| |
TO SAY I WAS SURPRISED Roy let us leave without incident would be an understatement. My gut told me not to trust him, and I couldn’t help but question his honesty. But nonetheless, Alex and I were back out on the road headed toward 295.
Alex’s phone rang. “Hi Mike. Yes. I just left Thomas Creek Park.” She was quiet for a moment. “Why was I out there? It’s a long story...I’ll tell you later.” She was quiet again as she listened. “Actually, I’m in the car with Henry right now. Is it okay if I put you on speaker?” She pulled off into the breakdown lane and put the phone down on the center console. “Okay Mike, go ahead...”
“Well I just thought you should know, we went through the customer records at Paul Krueger’s gym. With the help of some of the staff, we were able to match one of the names as the driver of a white Ford F-250. Man’s name is Ronald Phillips, although we haven’t yet been able to track down a registration under that name. But that doesn’t mean much. According to the owner of the gym, truck had the black bull bar you described on the front.”
“Is he from around here?” I said.
“Looks to be from St. Augustine. Had an address out in Jacksonville Beach. Officers checked into it but there’s no such person living in the apartment. Manager said it’d been about two months since he left, never paid a dime in rent.”
“Sounds like a jewel,” Alex said.
“Is there any other obvious connection to Brian Mason?” I said.
“Nothing more than they used to work out at the same gym. Owner I spoke with confirmed what he’d told you...didn’t appear to be a friend of Brian’s. His rap sheet’s pretty long...couple of sexual assaults, half dozen B&E’s when he was younger, and—this one’ll hit home—attempted murder. No major convictions.”
The phone went quiet for a moment.
Alex gave me a look then leaned toward her phone. “Mike, are you still there?”
“Yeah. But that’s all I got so far. Just thought you’d like to know. Oh, and before you ask, there’s nothing yet on Nate Ryan’s whereabouts.”
I said, “What about Theresa Thompson’s case?”
“If you’re asking if I figured out who might’ve clamped down on it...I’m working on it. Not like I can just go around headquarters, ask who’s a crooked cop.”
“Will you admit it sounds like Sergeant Meredith had someone pushing him to close the case and get Paul Krueger out of there?”
“Listen, Walsh. I’m already putting my neck on the line here. Puts me in a tough position...it’s somewhat frowned upon in most departments to turn against your fellow officers. I think if anyone knows what I mean, it’s you.”
Mike loved to bring up my past and twist the knife when he had the chance.
“You’re not turning against anyone, Mike. We’re all after the same thing here. Remember?”
“Don’t get preachy with me. Okay? I’ll let you know when I have something more. You’re welcome.”
Alex picked up the phone and looked at the screen. “He hung up.”
––––––––
ALEX WAS ANXIOUS TO check on Raz. He’d made himself right at home upstairs from the restaurant, and I got the feeling she was worried he might never want to leave. Not when Billy made sure there was grilled filet available for him at the end of each night.
I was already at the bar when Alex came down with Raz, had him sit down next to her at the foot of her stool. She pulled her laptop from her bag and started typing away.
Billy leaned with his hands spread wide on the bar and kept asking questions about our crazy run-in with Roy. “Just so I have this straight. He holds you at gunpoint, just so you’d listen to him? And he explains how he ended up with the two-and-a-half million, but didn’t admit he knew it had anything to do with the death of John’s wife?”
I held the glass of Jack up under my chin, about to take a sip. I nodded. “He knows he looks guilty as hell, so I guess he figured he had to go to extremes.”
“So you told him you believed him, and he let you go?”
I sipped my Jack. “With a 12 gauge pointed at my face, I tend to be fairly agreeable.”
Billy turned to Alex. “What’d your friend have to say?”
Alex looked up. “Who, Mike?”
“No, the other one. The good looking one you were here with the other night? I thought you said he was helping you out?”
“Oh, Chris?” She nodded. “He got us some photos, but for the most part he said it’s best he stayed out of it. Especially now that Mike had agreed to help.”
Billy poured himself a coffee and took a sip then rested the cup down on the bar. “So, what was he, an old boyfriend?”
Alex hesitated for a moment then shook her head. “No, we went to the Academy together, up in Virginia.”
“Ohhh,” Billy said. “I thought he was, well, I guess I just figured—”
She looked back and forth between me and Billy. “You know the other good looking man who sat with us? The one Chris left with? That’s his partner.”
I turned to Alex. “His partner? With the JSO?”
She shook her head. “No, his partner. His boyfriend.”
I let out a slight laugh. Not because it was funny...but because I’d acted like a fool. Jealous when I shouldn’t have been. Not that I had any right to be anyway.
Alex gave me a look. “Is there something wrong with that?”
Billy gave me a nod before he walked away. “I told you it was nothing.”
Alex gave me a look then put her head back down into her laptop.
I watched Billy reach for a couple of plates from the window between the bar area and the kitchen. He turned and walked toward us, put two plates down on the bar in front of me and Alex. “Here’s something to eat. Let me know if you need anything else.”
I shoved a couple of fries in my mouth as if I hadn’t eaten in days.
Alex turned her laptop to me so I could see the screen. She’d put together a diagram of everyone who at one point or another we’d either spoken with or who had some kind of dealings with John, both business and personal. Each picture had a name typed under it. She said, “I’m still going through all the names, but so far every person here is born and raised right here in Jax.”
“All of them?” I said.
“I’m not done yet.” She pulled the laptop toward her again. “What’s Michelle Thompson’s maiden name?”
“Heathwood.” I shoved a bit of a sandwich in my mouth. With my mouth somewhat full, I said, “I thought you were hungry.” I nodded toward her plate of food. “You haven’t touched a thing.”
Without taking her eyes from the screen, her fingers moved on the keyboard. She gave me a look. “You go right ahead and stuff your face, I’ll take care of solving the crimes.”
I shrugged. “I’m starving.”
She reached for my plate, took a french fry and stuck it in her mouth. Then she wiped her hands and again typed on her laptop. She looked toward me. “Here it is. Ronald Phillips, graduated from St. Augustine High...seventeen years ago.”
“So that makes him, what, thirty-four?” I said.
I pushed my plate aside and stood up as I wiped both hands together with my napkin. I leaned toward Alex and looked at the screen over her shoulder.
Billy stepped over and stood across from us behind the bar. “Find something interesting?”
I nodded. “Maybe the man who tried to kill us.”
“And also could’ve killed Kayla Morton...and my neighbor’s dog.”
Billy leaned down with his forearms down on the bar. “Can I see what he looks like?”
Alex turned the laptop toward Billy. He reached under the bar and put on his reading glasses, then looked at the screen and the photo of Ronald Phillips.
Billy’s eyes widened. He straightened up off the bar. “I think I know him. I don’t know from where. I mean...maybe he’s been here.” He was quiet for a moment, a serious look on his face as he tried to remember. He slapped the bar. “That’s it!” Billy looked past us toward the door. “He was here the other night.” He looked down at the tables along the bar.
“He was here?” I said. “Are you sure?”
Billy nodded. “He was in here the same night that kid came looking for you.”
“Nate?”
“Yes. I didn’t think a thing of it. But now I remember, they gave each other a look. Like they were up to something. And I’m pretty sure he left right after the kid, Nate, walked out of here.”