Dead or a Lie, page 14
She glared back at me without a response.
I said, “I didn’t think so.”
Detective Collins swallowed hard before she turned and got back into her vehicle. “Your arrogance is going to get you in trouble,” she said, climbing behind the wheel and slamming her door closed. But her window was down.
“What arrogance?” I said. “I’m just asking if you have any real leads. And you think that’s arrogant?”
Collins shifted her car into drive and started to pull away, but jacked up when she slammed on her brakes. She looked at me out the window. “You think because I’m young, because I’m a woman, I don’t know what I’m doing?”
“What?” I let out a laugh, but it was more of a nervous one than anything. Collins was visibly fuming, but I was somewhat surprised how easily I’d set her off. Before I could say another word, she hit the gas and took off from me, tires screeching across the lot and out onto Northwest Tenth.
The first thing I did when I got into my room was sit on the bed and call Alex from the hotel phone.
There was barely a half ring when she answered. “Hello?”
“Hey,” I said. “It’s me.”
“Henry? Where are you?” she said, a clear sound of concern in her voice.
“I’m sorry. I should have tried to call you, but—”
“You didn’t answer me,” she said. “Where are you?”
“Oh, sorry. At the hotel.”
“No you’re not,” she said. “I was just there.”
I stood up from the bed and looked toward the door. “What? You’re at my hotel? Are you serious?”
She was quiet, and didn’t answer. As tough as Alex was—tougher than most—I couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t answering.
“Alex?” I said.
There was a crack in her voice: “I… I thought something happened to you.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You’re here? At the hotel?”
“I’m actually… I was on my way to the police station. I didn’t know what to do or who to call. Why didn't you answer your phone?”
I heard her question, but was trying to wrap my head around what was going on. “How far away are you?”
“From the hotel? I don’t know. Maybe twenty minutes? Hold on,” she said. “Let me pull over. I think I’m a couple miles from the police station.”
I thought about how much time I’d spent out in the parking lot with Detective Collins. I knew I must’ve only missed Alex by a handful of minutes.
She said, “But why didn’t you call me back? You wouldn’t answer your phone… my texts. And when you didn’t—”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “My phone’s dead.”
I stood outside the lobby waiting, seeing a black Toyota Camry pull into the hotel parking lot with Alex behind the wheel. I watched her drive up and down both sides of the lot. There weren’t any parking spaces available. She finally turned the corner and drove around to the back of the hotel.
I hurried after her, trying to ignore the pain that had returned in my leg.
Alex bounded out of the car and ran toward me, jumping into my arms. She kissed me, and I could feel wet from her tears against my cheek.
“I’ve never been so certain something bad happened to you,” she said, holding me so tight, her arms wrapped around my neck, it was hard for me to breathe.
“Don’t worry,” I said, my voice strained. “Everything’s okay.”
I wasn’t sure if that was true.
She looked at my face, touching the small cut under my eye. “What happened here?”
“Oh, uh… Kathy’s husband attacked me.”
“Why?”
We grabbed her bag from the rental car and I went ahead and gave her the rundown of most of what had happened, from the park to Kathy disappearing. It was all news to Alex.
We walked inside the hotel and she looked at my leg, the bandage covered by my pants. “Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”
I smiled, shaking my head. “I’m sorry you left Virginia,” I said. “I hope your parents weren’t too upset when you told them why you were leaving.”
“I didn’t tell Mom the whole story. But Dad… He was the one who called his friend, the one with the plane, got him to fly me down here.”
The bag I carried for her was heavy, and I had a feeling it wasn’t just clothes inside of it.
We walked across the lobby and stood at the elevator, waiting.
Alex said, “Don’t you think it’s more than just a coincidence Kathy disappeared at the same time those units got cleaned out?”
“I don’t know what to think,” I said. “I know the cops are suspicious. I’m not convinced they’re even going all out to find her.”
“They don’t think she’s really missing?” she said.
“Well, they’re asking the same question you just did. And they know she was the one who took me there and showed me what was inside those storage units.”
“But you don’t think she would’ve faked her own disappearance?” she said.
The elevator door opened and we stepped inside. We rode it to the sixth floor without me giving Alex a straight answer to her question.
I didn’t have one to give.
Once we were in the hotel room, Alex opened her backpack on the bed. She took out her computer and two guns.
She said, “The concerning thing to me is these two detectives seem to think you know more than you do,” she said. “I assume you’ve been honest with them?”
I nodded. “I’ve told them everything. I don’t want them to have a chance to pin anything on me.”
Alex picked up one of the guns, looking at me like she didn’t know what to say. “Don’t you think if we find who took that money, we’ll find Brock’s killer?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But a moment ago you suggested Kathy could be the one who emptied out those storage units.”
“I was just asking,” she said, staring back at me with her eyes somewhat squinted. “Why do you seem like you’ve been defending her?”
“I’m not,” I said. “I already told you I let the cops know everything.”
