BLACK in the Box (24 page)

“Why?”

“Humor me.”

“Mr. Black, I’m not enjoying this at all. I have work to do, and I’m worse than beat. It’s been a really long night…”

“We’re all tired, Nancy. For the record, I’m not loving being here, either.”

“All due respect, Mr. Black, your fiancé didn’t bleed out in front of you. It’s not really the same.”

“Right. I know.” Black tilted his head in Roxie’s direction. “The ring, Nancy.”

She gave a small huff and pulled her necklace from beneath her shirt. Roxie glanced at it without interest, and Black cursed her for not making her involvement look any more convincing.

“And you’ve been saving officially breaking the news until you had a chance to tell your parents?” Roxie asked, her tone skeptical.

Nancy nodded. “That’s right.”

Roxie snorted. “You should write a book. Or start your own religion. You’re good,” she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, and swiveled back to her screen, her part in the little minuet over.

“Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?” Nancy spat. She turned to Black and began to rise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means your parents died in an accident years ago, Nancy, so you’ve been lying since you came in here. And you lied to the police too. Which is perjury. They take a dim view of that. They tend to put you in jail for a long time, especially on a murder case,” Black said, steel in his voice.

Nancy’s face seemed to collapse in on itself for a moment, like an animatronic figure whose power was cut, her expression frozen in a blank as her gaze darted around the room. She sputtered and began forming a response, but then shook her head and stood. “This is total bullshit. You’ve got some nerve.”

“Sit down, Nancy. Like I said before, the cops will be here any minute, and if you don’t cooperate with me, they’ll cuff you – do you understand?”

Nancy nodded and slowly lowered herself back into her chair, her mind clearly working as she did so. “I…how did you…”

“It’s my job, Nancy, remember? Now how about we cut to the chase and you tell me why you’re keeping your engagement hidden and making up stories about dead parents?”

Her eyes moistened and she sniffed. “Do you have any tissues?”

Black shook his head. Roxie ignored the question. Nancy wiped her face with the back of her arm.

“Spill, Nancy, or you can do it with the cops, and believe me, they won’t be nearly as sympathetic as we are.”

“I…the truth is that I’d been having second thoughts. I mean, I loved Alec, but he could be really volatile, go off for no reason. Probably something to do with his stretch in Iraq. I mean, not at first. He was nothing but sweet. But as we spent more time together, I started to see another side of him. There was a lot of anger, a lot of resentment – he didn’t let things just go by, you know? Took everything personally. And sometimes he would act out.” She blinked away more tears. “He hit me a couple of times. I mean, he apologized, but…you know.”

“Then why did you agree to get married?”

“It was always my dream. But after he gave me the ring, I started really thinking about what it all meant, and I realized that I didn’t want to marry him – I couldn’t go through my life being afraid like that. And if we had kids, well…so I reconsidered.” She sniffed. “I was trying to figure out a good way to tell him, but I was also afraid.”

“Why did you keep the ring hidden?”

“I guess because I didn’t want to make it any worse. Alec told some of the people here. Mary. A few others. That’s why I had to tell the cops I was engaged. I mean, as far as anyone knows, I was. So it was the truth. Just not the complete truth.” She paused. “Come on, Mr. Black. It doesn’t change anything whether we were working over the holiday or not, or whether my parents are alive. Someone killed Alec, probably sweet little Bethany you’re working so hard to defend, and whether I planned on giving the ring back or not doesn’t come into it.”

Black nodded sympathetically. “Okay, Nancy. Since we’re being so honest here, tell me about the drugs. No more fake outrage or refusal to talk about it. That’s over now.”

She grimaced. “I think that was why he was getting more erratic. He went from smoking a little weed every now and then and having a few drinks to using harder stuff. Oxycodone, when he could get it. Meth, coke, whatever. But it made for some ugly changes. It was like one of those movies they show you about drugs –
Reefer Madness.
He was always paranoid about things, but it got way worse after he started really using. It’s like he was obsessed, convinced everyone was out to get him. That was a big part of why I decided not to marry him. I begged him to get help, talk to someone, but he blew me off and said he could handle it.”

