The tall building stood out immediately and not only because of its size. All the houses in the neighbourhood were painted to a pleasant pastel shade, except the one they were looking for. A tower, Kate thought. Dark grey brick building, surrounded by leafless trees, like a lonely giant.

“Charming,” she said, barely more than a mumble.

Miss Jones gave them a curious look when they asked for her employee’s address, but knew better than to start asking questions. Kate ran her fingers across the list of names, and pressed the one next to the one that said ‘Wakefield’. She was about to press it for the second time, when the door started buzzing. There was a strange smell in the hallway. Musty, dark, unpleasant. The smell of hopelessness.

“How come this place still exists?” Kate whispered to Ben. “Everything else around here is so nice…”

Ben shrugged. “You know how it is… Some old tenants probably didn’t agree. What can they do?”

Kate shuddered. She pressed the button for the elevator but nothing happened. She pressed it again. She swore. Before she could press it again, a door opened behind her.

“The elevator is not working, dear,” said the old lady, blinking at them with watery eyes. Kate muttered something under her nose that vaguely sounded like a ‘thank you’, looked at the stairs with a pained look, and started marching. The flat they were looking for was on the fifth floor. Her footsteps echoed and she heard Ben’s soft panting behind her. She waited a few moments to catch her breath before knocking on the door. Sounds of shuffling and sniffling came from within. The rattle of keys was followed by a creak, and the door opened up slightly. A suspicious eye peered at them.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

Kate answered with a question. “Tom Wakefield?” When the man nodded, she continued. “I’m Detective Robbins from Montclair. Do you mind if we step inside for a moment?”

“What’s this about?” The man opened up the door a bit more, but did not step out the way.

“Mr. Wakefield, it’d be better if we could have this conversation inside.” She took a step towards the door and Tom Wakefield cringed. Kate put her hand on the door and gave it a small push. Reluctantly, the man stepped out of the way and waved his hand in the general direction of a small, but well stocked kitchen.

“Will you tell me, what’s going on?” Tom Wakefield sounded like a sulky child as he pulled his dressing gown tighter around himself.

“We are investigating the case of Alice Draper, and our inquiry lead to you, Mr. Wakefield”, Kate said, without looking at Tom, running her eyes around the stuffed shelves.

“Alice?” Tom Wakefield squeaked. He stared at Kate first, then when he got no reply, he turned to Ben. “Alice’s case? What’s going on?”

“Why don’t you sit down, Mr. Wakefield?” Kate said, and she pulled out one of the chairs. Tom nearly collapsed on it.

“I don’t understand…” he said, and his voice trailed off.

Kate and Ben took the chairs on the opposite sides of the table.

“Did you know Alice well?” Ben asked, his eyes showing sympathy.

“I… we…,” Tom stammered. “We worked together. I really liked Alice. We were really close.”

Ben nodded. “I see. So you say, you were close. How would you define close?”

Tom dropped his gaze, almost like to hide his flustered cheeks. “I don’t know what it matters.”

“Just answer the question, please,” Kate said.

The young man turned to Ben once more, his eyes pleading. “We were friends. She was really nice.”

“Just friends?” Ben asked.

A dark cloud passed over Tom’s face and he gritted his teeth. “Is this about what I did at the office party? Oh, God… Why can’t people just leave it alone?” His eyes suddenly grew large. “Wait, you are not saying… Alice pressed charges?”

“What exactly happened, Mr. Wakefield?” Kate asked in a casual tone.

Tom shook his head. “Nothing.” He looked her straight in the eye. “Nothing happened. I made an ass out of myself and the whole office thought I’m a pathetic idiot. But what does it have to do with anything?”

“Where were you Friday night?”

“Where…?” Tom ran his hand through his hair and looked once again at Ben. “Friday night? Why?”

“Mr. Wakefield, it’s a simple question,” Kate said, leaning forward in her seat.

“I… I was here. I didn’t go to work because I felt sick, so I stayed home the whole weekend.”

“Is there anyone who can verify this?” Ben asked.

“I… yes, I mean… Why are you asking me these questions?” Sweat appeared on Tom’s forehead and he absently wiped at it.

“You ask, why,” Kate said, and shrugged. “I think it’s a perfectly legitimate question after Alice Draper turned up dead.”

Tom Wakefield gaped at her. “Dead?” It was barely more like a whisper. “Alice is…? What happened?”

Kate did not let go of his gaze. “I ask the questions here, Mr. Wakefield. Can anyone verify your statement that you’ve been here?”

But before Tom Wakefield could have answered they heard a rattle of keys from the front door.

“Hey, honey!” a woman’s voice called from the foyer.

In the small kitchen the tension grew. A pained expression appeared on Tom’s face.

“In here,” he called out, and a moment later the owner of the voice appeared at the door. She looked she was about to hug Tom, but stopped short as she noticed Kate and Ben.

“Who are your guests?” she asked as her eyes bore into Kate.

“Detectives…,” he said, looking desperately at the two of them.