“But not about what happened in the park?” she said.
I shook my head. “I didn’t have much reason to hold that back. I’m not even sure why I did.”
“Because you’re afraid Kathy had something to do with you being attacked there?”
“What?” I shook my head. “I’m telling you the truth. I don’t know why I didn’t tell them. I’m still surprised I haven’t heard anything about it.”
Alex said, “What about the husband? You said he attacked you. I assume the cops questioned him about his wife’s disappearance?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “They’re not telling me much about any of it. I asked if they had any other suspects.”
“And what did you get from it?” she said.
“Nothing at all. Detective Collins said I was arrogant.”
Chapter 23
The first thing we did after we left the hotel was replace my phone, which turned out to be more of an expense than I’d bargained for. I wasn’t one for having the fanciest phone, or the fanciest of anything. But the price tag shocked me, and made me wonder if I’d be better off without it.
Living without a phone—and maybe entirely off the grid—was something that had honestly gone through my mind, more than once.
The truth was, it wasn’t actually an option. Not unless I was in another business; one where nobody was ever looking for me.
Alex had a much better grip on technology than I did, and wouldn’t let me go for the cheapest option. That meant the new phone set me back over four hundred dollars.
The kid behind the counter was able to somehow get my new phone set up for me, with all of my contacts and everything else I needed transferred from the old phone, even though it was dead.
And as soon as I stepped outside the store, it didn’t take more than a few seconds for the new phone to start chirping and buzzing. All the calls and messages I’d missed started coming through.
By the time Alex and I made it to her car, I had nearly twenty text messages missed, seventeen missed calls, and eight messages. Plenty of the messages were from Alex, but then I saw one from Kathy. I listened, and it was as if she didn’t know if she was talking to my voicemail or if it was actually me on the other end:
“Henry? Are you there? There’s a…”
Her voice cracked and dropped out from what sounded like a weak phone signal. I couldn’t make out her words until her voice said:
“He’s following me.”
That was the last thing I heard on her message. I glanced at the phone, but the next message had already started again. It was garbled background noise, but I could still hear somebody talking. But then it stopped and the call disconnected.
Alex was already in the rental car, the engine running with the cool air blowing out from inside when I opened the passenger-side door.
“Listen,” I said, and replayed the first message on speaker.
We both sat in silence, Kathy’s voice nervously coming through the phone:
“He’s following me.”
Alex looked at me, eyes wide.
“Could be anyone,” I said.
Alex said, “What about the husband?”
“You think he kidnapped his wife?”
“No, I mean… What else did he say?”
“To me? He mostly let his fists do the talking.”
“Didn’t he say why he went after you?” she said.
I had to think about it. “He thought I had something to do with it.”
We were both quiet, the cold air blowing from the vents, radio off, engine running.
“Why?” she said. “She must’ve told him something to make him believe you were caught up in everything.”
“I’m not sure he knows much of anything,” I said. “But it’s hard to know for sure.”
I looked at my phone and flipped through the other messages. There was another call from a local number, so I tapped the button and listened:
Uh, hello sir, this is Ken Hardy from Hardy’s Auto Body. Your BMW is ready to be picked up.
“I need to pick up Billy’s car,” I said, glancing at the clock on the dashboard.
Alex said, “You don’t think we should talk to Kathy’s husband?” She turned her phone to me with GPS already pulled up. “His business is ten minutes from here.”
I thought for a moment. “I’m just not sure he’s interested in talking to me.”
“Don’t you think he wants all the help he can get, finding his wife?”
“You would think so,” I said, shaking my head. “But not from me.”
But Alex had a look on her face, like she had something else in mind.
“What are you thinking?” I said.
She shrugged. “You just have to wonder about this guy, the way he reacted toward you, coming after you the way he did. You think it might’ve been an act? Like he was covering something up?”
I toyed around with it in my head. “I’m just not sure,” I said. “Anything’s possible, the way this has all been going.”
Alex turned down Industrial Park Lane and stopped at the sign listing the commercial tenants, where the logo and name, Arnold Cleaning Services, Inc., was up top and larger than the others.
We continued ahead and turned in when we saw nine vans parked around the side of the brick building where three garage doors were wide open, eight men and three women hanging around outside talking, some laughing, all dressed in the same blue uniforms. Some were sipping from travel mugs while others looked to be working hard, pushing machines onto ramps sticking out the back of some of the vans.
But they all stopped when we drove closer to the building.
Alex said, “Do you recognize anyone?”
I looked at them all, tried to get a decent look at each, but most had gone back to whatever they were doing. Only one stood still, watching us until we stopped.
He turned and went inside through one of the open garage doors.
Alex parked and we both got out and walked toward the workers.
It was mostly quiet outside, although there was loud, heavy banging echoing somewhere in the distance. I watched a truck raising a commercial dumpster, emptying garbage into the back.
Two younger men in the blue uniforms walked toward one of the vans, one with a plastic jug in his hand. He stood at the back of the vehicle.
