Chapter 15

 

Brett was due for work at his other job for Gator World today. I watched the time while sitting at my desk, waiting for noon. At eleven thirty, I decided it was time to go over there to talk with him. It was always hard when I went to someone’s place of employment to speak with them because for obvious reasons they were busy. But other than stalking him when he left work, I didn’t know what else to do. I figured I would kind of just feel him out and get a sense of whether I thought he would talk to me or not. Then I could go from there. Would he admit to following me?

“Dorothy, are you ready?” I asked as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

“I’m always ready,” she said, jumping up from behind her desk and tossing her knitting needles and yarn into her bag.

I locked the door behind us and we headed for my car, ducking from the dive-bombing seagulls the entire way. Dorothy swore that she wasn’t feeding them anymore, but I knew that wasn’t true. One of these days one of the birds was going to poo right on my head and I would be most unhappy.

When we slipped into the car Dorothy said, “Wow, those things are aggressive.”

“Yeah, I wonder why,” I said, starting the ignition.

Within a short time, Dorothy and I arrived at Brett’s place of employment. There was a huge sign out front that had the words ‘Gator World’ written across it with cute little drawings of baby gators wearing diapers with rattles in their hands. Something told me that the little gators we were about to see weren’t nearly as cute and wouldn’t be as nice either. We got out of the car, paid for tickets and headed inside. Luckily, I knew what the guy looked like. So I wouldn’t have any problem finding him. The place reminded me of a zoo my father had taken me to when I was little, only there were no animals at this place, only gators. Water and palm trees dotted the landscape. I was on high alert for alligators. They wouldn’t allow them to just roam around, I hoped. Across the way I saw a small gathering near a fenced area. 

Dorothy and I walked around until I spotted him.

“Oh, there he is over there talking to that group of people.” I pointed.

We walked over and mingled in with the crowd. He was getting ready to show everyone a baby alligator.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Dorothy said.

I was just worried about when I was going to get a chance to talk to him. This demonstration couldn’t last that long, right? He looked over my way and our eyes met for a moment. His expression led me to believe that he knew who I was, but then he focused his attention back on the little alligator. He might not want to take his attention away from those jaws. The look of shock on his face pretty much answered my question that he had in fact followed me.

We watched for a moment and then the guy asked the crowd for any volunteers to hold the thing.

Dorothy raised both of her arms. “I will. Pick me. Me!”

I’d had no idea she was so excited over alligators. The guy absolutely had no choice but take her. She was so rambunctious about it.

“All right, young lady, come over here,” he said.

The crowd clapped as Dorothy walked over. I figured that part of being a private investigator was to kind of go unnoticed and under the radar. Dorothy was doing exactly the opposite. It was as if she was wearing a neon sign that said, ‘We’re investigating you.’ Something told me that this wouldn’t end well. I just held my breath and hoped that it would be over soon. Maybe this was a good thing—it would give me a chance to talk to him and I could talk about Dorothy holding the baby gator. Maybe that was her plan all along. She might be more astute than I ever gave her credit for.

She stood next to him, in front of the crowd. He gave her a few instructions on handling the thing, but that was basically it. The next thing I knew she was holding the baby gator and smiling from ear to ear. I guessed if this made her happy, then that was fine with me. After a few minutes of holding it, she gave it back. Okay, now that that was over maybe I could talk to him. Unfortunately he asked her if she wanted to move on to the bigger alligators.

I waved my arms. “No, no, no.”

Dorothy volunteered anyway.

This was absolutely too dangerous for her, but yet she would try anything. Lately she’d become a daredevil. Of course, Dorothy said that I needed to live a little and let my hair down. I thought my hair was down plenty. I liked to play things safe, that way I wouldn’t get hurt. Dorothy said there was room for a happy balance between having fun and playing it safe. I supposed I just hadn’t found that balance. Dorothy seemed like she’d gone too far to the other side.

Now I was scared for Dorothy. What if something went wrong? No, I couldn’t think that way. I had to think positive.

Dorothy followed the man over to the area where I assumed the huge alligator was resting. I hoped they’d already fed it lunch. I thought about not watching, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away. The next thing I knew, Dorothy was wrangling with this alligator. I supposed the guy had things under control, but still, this was crazy. I could handle the mints and knitting needles much better than alligator-wrestling. Dorothy was all smiles as the crowd cheered. She loved the attention. Much to my relief she moved away from the alligator in a hurry.

Dorothy rushed back over to me. “Whew, that was exciting.”

“That was terrible. What is wrong with you?” I asked. “Don’t do that ever again. That thing could have gobbled you up in one bite.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “You can’t tell me what to do, young lady.” 

I tossed my hands up. “Never mind that now. Let’s talk to this guy before he gets away.”

“Of course,” Dorothy said with a huge forced smile.

Pushing my shoulders back I marched toward the guy. The crowd had dispersed and he was putting some things into a duffle bag. It looked as if he might be leaving soon. I had to act quickly. I decided to approach this differently.

“What are you going to say to him?” Dorothy asked as she walked beside me.

“Just follow my lead,” I said as we neared.

“I’ll try my best,” Dorothy said.

I walked up to Brett. “I bet you’re surprised to see me.”

He chuckled nervously. “Do I know you?”

“I think you do. Why don’t you tell me why you were following me?”

He zipped his bag. “Sorry, I don’t know you. The presentation is over.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you know about Skye Clark and Henry Archer?”

“Never heard of him.”

This was getting me nowhere.

Dorothy marched up to Brett. “Look, the alligator thing was fun and all, but the games are over. Tell the woman what she wants to know.”

He stared at us. “You two are crazy. I’m not answering any of your questions.”

“The more you don’t answer, the guiltier you look.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What are you, the police?”

“I can have you arrested.” See how I did that? I didn’t actually answer his question.

“What are the charges?” he asked. 

“Murder,” I said, staring him in the eyes.

He scoffed. “Yeah, right. Look, I don’t know Skye. I was never with her at the bar.”

“So you do know her?” I asked.

I’d never told him that Skye was murdered. 

Brett turned and walked away without answering the question.

He knew more than he wanted to admit. I’d even bet he knew the killer. Maybe he saw the killer every time he looked in the mirror.

“That was a disappointment,” I said as we walked toward the car.

“It wasn’t so bad. I had fun playing with the gators,” Dorothy said.