“Makes sense,” said Alex.
“
Al
l
right
, boss. Let’s find out if he was here, and who he wanted to make friends with,” said Sophie.
“Okay. But we have one small problem.”
Sophie stared at him, and then began to laugh. “Never been inside one of these places, huh? Come on straight-lace
d
boy. I’ll hold your hand.”
Chapter
-4
Manny walked through the gray-tinted
,
glass door with Sophie at his heels. He noticed the metal detector
,
but went through it anyway. The siren was loud and immediate and got the attention of the two women behind the long
display
counter
and the two security goons who were hanging out near the DVD section of the store. The larger of the two men, sporting a dirty
blond
mullet and black, fingerless gloves
,
rushed them like a bull chasing a red flag. Manny’s police ID stopped him in his tracks. The bruiser gave him a dirty look
,
but said nothing.
“Good
afternoon
, folks. Now that we have your attention, we have a few questions. We’ll ask politely, you answer with honesty overflowing from the goodness of your hearts, and we’ll be fine?
Capis
ce
?”
The tall
blond
, wearing little more than a sheer negligee, five-inch stilettos, and
k
oi fish tats
above each fleshy breast
, stepped calmly to the counter. “Can I help you?”
“What’s your name?”
“Charity. I’m the night manager.”
“Charity? Is that your real name?”
“Real enough for the pervs that come in here
.
Evelyn Kroll is my legal name.”
“Okay, Evelyn. Were you working last night?”
“Yes. I came in about 6:30 and closed up about 3:30 a.m.”
Manny motioned to Sophie
,
and she handed him her phone with the freshly downloaded picture of Mitchell Morse on the screen. “Do you recognize this man?”
“Is that the dead guy?”
s
he shivered. “That’s so freaky. Yeah, he came in about 11:00 and went right into the theater.”
“Was he alone?”
“Yeah, just him and his five friends, Rosy Thumb and the Four Finger
S
isters.”
Sophie snorted and glanced away. Manny ignored her.
“How long was he here?”
“I’m not sure
.
W
e were busy last night, full moon or something. We had a couple of fights and tossed a hooker out on her ass. I do remember seeing him about 1:30 or so.”
“What was he doing?”
He heard Sophie throttle a cackle. He gave her the evil eye.
Evelyn smiled an anxious grin. “He was standing by the door, talking to one of the ladies
,
and
trying to get a paid ride around the world. She told him that was illegal, and that she wasn’t interested.”
“I’ll need that girl’s information.”
Evelyn looked to the ceiling
,
then back to Manny. “It was me. He was talking to me. Okay? I kicked him out and that’s the last I saw of him
. . .
until
now.”
Sophie had regained her composure. “Scout’s honor? Because we’re going to go over the security tapes
,
and we don’t want any surprises.”
The tall
blonde
made eye contact with the other security guard and shifted her feet nervously. Manny didn’t like what he saw.
“There.
. . . ah . . .
was a problem with the system’s cameras last night, and we didn’t get the whole night on video.”
The club had committed one too many violations to suit the city and
,
as a condition of keeping the doors open, was required to keep sixty
day
s
of security tape, inside and out, in archive. Although the outside cameras didn’t cover th
e
area of the parking lot
by the trash bin
, Manny thought there could have been information that might help.
“That could be grounds to shut you down, you
know that, right?” asked Manny.
“I know. I know. And they were working fine until just before he left. Then we got this snowy screen, like interference or something, and they just stopped recording, but they came back on like nothing ever happened right before we closed up. The camera company said they couldn’t find anything wrong and that sometimes the system just gets bottled up.” She looked at Manny, then Sophie. “Scout’s honor.”
“We’ll need the tape anyway, statements from all of the employees who worked last night, and a complete list of all employees.”
She nodded and folded her arms over her ample breasts
,
c
ausing the tats to change shape.
“Did you notice anyone unusual or out of the ordinary?”
Evelyn stared at Manny. “No, not in here. Our clientele is the salt of the earth. Cops, firemen, preachers, social workers, you know, all pillars of the community.”
“Okay
,
smartass. You know what I mean. But maybe you could concentrate better down at the station.”
“Sorry. Really. I get like this when I’m nervous. We’ve had some stuff go on in here, but nothing like that junk outside.”
She looked at the counter, and then Manny watched her eyes grow big.
“Wait. There was this one chick. At least I think it was a chick. Tall, thin, wearing all black, face covered with a hoodie. The real weird part was the black gloves. I couldn’t see the hands. People walk in here hoping no one will recognize them
;
she made sure.”
“Good girl. What time?”
“Right after my dinner break, so just about 1:00 or so, I think. She might be on the video before it crashed.”
