Leo looked around as if a place to sit down might suddenly appear. It didn't.
"A girl gets hurt, people know the boyfriend is Suspect Number One," he said, "and plus, I know it looks like nobody else could have done it. But I know I didn't do anything."
Jan nodded. "Why don't you tell us what happened?"
"Well, Freddy, he's my roommate, he was–"
She held up her hand. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, "but I'll talk to Freddy at some point. Why don't you just tell me what you remember, what happened to you?"
Leo shrugged wryly. "This will be short, then. I was asleep. Charlotte was out somewhere. I'd gone to bed around eleven, I guess. The next thing I know, there was a knock at the bedroom door. I was still half asleep, but I got to my feet and opened the door. It was a runner, and I could see Freddy behind her. I guess Freddy had let her into the apartment."
"The runner started to give me a message, but Freddy said, 'Hey, man, what's that on your hand?' or something like that. I looked down, and I saw blood on my fingers. I guess I stepped back from the door, and then we saw her on the bed." He paused and wiped his eyes.
"Was the bedroom light on?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, I was asleep. I saw her in the light from the other room."
She nodded. "What was the runner for? Who was the message from?"
He shrugged and looked down at the floor. "I never did find out. She split when she saw Charlotte's body, and I wasn't thinking that well. I didn't even wonder about it until the next day."
Jan Sleet looked around the room again, then looked at the closed door to the other room. "May I look at the bedroom?"
He moved quickly to open it. "Sure," he said. He reached in to turn on the light, then he stepped aside so we could go in.
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