Chapter 19
Deke rubbed his knuckles on her head, then stepped back. He reached for his practice jersey and slid it over his head. His muscles disappeared. It was a shame that he had to wear a shirt. Ever.
“Don’t you think you’re being dramatic, Harp?”
How easy it was for him to say that.
“If you had the police breathing down your neck, you’d be dramatic, too,” she snapped back. His casual dismissal irked her.
Chuckling, he left the locker room, followed by several of the guys. Reyes hung back. “I haven’t heard any gossip about the killer,” he said. “If I do, I’ll call you.”
She offered up a grateful smile. The more friends she had on the inside, the better. “Thanks, Mikey.”
He squeezed her elbow and walked out. The rest of the room emptied in his wake.
Shoulders slumped, she passed Alvin and into the hallway. Clearing herself wasn’t easy. They’d been working on it for a couple of days and had nada. She’d hoped the police had found a better suspect by now.
Since she hadn’t heard from Detective Mignon to tell her he’d cleared her, she assumed she was still on top of the heap. Why, when there were much better suspects? Heck, what about the widow? Odds leaned high in her favor as the killer.
Gerald was awful. Betty Anne suffered under his rule and his cheating. She had all the motives.
“Cases take a while to solve,” Alvin said as if reading her mind. “Don’t get discouraged.”
Harper stopped walking. “You’re pretty compassionate for a hired killer-thug. Maybe you offed him yourself?”
“That’s mean.” He stretched his massive shoulders. “I do have feelings, you know. I’ve seen The Notebook seven times and cried twice.”
“Really?”
“No, not really.” He scowled her down. “The last time I cried was when I came out of the hatch and the doctor spanked my bare ass. However, I do know something about being unfairly judged. People cross the street when they see me coming.”
The man had a point. He was scary looking and she’d judged him, too. “Well, in all fairness, you do scowl a lot, don’t shave, and have been prone to violence in your past.”
The scowl deepened. “Do you know that I raise bunnies and show them at the county fair?”
“Really?”
He sighed and stared blankly. “What do you think?”
Face warming at her gullibility, she glared. “Stop messing with me. I’m not in the mood.”
He smiled. A couple of his teeth were slightly crooked. “The point I’m getting to is you know you’re innocent and a couple of other people think you’re innocent. Hang on to that.”
“Nice pep talk. Really.” He seemed serious. “Do you think I’m innocent?”
“Does it matter?”
Their conversation was likely the longest string of words he’d ever spoken in one sitting. She did appreciate that he was trying to help, in his own gruff way.
Scanning his face, she shrugged. “I suppose not.”
Their eyes met. “If it helps,” he said as if pained, “I’m leaning in your favor.”
“Aw, shucks. That must have hurt.” Her mouth dissolved into a smile. “Thanks.”
Her phone chimed. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” Noah.
Oops. She should have told him where she was going so he wouldn’t worry. “I’m at the stadium.”
Silence, then, “In Lansing?”
“Yes.”
“Are you safe?” His voice tensed. “A neighbor told me you were kidnapped by a large man in black.”
“I wasn’t kidnapped.” She became troubled by the knowledge that had she been kidnapped, it would take at least two hours to get back to Noah. They needed a better neighborhood watch. “Alvin is an old friend. Taryn sent him to help.”
Alvin arched a brow. “Friend?” he mouthed.
“I’ll explain more later.” She headed for Kimmie’s office. “I’m sorry I worried you. Since you were visiting with Adam, I thought I’d visit Kimmie alone. She was Gerald’s assistant.”
Seeing his face wasn’t required to feel his annoyance. Tension seeped through the phone.
“Later.” The line went dead.
Harper put the phone in her front pocket. The argument could be made that she didn’t have to explain where she went and with who. But she’d hired Noah. She should have given him the opportunity to come with her to Lansing.
Truthfully, he’d probably been more worried than he’d let on when he found out she gone off with some guy. Or maybe he was jealous thinking she was seeing someone else.
Either way, he deserved to be in on anything having to do with the case. She’d dropped that ball.
“Everything okay?” Alvin asked.
“Fine.”
Alvin followed her to Kimmie’s office. The young woman was not there. Harper walked to the connecting door and found her in Gerald’s office, seated behind his desk, with her laptop open. A coffee cup and a sandwich wrapper lay on the desk.
The assistant looked comfortable.
Too comfortable. If Gerald was alive, she wouldn’t dare sit behind his desk. Times had certainly changed in a few days.
Kimmie jumped to her feet when she saw Harper and Alvin. “I was, ah, trying to, ah, get the office organized for the next GM.” She hurriedly scooped up the wrapper and dropped it into the wastebasket.
“I wasn’t expecting visitors.” A nervous smiled tugged her mouth. “It’s good to see you, Harper.” She didn’t sound pleased.
Harper wondered if she’d been too quick to scratch Kimmie off the list of suspects. Killers didn’t all look alike. They didn’t have to resemble Alvin, whose appearance screamed serial killer. Kimmie could have a dark heart beneath her pink fuzzy sweater.
Harper slipped into business mode. “This isn’t a personal visit. I need to pick your brain about Gerald.”
Questioning Kimmie would both help Harper glean info about her late boss and give her a chance to see what Kimmie was up to. She seemed awfully nervous over borrowing Gerald’s chair.
“I’ll do what I can,” the assistant rushed to assure her. “But if Willard finds out you were in the building, we didn’t meet and I haven’t seen you.”
“Deal.”
Kimmie walked over to close and lock the doors to the hallway and to Gerald’s office while Harper took a seat before the desk. Alvin hovered nearby.
“Does he have to be here?” Kimmie asked in a stage whisper. “He’s creeping me out.”
Alvin glowered and leaned against the wall. He’d been pre-Kimmie’s employment. It was unlikely she’d heard about him. Whatever vibes she was getting from him were not from history but from the fact that he scared most people.
“Pretend he’s a potted plant,” Harper said. “Now, about Gerald. Let’s go back a couple of months. Other than his usual weirdness, had he been acting strangely lately?”
Sweeping back her brown hair, Kimmie pulled an elastic band off her wrist, and twisted her hair out of her face. She reclaimed Gerald’s large and fancy leather chair. Harper wondered if her feet touched the floor.
“I want to say no, yet the more I think on it, he did seem distracted the last couple of weeks.”
“Distracted how?”
“I’d arrive and he’d be staring out the window. He never stared out the window unless there was an accident on the road. And sometimes he’d yell at me to get out when he was on the phone. He was unusually secretive.”
“Could he have been talking to Sharla?”
“Doubtful.” Kimmie played with the envelope opener. “He never hid her from me. In fact, he liked to brag about his conquests. But he was always careful not to give me ammo for a harassment lawsuit.”
Gerald was open about his cheating. Everyone knew he stepped out in his marriage. They also knew about Taryn’s lawsuit against Willard. Gerald must have learned a lesson from his uncle and kept his bragging clean.
“Do you know if there was anyone current other than Sharla?” Harper pressed. “Could there be a ticked off boyfriend or husband bent on revenge? How about any threatening phone calls or texts that worried him?”
She was rambling. There had to be something.
Kimmie thought about it and continued. “Last week he and Betty Anne had a huge blowout. She made threats.”