“Robbins and Petersen.” Kate helped out. The frown on the woman’s face deepened.

“Something happened to one of my colleagues.” Tom explained to the woman, his voice growing weaker with every word. “You know, like an accident or something.”

The woman placed her bag on the counter and turned her attention back to the group. “I’m Susan by the way,” she said and took a seat on the last chair. “An accident you say.”

“Y-yes,” Tom stammered.

“Who?” Susan asked, turning to Kate.

“Alice Draper,” Kate said in a conversational tone and noted how the other woman’s mouth turned down in disgust.

It was only a fleeting emotion, and Susan rearranged her features a moment later into something more neutral. “Her, I see,” she said, her voice not betraying any emotions. “What do you think happened to her?”

“Are you two working together?” Kate asked the woman.

She seemed to be one of those people who are used to asking questions, not answering them, for she seemed slightly taken aback. To cover it, she leaned back in her chair and started arranging her curly black her around her face with slow motions. “No, I’m Tom’s girlfriend, as I’m sure you figured it out by now.”

“Susan, is it?” Kate asked, and when the other woman nodded, she continued. “We just need to know where your boyfriend was on Friday evening. You see, he might have information about the accident we are investigating.” She made sure she emphasized the word accident, and looked at the woman across the table with expectation.

“He was sick,” Susan said, and grabbed Tom’s hand, giving it a little squeeze. “I told him he should stay home, or else he would just make it worse.”

“So you two spent Friday night here?” Kate asked, but kept her eyes on Tom.

Tom opened his mouth, but another squeeze on his hand made him reconsider.

“Yes, we did,” Susan answered. Tom stared at their intertwined fingers, like it was the most interesting thing he saw this week.

Kate cleared her throat. “Well, thank you for your time. We leave you to rest.”

The two detectives rose from the table, and Tom Wakefield shuffled after them in the tiny foyer. Kate was already outside the door when she turned back to ask one more question.

“Does anyone call you Tommy?”

A surprised look appeared on Tom’s face. “Tommy? No, no one does. Everyone calls me Tom.”

Kate nodded. “Take care, Tom.” She said as the confused face disappeared behind the closing door.

*

The snow crunched under their feet as they walked through the small park opposite the Tower. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked, but apart from that everything was quiet.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Kate said, and Ben nodded.

Once in the car, she turned on the radio. A disembodied voice announced the next song, something about a guy with a heartache. Still, it was better than the quiet whiteness, so Kate left it on.

“What did you think of him?” she asked Ben once she was sitting comfortably.

He considered the question. “He seems to have an alibi.”

“He also seemed to have a girlfriend who bosses him around. She was acting quite strange if you ask me.”

Ben waited.

“I think we should look into her. What if she has something to do with Alice’s little… accident?” Kate continued.

“Are you suggesting she knew her boyfriend had a crush on Alice and went after Alice? Isn’t that a bit farfetched? Yes, I agree, she seemed bossy and intimidating, but that doesn’t mean she murdered the competition.”

Kate shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to ask!”

*

With a hot dog in hand, Kate leaned on the banister and let her gaze run across the river. The wind tugging at her hair was refreshing, but not too cold. She heard the familiar footsteps behind her.

“So?” she asked withouth turning around.

“Miss Jones seems to be awfully well informed for someone who doesn’t care about office gossip.”

Kate nodded. “Typical.”

Ben continued. “Tom and Susan broke up a few months ago, and after that our guy seemed to be more after Alice than ever before. They were on good terms, but according to our Miss Jones they never been more than friendly, and apparently Alice was not very keen on him in a romantic way. So this matches what Melissa told us. Then there was the infamous kiss attempt at the office party, and right around that time Susan forced herself back in Tom’s life. He was talking to Alice about this and allegedly said that he did not think this relationship would work out for the best, but couldn’t really say no to Susan.”

Kate shook her head in disgust. “What a wimp…”

Ben shrugged. “It’s never easy when it comes to love.”

Kate’s face softened. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s good to know someone is there for you, even if it might not be the perfect someone. Anyway… How’s it going with the phone records?”

Ben frowned. “There seems to be some issue with that. Sadie called and said the phone company says they never received the request from Officer Simmons. She asked them to look into it again, but with Christmas coming up they are really swamped.”

Kate scoffed. “Great.”

“What did you find out?” Ben asked.

Kate popped the last bite of hotdog in her mouth before she answered. “Aruna says they found the laptop in Alice’s car and they finally cracked the password. They checked her blog, but didn’t find anything useful. They searched the whole hard drive for “Tommy” and found a few notes, but nothing specific. Mostly journal entries about their relationship. It looked like she was intimate with this guy, but never mentioned his full name, or where he lives, but I think we can now agree that it was definitely not Tom Wakefield. On a few occasion they met in Brookdale Park, a café nearby the park, and at the guy’s place. Based on her entries this Tommy must live around the same area.”

Ben pushed his hands in his pocket and let out a sigh. “Ready when you are.”

Kate crumpled up her napkin, and chucked in the bin as she started walking towards the car.