“That could be helpful. One more question. Do you own a gun?”
Evelyn blinked her eyes, looked at the floor, then back to Manny and Sophie. “Yes. I have a permitted handgun, Smith and Wesson .38. But I keep it in the bedroom at my apartment.”
“We may want to see it, but I think we’re done, for now. We’ll set up interview times for your people
. M
ake sure they show up, okay?”
“Okay.”
Manny watched a small smile form on Evelyn’s face
,
and her blue eyes began to twinkle.
“Now I have a question for you, Detective Williams.”
“Fire away.”
“It takes a big gun to set off that metal detector. Just how big is your
. . .
weapon?”
Sophie released a belly laugh that caused Manny’s face to turn an even deeper shade of red. But he grinned anyway.
“Cute. It’s still not too late to shut this place down.”
“Yes sir. I don’t get good-looking cops in here very often and
—
”
“Just get us what we asked for and don’t dink around.” He grabbed Sophie’s arm and ushered her out the door.
“Was that
your
doing?” he steamed.
“No, no. I think she likes you, and she’s the kind of woman who doesn’t beat around the bush. Sometimes, you slay me. You’re the best detective I’ve ever seen, but when it comes to most women, you’re clueless. Really.”
“Not one word to any
—
”
Manny’s cell rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and cocked his head
.
Eric Hayes. The call seemed to carry a sense of urgency that
made
Manny
uncomfortable. He answered
.
“Manny Williams here.”
No response.
“Eric, is that you?”
There was another moment of silence
,
and
then
hell
came calling.
“Detective Williams. How
lovely
to hear your voice.”
He froze in mid-stride, unable to speak. Argyle was on Eric
’s
cell phone.
Chapter
-5
Mitchell Morse’s killer sat, her legs crossed, at the oak table in the breakfast nook located at the south end of the house. The late afternoon sun was bright and cheerful, forcing the room to glow with a special comfort.
The last of her summer roses gave the room an unmatchable aroma.
The sun
warmed the enigmatic area of her heart that
turned
cold when thoughts of murder evolve
d
into the real thing.
Evolved or
. . .
snapped?
The term “snapped” was always just out of reach, at least for her, when it came to understanding what people do and why. It was
simply
a convenient phrase to explain the actions of someone who had truly decided, voluntarily or not, that living in the realm of psychoticism was
preferable to
any other reality. Fair enough.
“
Snapped
”
also doubled as an excuse to disguise uncontrolled rage aimed at a cheating spouse, a crooked partner, or a BFF who had stabbed you in the back.
But what of her killing of Morse?
Had she snapped or made a rational decision?
Perverts like him would never stop doing what they did. Morse’s third trip to prison had only been three years. Is that all raping and sodomizing his “dates” was worth? Shouldn’t someone do something? Didn’t three strikes mean you were out? Way out? Enough was enough.
“
Losing it
”
didn’t
apply here
, n
ot to Morse or the rest of the
deviates
who did what he did. Ridding society of men like these sick bastards was the right thing to do
,
and if the justice system couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do it, then well
. . .
And if the system had worked,
she’d
still be here
, laughing and joking, s
inging that stupid song
,
and
causing
everyone
to
laugh. Cheering up rooms
and
lives
—
like only she could.
It was more than awful to miss the little things
, m
aybe worse than having her actually gone.
But paybacks were a bitch for some, and she was going to start with Siggie Ashcroft.
She ran a long finger over the black
-
and
-
white picture of Ashcroft
she’d printed from his online sex offender file
.
He’d raped and terrorized four
women and only
served
five years in prison
.
What a deal for him.
Ashford was released yesterday and would need a day to get settled
into his new state
-
sponsored domicile
before the piece of shit
began the hunt for
his next good time. That
was
okay.
One
day
wasn’t a
long
time
,
and p
atience
was
a virtue. She was living proof.
Chapter
-6
“What do you want, you sick
prick
?”
a
sked Manny, in a low, controlled voice that
hid
his anger, his dread.
“Now, now, now. Is that any
way to speak to a long
-
lost friend? I thought we cared for each other, Detective Williams.
No?
”
Argyle
laughed that familiar laugh that said he was still sleeping with insanity.
By now, Sophie had walked back to him with a curious look on her face.
He mouthed Argyle’s name.
Her eyes grew hard
,
and she grabbed Manny’s arm. “
GPS t
race?”
He shook his head. There was no reason to try to trace the call. Argyle would be done in a few moments
,
and it would be an afterthought. The real questions had to do with Eric and what Argyle had done
to him
. He was pretty sure
Eric
hadn’t lent his phone to Argyle because his car was broken down and he needed a wrecker.