“What do you want?”
Beer bottle in hand, Rowdy swung the front door open, barely making eye contact with Quinn before returning to his recliner. She stood on the porch for a moment, unsure whether or not she’d been invited in. “Can I talk to you?”
“The game’s on. Come back later.”
Quinn stepped inside. “Who’s playing?”
His eyes remained on the television. “Seriously? You expect me to believe you follow football?”
“A little. My dad’s a Broncos fan. You?”
“Same.”
She hoped the sports banter might lighten things up between them, until he clicked a button on the television remote, boosting the volume by several notches.
“I just need five minutes of your time.”
He gulped another swig of his beer, made a two-pointer into a plastic wastebasket several feet away, and walked into the kitchen. “Like I said, I’m watching the game.”
“So pause it.”
He cracked open a fresh can and said, “Two minutes.”
“Five. And if you want to keep negotiating, I’ll leave, and you won’t ever get your job back.”
“What makes you think I want it?”
“You want it more than everyone there. You weren’t just angry today; you were passionate, which means you care. It’s not just a job to you. It’s part of who you are.”
“You got all that from one meeting?”
“You were Evie’s go-to person, the one who managed everything. Right?”
He belched into the open air like a primitive ruffian, ensuring his given name lived up to its full potential.
“Beer?” he asked.
“What?”
“Would you like a beer?”
“No thanks.”
He laughed. “Worried it will taint your figure?”
It had been some time since she’d sparred with someone like this. It felt better than she cared to admit. Empowering.
“I could accept your olive branch, if that’s what it is, but then you’d witness my face twist into several different shapes as I pretend to like the taste of something I find nauseating. And I can’t do that. Not even to you. Not only would it put us back where we started, you’d have even less respect for me than you do now.”
He cracked a smile. “Oh ... I don’t know. You tell it straight. It’s ballsy in a sweet, innocent kind of way.”
“Do I get my five minutes?”
He paused the television.
“How old are you?” Quinn asked.
“You came all the way here to ask me about my age?”
“I’m just curious.”
“I’m twenty-one. You?”
“Add five years and you’re there,” she said. “You were young when you started working for Evie.”
“Still in high school. She helped me through a difficult time in my life.”
“Yeah, I know. Had to do with drugs, didn’t it?”
There it was at last—his full attention.
“How do you know about my past?”
“Evie told me,” she said.
“At the meeting today, you acted like you didn’t know a thing about me—about any of us.”
“Evie mainly talked about you and Felicity. You were the one person she knew she could rely on no matter what. That’s why she put you in charge last year. To be honest, having you around kept her sane during her divorce. She told me she finally felt she could take a break from work and not worry about the business suffering in her absence. The way you stepped up, it meant a lot to her.”
He pressed his hands together. “I would have done anything for Evie. She was a good friend. The best.”
“I know,” Quinn said. “So please, stay. Work with me. I need you. I’m not trying to take over. I’m just trying to keep it going. With Gage and Marissa not showing up today, we’re already down two people. Don’t make it three.”
“Wait a second ... are you saying Marissa never showed after I left?”
“I haven’t seen her since this morning. Why? Do you know her well?”
“More than I know some of the others.”
“Are you two dating?”
“What? No. She’s only sixteen. I mean, she’ll be seventeen in a couple months, but ... we’re just friends. I called her a few times tonight. Went straight to voicemail.”
Friends who call each other a few times a day.
“If you’re just friends, why call her so many times in one day?” Quinn asked.
He shrugged. “I wondered if she made it to the meeting. I was going to ask her what happened after I left. That’s all.”
Only it wasn’t all. He’d wiped his brow twice over the past minute alone. He could distort the truth all he wanted. Quinn suspected there was something between them.
“You want to know something? For several days now I suspected Roy killed Evie. After the work meeting, I found out he had a solid alibi for the night she died. He was with someone.”
“How do you know the alibi is reliable?”
“She had no reason to lie to me,” Quinn said. “By telling the truth, she actually risks losing everything.”
“Maybe she’s just trying to protect him.”
“Or maybe she’s telling the truth. You know Evie well. Who do you think did it?”
He sank back onto the chair. “I’ve thought about it so many times. I know every person in her life. None of them seem capable of murder.”
“What if it wasn’t a friend or a lover? What if it was a client?”
“It’s a gardening business. You get that, right? We’re fair, honest, and on time, every time. We meet all of our deadlines. No one has ever complained about anything that Evie didn’t go out of her way to make right.”
It was worth a try.
“Well, I promised five minutes, and I’ve been here ten, so I’ll go,” Quinn said. “See you at work tomorrow?”
“What about what Ruby said earlier?”
Quinn flicked a hand through the air, winked. “I’m in charge now. What about her?”