"Any family here? Aunts, uncles, cousins, half-related circus freaks?

Anyone at all we could call for you-to help you through this?"

"No. I'm an orphan. Poor me." She bluffed a sarcastic laugh. "Trust me,

I don't need any family."

"You've got no permanent address, Angie," Kovac said. "You have to

realize what's happened here. You're the only one who can identify a killer. We need to know where you're at."

She rolled her eyes in the way only teenage girls can, imparting both

incredulity and impatience. "I gave you my address."

"You gave me the address for an apartment you don't have keys for and you can't tell me the name of who it is you're staying with."

"I told you!"

She pushed up out of her chair and turned away from Kovac, the cigarette

in her hand raining ashes on the floor. The blue sweater she worebeneath her jacket was either cropped short or shrunken, revealing apierced navel and another tattoo-three drops of blood falling into thewaistband of her dirty jeans.

"Her name is Molly," she said. "I met her at a party and she said that Icould crash at her place until I get my own."

Kate caught the hint of a tremor in the girl's voice, the defensive bodylanguage as she pulled in on herself and turned away from them.

Across the room, the door opened and Liska came in with the coffee.

"Angie, no one's trying to jam you up here," Kate said. "Our firstconcern is that you're safe."

The girl wheeled on her, her eyes dark blue and glittering with anger.

"Your concern is that I testify against this psycho Cremator creep. Youthink I'm nuts? He'll track me down and kill me too!"

"Your cooperation is imperative, Angie," Sabin said with authority.

The man in command. "You're our only witness. This man has killed threewomen that we know of " Kate shot a dagger look at the county attorney.

"Part of my job is to see to it that you're safe, Angie," she explained,keeping her voice even and calm. "If you need a place to stay, we canmake that happen. Do you have a job?"

"No." She turned away again. "I been looking," she added almostdefensively. She gravitated toward the corner of the room, where a dirtybackpack had been discarded. Kate was willing to bet everything the kidowned was in that bag.

"It's tough coming into a new town," Kate said quietly. "Don't know yourway around. Don't have any connections. Hard to get set up, get yourlife going."

The girl bowed her head and chewed at a thumbnail, her hair swingingdown to obscure her face.

"It takes money to set yourself up," Kate went on. "Money to eat.

Money for a place. Money for clothes. Money for everything."

"I get by."

Kate could imagine just how. She knew how it worked with kids on thestreet. They did what they had to do to survive. Beg. Steal. Sell alittle dope. Ibm a trick or two or ten. There was no shortage ofdepraved human sc.u.m in the world more than willing to prey on kids withno homes and no prospects.

Liska set the steaming coffee cups on the table and leaned down tomurmur in Kovac's ear. "Elwood tracked down the building manager.

The guy says the apartment's vacant and if this kid is living there,then he wants a five-hundred-dollar deposit or he'll press charges forcriminal trespa.s.s."

"What a humanitarian."

"Elwood says to him: "Five hundred? What's that? A buck a c.o.c.kroacht "

Kate absorbed the whispered remarks, her eyes still on Angie.

"Your life's tough enough right now without having to become a witness to a murder."

Head still down, the girl sniffed and brought the cigarette to her lips.

"I didn't see him kill her."

"What did you see?" Sabin demanded. "We need to know, Miss Dimarco.

Every minute that pa.s.ses is crucial to the investigation. This man is a

serial killer."

"I think we're all aware of that, Ted," Kate conceded with a razor's

edge in her voice. "You really don't have to remind us every two minutes."

Rob Marshall twitched hard. Sabin met her gaze, his own impatience

showing. He wanted a revelation before he bolted for his meeting with the mayor. He wanted to be able to step in front of the cameras at the press conference and give the monster loose among them a name and a face and announce that an arrest was imminent.

"Angie seems to be- having some difficulty deciding whether to cooperate or not," he said. "I think it's important she realize the gravity of the situation."

"She watched someone set a human body on fire. I think she understands

the gravity of the situation perfectly."

In the corner of her eye, Kate could see she had caught the girl's attention. Maybe they could be friends living on the street together after Sabin fired her for challenging him in front of an audience. What was she thinking? She didn't even want this mess in her lap.

"What were you doing in that park at that hour of night, Angie?" Rob

asked, mopping at his forehead with a handkerchief.

The girl looked him square in the face. "Minding my own f.u.c.king business."

"You can take your coat off if you want," he said with a brittle smile.

"I don't want."

His jaw clenched and the grin became more of a grimace. "That's fine.

If you want to keep it on, that's fine. It just seems hot in here.

Why don't you tell us in your own way how you came to be in that park

last night, Angie."

She stared at him with venom in her eyes. "I'd tell you to kiss my a.s.s, but you're'so f.u.c.king ugly, I'd make you pay in advance."

His face flushed as red as a bad rash.

A beeper went off and everyone in the room except the witness reached

for theirs. Sabin scowled darkly as he read the message in the display

window of his. He checked his watch again.

"Did you get a good look at the man, Angie?" Rob asked in a tight voice.

"You could be such a help here. I know you've gone through somethingterrible- "You don't know s.h.i.t," the girl snapped.

A vein popped out in Rob's left temple and sweat beaded on his shinyforehead.

"That's why we're asking you, kiddo," Kate said calmly. She blew a lazystream of smoke. All the time in the world. "Did you get a good look atthe guy?"

Angie studied her for a moment, the time and the silence stretching,then looked to Sabin to Liska to Kovac, and back to Rob Marshall.Gauging.

a.s.sessing.

"I saw him in the flames," she said at last, dropping her gaze to thefloor. "He lit the body on fire and he said, "Ashes to ashes.' "

"Would you know him if you saw him again?" Sabin demanded.

"Sure," she murmured, bringing the cigarette to her lips for one finaldrag. The tip of it glowed like an ember from h.e.l.l against the palewhite of her face. When she spoke again, it was on a breath of smoke."He's the devil."

"What was that about?" Kate went on the offensive the second theystepped from the interview room into the hall.

Sabin turned on her, his expression furious. "I was about to ask you thesame thing, Kate. We need this girl's cooperation."

"And you think you're going to get it by coming down on her like a tonof bricks? In case you didn't notice, she wasn't responding."

"How could she respond with you b.u.t.ting in every time I started makingsome headway?"

"Force meets resistance, Ted. And it's my job to b.u.t.t in-I'm anadvocate," she said, realizing she was inviting the wrath of a verypowerful man. He had the power to take her off this case.

I should be so lucky, she thought. Already this investigation had themakings of a world-cla.s.s cl.u.s.ter f.u.c.k. She couldn't possibly want to bestuck in the middle of it.

"You're the one who dragged me into this," she said. "You want me to bethis girl's friend, remember? That's going to be a tough enough jobwithout you setting us up as a group force against her.

"She has to want to tell us what she saw. She has to believe we'll take care of her. Do you honestly think she trusts you not to take what shehas to give and cut her loose? How do you think a kid like Angie ends upin a mess like this in the first place?"

"You didn't want this case because she's a kid," Sabin said irritably.

"Now suddenly you're an authority."

"You wanted me on this because of my expertise, my frame of reference,"she reminded him. "Then you have to trust me to do the job. I know howto interview a witness."