“Who was he getting it from?”

“Someone here. I swear to God, that’s all I know. I don’t do anything but have a couple of beers and smoke a little weed now and then to relax, so nobody really talks to me about that kind of stuff.”

Black continued the drug questions until she began repeating herself. When her story stayed consistent, he looked at his watch. “We’re searching for a dongle, Nancy. To access Alec’s files. We’re hoping that will give us some idea of why he was killed.”

“A…a what?”

“A dongle. It’s a USB flash drive. Small, like the size of your thumb, and flat. You plug it into a computer to store data. Did you ever see him use one?”

“I’m not real tech savvy, I’m afraid.”

“What about his stuff? Did he bring anything to work?”

“Like what?”

“A briefcase or a satchel or something.”

“Oh, well, he had a soft messenger bag, like bike delivery guys use. It’s probably locked up in the office.”

Black shook his head. “Would he have come to work without it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s okay, the cops will check his house if they haven’t already. Pretty routine.”

“Oh. Sure. Of course,” she said. “Do you have to tell the police about my little fib? I mean, I didn’t think it would matter, and in the heat of the moment…I think I was in shock.”

Roxie looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

“Depends,” Black said. “I can talk to the detective and soften it. They probably won’t arrest you if it isn’t material.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m sorry for not telling the whole truth, Mr. Black,” she said, standing again. “It was nice to meet you, Roxie.”

Roxie didn’t bother to look up. “Yeah, it’s been real.”

Nancy departed, and Black scowled at Roxie. “You could have acted like you despise her a little more, couldn’t you?”

“She’s still lying. She just fed you a plausible story.”

“That’s what I was thinking too. But why?”

“There’s probably another guy.”

“Really?”

Roxie nodded. “Well, duh. Only a dude would believe that whole sob story. She’s probably banging someone else and didn’t want Alec to flip out.”

“You don’t think it might be tied to the drugs?”

“Maybe she’s banging the dealer.”

Chapter 48

Black walked back out to the store area after McCarthy finally called and told him gruffly that he was just pulling into the lot. The first rays of dawn were glowing behind high clouds, lending them the appearance of brightly colored smoke in the purple sky. Black was surprised to see Larry behind McCarthy and his partner. The skin was hanging from Larry’s face like he’d aged ten years overnight, and the cops also looked worked. Larry opened the front door for the detectives and stepped aside. McCarthy strode through, all business, while the others hung back.

“You must be Black,” McCarthy growled as he neared.

Black held out his hand and the two men shook. “The one and only.”

“Colt says good things about you, but I won’t hold that against you.”

“When’s he going to be here?”

“Said soon. But that could mean anything. It’s been a busy night for me, and it sounds like for him as well. This is my partner, Michael Trout.” McCarthy gave a tired sigh. “So where’s this rig he told me about?”

“Back by the offices.”

Black led the group to the far wall and pointed to the door. “My prints are on it. That’s it.”

McCarthy nodded, withdrew a cloth handkerchief from his pocket, and twisted the lever. All four of them stared at the laptop, and then McCarthy turned and faced Black. “How do you know what this is?”

“My assistant’s here. She was able to open the files. They’re self-explanatory.”

“Yeah? Can you get her?”

“Sure.”

Larry eyed the computer with a glum expression. “Damn. This is a nightmare. If it hits the papers…”

“Yeah,” Trout agreed. “Probably shouldn’t expect a lot of credit card users to be shopping here anytime soon.”

Larry lowered his voice. “Is there any way to keep it…to keep it quiet?”

McCarthy looked at Larry’s expensive watch and worried expression. “I’m not calling any reporters. It’s part of a murder investigation. If you don’t tell anyone, until charges are filed, it’ll stay confidential.”

Larry looked relieved. “Between the murder, and now this…it could ruin me. Especially this time of year.”

“I hear you. But by the same token, if this is really a skimming deal, you can expect the feds to get involved, and from that point it’s just a matter of time till someone makes a call. Sorry.”

Larry scowled. “So merry Christmas to me.”

“Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield.”

