He nodded his head toward the door of the apartment. “He’s inside. The officer on the scene woke him up when he got here. He was inside, in bed. I think you’re going to have to wait a little bit to talk to him. I heard he’s been retching for the last hour.”

Claire nodded. She, Greg, and Dr. Ortiz turned and walked back down the steps. When they reached the ground floor, Greg indicated that they should move toward the back of the building. Claire followed down a narrow but still-bright corridor that led to a short of flight of steps down to the building’s back door.

It was a simple wooden door with a dead bolt and lock on the doorknob. Claire saw immediately that one of the glass panels in the window next to the door had been busted open, and there was glass on the floor covering the large mat. She took a look around, examining the broken shards of glass all over the mat and concrete floor.

“We think this is how the perp got in,” Greg said. “Busted the window, opened the lock, and then, for some reason, made it up to the third floor and encountered Brighton.”

Claire peered at the floor for another moment and then finally looked up. “Do we know what Beverly was doing out of her apartment?”

“Nope,” Greg said. “That’s the million-dollar question. Or at least one of them.”

They both looked up as a tall, wiry officer walked toward them from the front of the building. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

“That’s the responding officer,” Greg said. “If you want to talk to him.”

Claire nodded and walked over to the man, who looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

“You were on the scene first?” she asked.

The officer looked at her nervously and nodded without saying anything before dropping his eyes to the floor.

Claire lowered her voice. “First body you’ve seen?”

The officer looked up for a moment and then nodded before averting his eyes again.

“If it’s any consolation, it doesn’t get easier for anyone, not the first time or the hundredth.”

He looked at her and nodded, letting his shoulders slump.

“I know it’s in your report, but can you tell me about what happened when you got here?”

The officer took a deep breath. “The couple that called it in, apartment 1—they’re the ones who let me in. I walked up to the third floor with them and saw the body,” he said. He swallowed and then continued. “I called it in and then pushed the door open and went inside.”

“It was unlocked?”