink enough to pass out and take a chance on getting robbed. Not when he had all that money on him."
     "Then my bet is he died of natural causes. Maybe a heart attack."
     "Hope you're right," Maureen said. "It'll get the cops off the hook."
     "What's your feeling on it?"
     "I've got a feeling he was murdered," Maureen said.
     It was a leap of faith that surprised McKenna, but only for a moment. He had found no marks on Benny's body, but it was common knowledge in the detective bureau that Maureen's feelings were never to be disregarded. Of the twenty four hundred NYPD detectives, she was one of the ninety-nine who had been recognized and promoted to detective first grade, a promotion that never came easy and took more than dedication and hard work to achieve. It required that indefinable insight on their cases, that intangible crime writers call a hunch. McKenna knew that Maureen's brain generated a prodigious number of hunches, a fair share of which turned out to be correct. "Poison?" he asked, trying not to sound skeptical.
     "I don't know. Maybe," she answered, deep in thought.
     "Why would anyone poison a bum?"
     "I don't know that either, yet," Maureen answered, staring McKenna straight in the eye. "What I do know is that Benny was always a pretty healthy guy."
     It didn't make sense to McKenna, but if Maureen said it, then the possibility had to be explored. "If Benny was poisoned, then the murderer was probably the guy he was drinking with."
     "Unless he had a real unhealthy snack while Kerri was sleeping," Maureen said. "We'll know more when we send Benny's cup to the lab, if it's still there. There might be some residue of his last drink left in it."
     "And if the cup's not there?" McKenna asked, knowing the answer.
     "Then that's good and bad," Maureen answered. "If the cup's gone, then we'll know between ourselves that we've got a murder, but we'll have to rely on the medical examiner and the autopsy to make us look smart."
     Somehow I don't feel so smart around this woman, McKenna thought. But she's right. If someone went to the trouble to poison Benny, then he might have been smart enough to take his cup. "Then Benny's cup is our first order of business," he said, stating the obvious.
     "Your case and your first order of business," Maureen answered. "My first order of business is Kerri."
     "Kerri? That's it?"
     "Sure. If it is a murder, she's going to have to be warm, safe, and available to tell you everything she knows about Benny."
     She's right again, McKenna thought. I'm gonna need some idea on the motive if it was murder, and Kerri might be the only person who can give it to me. Without her, I've got no idea on how to start tracing the life of a street person to find out who disliked him enough to kill him. Where would I even start? "What happened when you locked Benny up?" he asked.
     "Nothing. I had to talk Kerri into pressing charges, but she was terrified of him. She just refused to go to court after the arraignment, so the charges were dropped."
     "What are you going to do with Kerri now?"
     "After I have a doctor look at her face, I'll make sure she gets the cash Benny had on him and I'll get her set up for a couple of days, just in case you need her."
     She makes it sound so easy, McKenna thought. Violate all the rules by giving Kerri the decedent's money and, on top of that, keep her off the street and available. Even for Maureen, that's a lot to accomplish. "How are you gonna do all that?" he asked.
     "Take my advice and don't worry about anything," Maureen answered, dismissing his question. "I've been working this precinct long enough to earn some favors."
     Great, McKenna thought. So for my first case, I might be looking at a very-hard-to-solve murder. How am I gonna handle this one?
     McKenna silently pondered his situation for a few minutes while Maureen watched him, smiling wryly. In the end, he decided to take her advice. He didn't worry about it.

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