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the ladies’ room,’ Rogan said. ‘I told her I noticed her expression when Stefanie insisted Chelsea had only the one boyfriend. She gave me the usual “I don’t want to say anything about my friend”. ’

    ‘And then you said we need the truth if we’re going to help.’
    Rogan nodded. ‘Chelsea was getting her party on last night. Hard. All these girls were polluted by the time they left, and Chelsea was probably the worst. And she’s got a wild streak. She’s got the one boyfriend, Mark Linton, but that doesn’t stop her from flirting with other dudes behind his back, or even in front of his face.’
    ‘Just flirting, or following up on the flirting?’
    ‘That’s where the girl was less certain. She’s personally witnessed Chelsea make out with guys at bars – not last night, but in the past. I think she suspects things have gone further from time to time, but doesn’t know for sure and didn’t want to be too catty under the circumstances.’
    ‘We don’t have long before this one breaks.’ The local crime reporters always had a way of learning about cases involving photogenic young women whose pictures made good front-page coverage. Add in a tourist at a trendy nightclub in Manhattan’s premier party district, and Chelsea Hart’s story became irresistible.
    ‘And we need to get to the parents before that poor chump of a boyfriend goes to the airport and sees that his girl’s not on the plane,’ Rogan added. ‘And we definitely need to get the Lou on board.’
    The idea of Lieutenant Dan Eckels being on board with anything having to do with Ellie was a long shot. To say that Ellie wasn’t her lieutenant’s favorite detective was like saying the Hatfields and McCoys weren’t the friendliest of neighbors.

    ‘At least you can fuel up before you face your maker.’
    Jack Chen turned the hallway corner, juggling a pastry bag and a cardboard tray filled with three Styrofoam cups of coffee. Ellie recognized both as coming from a deli on Third Avenue. She took one of the cups and removed a cherry Danish from the bag, along with a napkin, while Chen handed five dollars and some coins back to Rogan. Rogan waved him off, and Chen thanked him before heading off to deliver the rest to the girls down the hall.
    Ellie took a much-needed first sip of the black coffee.
    ‘I’ll meet you back out here in ten?’ Rogan said.
    ‘Are you going somewhere?’
    ‘I’m going in there to prepare these girls to sit down with a sketch artist,’ he said, hitching a thumb over his shoulder. ‘You, however, are going to tell Eckels about your morning jog.’

Chapter Seven
     

    Ellie studied her lieutenant for ten full seconds through the open slats of the blinds covering the window between his office and the squad room. Dan Eckels’s short, chunky frame rested in his black leather armchair, and as far as she could tell, he was staring into space, doing absolutely nothing. She tapped her knuckles three times against his closed door.
    ‘Enter.’
    Eckels’s square face darkened when he looked up to find Ellie in the threshold of his office.
    ‘Morning, Lou. I come bearing pastry.’ She extended the napkin-wrapped Danish in his direction.
    ‘Is that powdered sugar on there, Hatcher, or did you get carried away this morning with a little arsenic?’
    ‘They always say you’ve got a wicked sense of humor.’ They didn’t. No one. Ever. Ellie suppressed a stomach growl and tried not to think about how much she would have enjoyed that cherry pastry.
    Eckels met her fake smile with his. It wasn’t a look that worked for him. With his salt-and-pepper hair, block-shaped head, and low forehead, the grin created an unfortunate Frankenstein effect.
    ‘Let me guess. You and this heart-attack-inducing breakfast ball are here to explain why you and Rogan were already well into a call-out when I arrived here at seven o’clock.’
    ‘Something like that.’ She explained how she came upon the crime scene that