Chapter 4

 

Henry was a CPA. Not exactly a high-risk job. For that reason I doubted his murder had anything to do with his career. However, someone he worked with might have information that would be valuable to my investigation. I managed to find out where Henry had worked before his untimely death, so I made that the first stop on my list. Maybe they could tell me if he was at work before he was murdered, and possibly anything that was going on in his life. It was the best thing I could do until I could talk to any of his relatives or other friends.

A short time later, I pulled up to the small office building and parked my car. As I was getting out of the car, I received a text message. It was from Dorothy. She wanted me to remind her to buy more yarn. Was she my assistant or was I her assistant? I didn’t even know anymore. I made a mental note to remember the yarn. Maybe I would just pick some up for her while I was out.

When I tried the knob I realized the door was unlocked so I just walked on in. There were a few desks around the room. The place was bigger than mine, and I was slightly jealous. No one was sitting at any of the desks. They didn’t have a bell to ring or anything so I called out for someone.

A man answered from somewhere in the back. “I’ll be right there.”

I took this opportunity to look around. Everything seemed to be orderly. The tall plant in the corner of the room looked like it could use a little bit of water, but other than that the place was nice.

The man stepped out from the back room. He had salt and pepper hair, but he didn’t seem old enough. Actually, he was probably my age. Although I was probably right around the corner from using that hair dye on a regular basis.

“I’m a private investigator. I just need to ask a few questions about an employee. His name is Henry Archer.”

“I’ve already talked to the police,” he said.

“I realize that, but I’m a private investigator looking into his death. I may ask the same questions, but if you’d be so kind as to help me out I would really appreciate that.”

“He was my friend, so I’ll do anything I can to help find his killer. What did you want to know?” the man asked.

“My name’s Maggie Thomas, by the way.” I stuck out my hand.

After a handshake, he said, “Troy Snow. Nice to meet you.”

“So, can you tell me a bit about the relationship Henry had with Skye Clark?” I asked.

“He didn’t talk much about it, but I can tell you he was a nice man. He would never hurt a fly.”

“So you have no idea who might have done this to him?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t see that he had any enemies, other than the family of the woman who was murdered.”

Sadly, I was coming to that conclusion as well. The sister seemed so nice. I didn’t want to believe that she would be involved in anything that sinister. But I had to remain neutral and get the facts. I couldn’t let emotions or how I perceived someone on the outside sway the investigation.

“He didn’t talk much about the relationship?” I asked.

“He was kind of quiet over the past couple of weeks. Of course I’m sure it had to do with the fact that she was murdered,” Troy said.

“He had a good relationship from what you could gather, even though he didn’t tell you much about it?” I asked.

“They were seeing a lot of each other since she came to town.”

“She wasn’t from around here?” I asked.

“No, she wasn’t. She moved from Georgia to be with him,” Troy said.

The phone rang and held up his index finger while he grabbed the receiver. I waited while the guy answered the phone. I looked around the room to see if I was missing a clue, but there was nothing there. I never knew when something might lead me to a killer. What if I didn’t pay attention and missed it? It looked as if one of the desks was empty, so I supposed that had been Henry’s. They’d already cleared it off.

When Troy hung up the phone, he said, “Now where were we?”

“What else can you tell me about Skye?” I asked.

“I know they met online.”

“So she specifically moved here to be with him?”

“Yes, that’s my understanding.”

“How long had they known each other when she came here?” I asked.

“Maybe a couple of months.”

That wasn’t a long time to get to know someone. Maybe she had some skeletons in her closet. And one of those came back to pay her a visit before ultimately murdering her. Still, it wasn’t looking good in Henry’s favor. Although Skye had left with a complete stranger at the bar. I was leaning toward the complete stranger being the murderer, but if that was the case who had murdered Henry? Unless the complete stranger really wasn’t a stranger and knew both of them. That was the key. I had to find out who this man was. However, finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack. I had his description, but that wasn’t much. I guessed I could show people a shot of the video.

The phone rang again and the guy motioned. “I should really get back to work.”

I had taken up enough of his time.

“Sure. Thank you again.” I pulled out my card and handed it to him. “If there’s anything else you think of would you please call me?”

After reading the card, he said, “No problem. I’ll give you a call if I think of anything.”

I wasn’t holding out hope that I would receive a call from him, but stranger things had happened. He could think of something and it could turn out to be the clue that led me to the killer. In the meantime, I had to find out more about the girlfriend and track down the man she had left with. But I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going in the complete wrong direction.

Maybe I should be focusing only on Henry’s background and the people he knew. Everyone seemed to think he was such a nice guy and would never be involved in anything shady. People could be deceiving though, so it wouldn’t pay to ignore the little details. I had to look under the surface. I headed out of the office, trying to come up with my next move.

Where should I go now? I got into the car and headed back onto the highway. I was constantly looking in the rearview mirror to make sure no strange cars were following me. Honestly, I expected to see one back there at any moment. Surely I wouldn’t go much longer without someone tracking me down.

My phone alerted me to a text. It was from Dorothy.

Bring lunch. Extra bread.

No to the extra bread request. I knew what she wanted to do with it. I’d get take out for us. There was a restaurant right around the corner, so I could walk over there. Within a couple minutes, I’d reached the restaurant. Almost instantly after stepping foot in the building, I spotted Abby. She wasn’t alone at the table. There was a guy with her and I was positive it was Jake. Of course, I could only see the back of him. They were probably on their lunch break. Now I wanted to get out of there before Jake saw me. I didn’t want him to think that I had followed him here. Though it was so close to my office that I didn’t think it could be considered strange for me to show up there.

Why had they picked this location? I bet they had been at the scene of the crime going over what clues they’d found. Oh how I wish I could have access to those clues as well. Jake was being tight-lipped about the crime. Before I had a chance to turn around and hurry out of there, I made eye contact with Abby. Jake must have noticed her watching someone because he looked over his shoulder. Great. He pushed to his feet and headed toward me.

“Maggie, what are you doing here?”

“Getting lunch.” I gestured.

“Right. We were just having lunch too.” His eyes sparkled in the sunshine that streamed through the windows.

We watched each other, like magnets that had no hope of staying apart. My stomach flipped when Jake flashed his gorgeous smile. I kind of wished he’d ask me out again for that old movie in the park. Movement caught my attention. Abby was headed toward us. How did she make plain black slacks and a white blouse look glamorous? I suppose it was her sleek curves and toned muscles. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but Abby interrupted. “Jake we really should be going. They’re waiting on us.”

Jake didn’t respond or take his eyes of me, so Abby grabbed his arm. She had a cold charm. That would only last so long before the beguilement would fade and leave the aloof personality exposed for everyone to witness. 

“I need to get the food. Dorothy gets hangry,” I said.

Jake laughed. “Make sure to get extra bread for the birds.”

“I’ll see you soon.” I waved and walked away.

There was no way I was turning around to watch them leave together.