I nodded. There’d be no touching the body until the coroner’s office personnel got here and everything was properly photographed and documented, which meant there wasn’t much I could do except interview whoever found him. “Does his name sound familiar to you?” I flicked a glance up at Jill.
She frowned in thought then shook her head. “I don’t think so. Why? Do you know him?”
“Not sure. The name Barry Landrieu rings a bell, and I kind of get the feeling I’ve seen him before, but…” I sighed and straightened. “Hell, I probably arrested him once or something.” Though even as I said it I knew that wasn’t it. Damn it, this was going to bug the ever-loving crap out of me until I figured it out.
I turned my attention to the gangly young man. “Hi. I’m Kara Gillian. I’d shake your hand but I don’t want to take it out of my pocket.”
He gave an awkward chuckle. “Drew Blackall. Nice to meet you.”
“Drew’s fresh out of the Academy,” Jill informed me. “He told me he wanted to be just like the CSI people on TV,” she added, face completely neutral.
He turned a bright shade of crimson, and I grinned. “And how long did it take for her to disabuse you of that notion?”
“About ten minutes,” he admitted.
I was almost surprised it had taken that long. Jill had several ready-made rants about the inaccurate ways her profession was portrayed on TV and how such portrayals were detrimental to law enforcement and forensic labs.
Jill gave a pleased sigh. “Ah, I do love shaping young minds.”
I snorted. “All right, I’m going to go talk to the witness. I’m freezing my tits off out here.”
“He’s a celebrity,” Drew blurted out, then flushed as we both looked at him. “The witness. I mean, um, not like a movie star, but he’s on TV and people around here know him.…” he trailed off, face coloring.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” I said. “Who is he?”
Drew gave an eager smile. “Roman Hatch!” he said. “He’s on ESPN and he used to play for—”
“I know who he is,” I interrupted, unable to completely hide the slight wince. “Roman Hatch. Former linebacker at LSU. They called him ‘Hatchet Man.’ Played for Green Bay and went to the Pro Bowl twice. Two years ago he had a career-ending knee injury, and now he’s a color commentator for ESPN.”
Jill cocked an eyebrow at me. “And here I thought you didn’t know anything about sports.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know anything about sports. But I know Roman.” I paused, shrugged. “I went to LSU. And I, uh, dated him for a couple of months during my senior year.”