I said, “Hey, Luke Arnold around?”
“Mr. Arnold?” the young man said. He nodded toward the garage doors. “Should be in his office.”
“Any chance you could tell him Henry Walsh is outside, and would like to talk to him?”
He looked from me to Alex, like he was hesitating.
Alex, her voice low, leaned into me. “Can’t we just go inside?”
I said, “If he’s going to act the way he did when I first saw him, I’d rather it be out here.”
The man opened the doors on the back of his van and placed the gallon jug inside, slamming the doors closed with a loud bang.
I couldn’t tell if the man was ignoring us, or deciding what to do.
I said, “Would you mind checking? I’m sure he’d be happy to hear I’m out here.”
The man paused, the driver-side door open. He said to the other young man, already in the driver seat, “Gimme a minute.” He went into the garage and disappeared inside.
The garbage truck that had emptied the dumpster drove in our direction, and I looked at the driver behind the wheel, until he started to pass. The door had a Canzano Waste Management logo on the side of it.
I said to Alex. “You see that? Canzano.”
“Didn’t you talk to him?” she said.
I paused to think about it, then shook my head. “Detective Collins said they have no reason to believe he had any kind of involvement.”
Alex had her eyes on the garbage truck, pulling out of the parking lot. It turned right onto the main road and continued through the industrial park until we couldn’t see the truck anymore.
The young man who’d gone inside came out from the garage, but he didn’t say a word to us, continuing toward the van. He climbed inside and started the engine.
“Hey,” I said, loud enough I thought he could hear me, even with the window up. I walked toward him, but the young man acted as if I wasn’t there and drove away without saying a word.
I started for the open garage, Alex following. But before I got close to it, two men much bigger and wider than me stepped outside and stood, arms crossed, shoulder to shoulder blocking our path.
One of the two, in a voice so deep it was almost hard to hear, said, “It’d be in your best interest to leave this facility.”
Both just stared at me and Alex.
I said. “You know, your boss sure has a way of making it pretty clear he’s got something to hide, doesn’t he?” I tried to look past the two enormous creatures and into the garage. I could see some of the other uniformed men, looking our way.
A police vehicle turned off the road, coming toward us. I looked at Alex, then said to the two goons, “Is he serious? He called the cops?”
The Miami-Dade police vehicle continued toward us, then stopped next to Alex’s rental.
A tall, skinny officer stepped out and looked inside the Toyota on his way over to us.
The two goons still hadn’t moved. “Good morning, officer,” one of them said.
The cop put his hand out, “Can I see some ID?”
Alex and I both looked at each other. It crossed my mind to refuse. But it wouldn’t get us anywhere.
“Have we done something wrong?” Alex said. “All we did was get out of our car…” She nodded toward the Toyota. “That’s my rental right there.”
The skinny cop said, “We received a phone call; someone was trespassing.”
“Trespassing?” I said, turning to the two goons. “Seriously?” I said to the officer, “We came here to talk to Mr. Arnold. I can’t see how we’re doing anything illegal.”
“Well, this is private property,” the cop said.
The two goons walked away, going inside the garage and disappearing through a doorway.
Alex and I decided to play the game, and handed the man our driver’s licenses. “I don’t know if you know who I am,” I said, “but—”
The cop didn’t answer, glancing at Alex’s ID, handing it back to her, then looking at mine. “Henry Walsh? You’re the private investigator, down here sticking your nose where it don’t belong. Is that right?”
“The part about my nose isn’t exactly accurate,” I said. “I’m a licensed private investigator. Not just some hack trying to get in the way. And Mr. Arnold’s wife is a friend of mine. I’m just as interested as anyone in making sure she’s found… Alive.”
The cop handed me back my license.
I said, “So, what now? You’ll arrest us if we don’t leave?”
The officer took a step forward. “If that’s what you’d like…”
I could see on Alex’s face she’d hoped I’d just shut my mouth. “Kind of a silly question,” I said. “Isn’t it?”
The cop’s finger got awfully close to his taser, holstered on his belt.
“Whoa… relax,” I said. “I’m telling you, we’re not here to cause anyone any trouble.”
The cop said, “Then I suggest you get in that car over there and hit the road. Or trouble’s exactly what you’ll find.”
Alex pulled at my arm, but I resisted for a moment, until I finally realized even if the cop hadn’t shown up, Luke Arnold wasn’t going to talk to me.
I also realized I was probably better off dealing with what seemed like a levelheaded cop, versus the two goons Arnold sent out for me.
The officer stood still, waiting, his gaze fixed on mine, like a challenge, maybe hoping I’d push back just so he’d have something to do.
I put my hands up. “All right, all right. We’re leaving.”
Alex and I both got in her car.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “What’s this guy got against me? Other than he’s got something to hide?”
Alex started the engine and turned the car around, tires spinning on top of the asphalt. “It seems like the cops don’t want you around, either,” she said. “What else did that detective say last night?”
