As quickly as I could, I sidestepped until I was parallel with what must have been Dad’s escape path. The grass was longer on this side and seemed to have been disturbed in only one section—by only one set of feet. I slipped my arm just under the tape, took one last look around, and ducked inside the circle, staying low and following his path back closer to the scene. I knelt down at the edge of the tallest of the grass and took in what I could.
The stain was large and circular and surrounded by grass. Nothing more. It was clear where the police had trodden the rest to bits. But there wasn’t a marker in sight—nothing to connect this area to Mom’s coin, like the scene I’d just left, like the planter. Nothing to etch a clover into, no dug-up earth like at the Patel scene.
I backed up and ran in a crouch back outside the tape. I barely had time to right myself and pull my hair down over my still-swollen cheek before Sadie warned me someone was coming my way.
“Detective?” Sadie called. “Where are you going?”
The plain-clothed cop offered me a rather sheepish grin and half jogged his way over to where I stood, trampling my father’s path to nothing before he reached me. “Detective Constable, actually,” he confided to me. “Not that I’ll be correcting that Yank.”
“Oh, well.” I tried to act embarrassed, but I literally cooed, I was trying so hard to cover my groan at yet another incompetence. I should’ve been pleased. He was exactly the type of copper I needed. “I’m sure it’s just that you have such an air of authority about you.”
The officer preened predictably and said, “How can I help you, miss?”
“Well.” I pointed inside the tape. “Can you tell me what all this is about?”
It took my constable about half a second to decide I was trustworthy before he stepped closer to me and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial level, “Murder, miss. Pretty bloody, actually. Looks like a chap was minding his business along the path in the park and got gutted for his troubles.”
I made what I hoped was an appropriate expression. “Sounds gruesome.” I tilted my head down to make sure my cheek was hidden in my hair. I was pretty sure Sadie had only seen through my makeup because she knew my face so well, but I was equally sure that a look of pity from this constable would send me back into a rage.
“Yes, well, it comes with the job for me. What brings you to a crime scene at the park this morning? You’re a bit late to see anything that matters. The detectives have mostly been through here already.”
“I always check out crime scenes,” I lied, realizing only after he gave me his first suspicious glance that I’d said the exact wrong thing. I could no longer pretend to be the casual observer I’d wanted him to believe I was.
“Interested in crime, are ya?”
“My dad’s police,” I said quickly to cover, then internally released the most heinous string of profanity I was capable of forming.
“Oh, really? Tell us who.”
I said the name through clenched teeth. “DS Moriarty.”
His expression lit up in recognition and my heart sank. “You’re Jimmy’s daughter, then? Junior, they call you.”
I forced a smile. “The same.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be at your studies?”
“Free period.”
He seemed to take the lie in stride. “Strange, your dad not being assigned this case. He usually works with Mallory on all his cases.”
I should have just nodded. Or shrugged. Or have done anything but speak, as it turned out. Instead, I said, “That’s my fault. I was sick yesterday, and he spent the whole day taking care of me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I’d never be able to take them back. I’d just made myself Dad’s alibi for the time of the crime. I briefly wondered how soon I’d regret that.
“You’ve got yourself a good one there.” His smile was true, but mine was not. He didn’t seem to notice either way. “Well, best get back to school before your free period’s over, yes?”
I nodded. “Yes, sir, detective.”
He preened a bit again and watched as I made my way back to the path and down toward the park’s entrance. We were only barely out of sight when Sadie caught up to me. “Mission accomplished?”
“It might have gone too well,” I lied.
After barely a minute of silence, Sadie began her prattling on about what class she was missing (composition) and why she wasn’t worried about missing it (she’d turned in her essay early), as I led her down a path that veered toward the fountain planter. I hadn’t noticed that I’d been walking Mum’s coin along the outside of my fingers until a boy walking his dog said, “Cool trick,” as he passed me by.