All three men took in Roxie as she strode toward them, her walk as flamboyant as her outfit, hair, and tattoos. She blinked at the computer and then at McCarthy. “What’s the problem?”

“You know how to access the files?”

“Sure. Took a while to figure it out. Why?”

“Care to show us?”

“Got any gloves?”

Trout drew a pair from his pocket and handed them to her. She slipped them on, black nail polish showing through the thin latex, and then moved into the small room and typed commands.

Three minutes later, McCarthy was hanging up a call to the FBI as Larry paced by the administrative offices. Black joined him.

“Sucks for you. Sorry, Larry.”

“That’s the understatement of the century.”

“Business will recover.”

“Oh, yeah, probably, after a rough month or two. That’s not the problem.” Larry leaned in conspiratorially. “You’ve been wasting your time here. McCarthy just told me that Bethany got picked up on a DUI early this morning. She’s in custody.”

“That explains why she didn’t call.”

“Right.” Larry hesitated. “So looks like you’re done. Unless you’ve got something that can completely clear her.”

“I wish. I mean, I’ve got some theories a decent attorney could use to poke holes through any case they put together – assuming her prints aren’t on that computer.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“I’ll have a report in your hands within an hour. My assistant’s typing it up.”

“I think the need for formalities is over, Black.”

“Maybe. But that’s how I work.”

“Tell me you have something that will get her off the hook.”

“What I have will make the district attorney think really hard before charging her. I’ll share the rest of it with the cops. They like nice, clean cases. This introduces doubt – Alec could have been killed over the credit card scam. No way to prove he was, unless his prints are on the computer, but there’s also no way to prove he wasn’t.”

“That’s why you said Bethany’s better not be on it.”

“Exactly. Then it’s sort of, the cops will say she was in on it and that’s why she planted the axe in him, but it introduces the possibility that someone else did – because now there’s another motive besides an argument of some kind or a lovers’ tiff.”

“I see what you’re saying. Reasonable doubt.”

“And someone’s dealing drugs in your store.”

“What! Who?”

“I don’t know. But I have Nancy on record saying she knows it’s happening, because Alec was taking a ton of them. The toxicology results will show if that’s true. If it is, there’s the possibility that he was dealing. Or that he owed the dealer money. Either way, it could be someone teaching Alec a final lesson. Which again, sounds plausible enough to dissuade a jury from being very certain about anything. It’s lousy for your store, but her defense lawyer will make it look like Home World’s a hotbed of criminal activity. Mary was stealing from you. And using drugs, which she probably bought here. Or maybe not. The cops might think it’s a better bet that she was buying from someone and it went wrong. Or selling to them. Or that she had an accomplice in the thefts, and he decided to terminate their relationship. Sky’s the limit, but any of that could mean the same person took Alec out. I mean, it’s a hell of a coincidence that there were two of your workers murdered within twenty-four hours.”

Larry studied Black with newfound respect. “Bobby wasn’t kidding. You are good.”

“Right. And expensive. Let’s not forget that.”

“The problem is none of that really clears her, Black. Don’t get me wrong, it’s promising, but it’s no guarantee, is it?”

“Only guarantees are death and taxes.”

Larry thought for several beats. “But all those theories are bad for business.”

“The only way they would be is if there are leaks, or if the case makes it to trial. No prints, their case got a lot weaker.”

“You think you can sway that McCarthy fellow? He seems tough as nails.”

“I can give it my best shot. Assuming we agree that I get the bonus for coming up with enough to muddy the water.”

“I’ll think about it. Do your best. If you manage to pull this off, sure, I’ll pay you double. Even though it’s bittersweet, it’ll get her off the hook.”

“There’s still the DUI.”

Larry’s voice hardened. “That’s not my problem.”

Roxie approached and Larry’s eyes roamed over her. She ignored him and looked to Black.

“Cops said they’ll take it from here. So I’m done, right? I need to find poor Mugs. He’s probably terrified,” she said.

Black held back the retort that was forming and instead nodded. “Not quite, Roxie. Still need to finish the report to wrap things up. But you did well. Thank you.”