Chapter 21
I parked in front of my client’s house. This would be an unexpected visit for him. I would have called first, but I didn’t want to give him time to prepare for anything. I would question him and get right to the point. I hoped I got straight answers. It sent a shiver down my spine to think that he could actually be the killer. What would we do then? What if he turned on us right there on the spot? I had to take the chance in this line of business though. There was always the risk.
“Dorothy, maybe you should wait here,” I said before getting out of the car. “This could get dangerous. And I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“As if I haven’t been in many dangerous situations thanks to you,” she said.
“Why do you continue to do what to you?” I asked. “You shouldn’t even still work with me. You should tell me to take my job and shove it.”
“Because it’s part of my job description,” she said. “There’s no way I’m staying out here in the car. I can’t let you confront him alone.”
I sighed. “All right, you can come with me. But if anything dangerous happens I want you to run, okay? Don’t try to help me or anything.”
She scoffed. “As if that’s really going to happen.”
This was probably a bad idea. Nevertheless, I opened the car door and we got out.
“Won’t he be surprised when you ask questions,” Dorothy said.
“Maybe not,” I said. “He probably wonders why I haven’t questioned him earlier. What if he has a good alibi or explanation. Besides, I just don’t think he’s the killer. He seems too nice.”
“But you kind of like everyone,” Dorothy said.
“Are you saying I’m not a good judge of character?”
“Probably not,” she said.
I rang the doorbell and we waited.
“I hope he’s here,” I whispered.
After a few seconds, he answered the door. “Oh, good, just the person I wanted to see.”
He was so nice that I didn’t want to ask him questions now. But I knew I had to.
“Did you want to see me? Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just wondered if you had an update yet?”
“I haven’t specifically found anything yet, but I have some leads,” I said.
He frowned. “What do I owe this visit?”
“There’s just one little matter that I need to clear up before I can move on with this case.”
He shook his head. “You want to know if I killed the men?”
He was a smart man. He knew why I was here.
“Do you have an alibi?” I stared him right in the eyes.
He watched me back, not blinking for several seconds. “I anticipated giving my alibi to the police, but I didn’t think I’d have to answer to the private detective I hired. I’m paying you.”
“That’s why I have to ask. You want me to do my job, right?” I asked, trying not to let his obvious anger get to me.
“I was eating at The Rusty Pelican,” he said.
“Do you have a copy of the receipt?” I pressed.
“The police are looking into that, I suppose. Look, I didn’t murder them,” he said, looking me right in the eyes.
It was my experience that anyone who looked you straight in the eyes while answering was telling the truth. Plus, surely Jake would be able to get a copy of the receipt from the restaurant.
“Sorry, but you understand why I asked?”
“I understand,” he said. “Would you like to come in?” He gestured.
I hesitated for a moment to make him more comfortable with answering questions. If he thought I was afraid to go into his house, then maybe he would drop me for this case. Dorothy and I stepped into the house.
He gestured toward the sofa. “Would you like to have a seat?”
Dorothy and I perched on the edge of the sofa. He sat across from us. No sooner had we sat down than his phone rang.
“I’ll be right back. I left my phone in the kitchen.”
We watched as he walked away. I stared at the portrait of people on the wall across from us. I felt eyes on me and I knew Dorothy was staring.
Finally, I acknowledged her. “What do you want to say?”
“You know you want to snoop around,” she said.
I peeked into the other room to see if he was still on the phone. When I realized he was in the kitchen on the phone I jumped up from the chair. Yes, I wanted to snoop so I wouldn’t even pretend like it wasn’t true. Dorothy jumped up with me and started going through the desk drawer. I was a little less brave and went for the photos in frames that sat on the table across the room. I liked to look at photos because sometimes they gave a much broader picture of the clients’ life.
“Just be careful with what you’re doing over there, Dorothy. Don’t mess anything up by sneaking around,” I said.
“Well, honestly, he should expect us to do this. He knows you’re a private investigator. He shouldn’t really be surprised by this,” Dorothy said.
“Nevertheless, I would still feel awkward. We have to be subtle about these things.”
“Oh, subtle smubtle,” she said.
At least I still heard him on the phone in the other room. I leaned down to get a closer look at the framed photos.
“Dorothy, come here,” I whispered.
She stuffed papers back into the desk drawer and closed it before joining me at the end table with the photos on top.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A military photo of my client,” I said. “He’s wearing a military jacket just like the one I found.”
“But you said yourself that the name on the jacket was Smith.”
“That’s true, but perhaps there’s a connection. There has to be, right? I think we should get out of here,” I said. “I know all I need to know for the moment.”
“Are you going to say anything to him first before we leave?”
Just then I realized the talking had stopped.
“Come on, Dorothy. We’ll sit back down and pretend like everything is fine.”
It would be difficult since everything wasn’t fine right now. When he came around the corner, Dorothy and I were sitting on the sofa. She had her hands on her lap looking as innocent as could be. Oh, who was I kidding? We looked completely guilty. He had to know we’d been up to something.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“It’s all right. Anyway, I guess we’re going now,” I said as I pushed to my feet. Dorothy followed me as we headed toward the door. He was right behind us now, following us toward the door.
I wasn’t going to ask more questions about whether or not he was the murderer.
“See you later. I’ll call you.”
“What’s the rush?” he asked.
Dorothy and I rushed out the door. At least we got out before I turned to face him.
“I’m sorry about that and I hope you won’t be angry about it. I just had to make sure.” I forced a smile, trying to be as sweet as possible.
He seemed a bit less tense now. “Sure, I understand. You’ll call me if you find out anything new?”
“Absolutely, I plan on it,” I said.
I was just surprised that I still had him as a client.
“Oh, by the way. I looked at your photos in there while we were waiting. We had to have something to do, right?”
“Yes, I guess you did. Again, sorry about the call.”
“Were you in the military?” I asked.
“Yes, I retired a few years back.”
“And then you came to Miami? Why did you come here?”
“Well, to be with Brigette, of course. She’s from here, not me.”
“And you’re going to stay here now that you’re getting divorced?”
“I haven’t made that decision yet.”
Okay, he sounded a bit hostile.
“Right,” I said. “Well, thanks again for clearing everything up for me.”
Actually, he hadn’t cleared it all up, but I’d gotten the answer I expected from him.
“Not a problem,” he said.
A chill covered my body with the look he gave me.
Dorothy and I got into the car and hurried it away from there.
“We have to look over the clues that we have so far. We know that someone associated with the military is involved. Because of the items I found.”
“And a man following you went to a place with someone that was military.”
“But then my client is also.”
“The other man has the last name on that jacket,” Dorothy said.
“Maybe they know each other, and this is a setup?”
“I think you need to speak with Brigette again. Maybe she can offer some kind of clues on how these people might be connected to each other.”
“We’ll talk to as many people as we can. There has to be some kind of clue that comes from all of this. I think I’m going to make a big board with all the names of the suspects and then add the clues around to see how they are connected. That might lead back to the killer.”