clothes and household items for the parents, even chew toys
for their pet dog. One of the wealthier patrons he hit up, a local landlord, provided
an apartment for the family to move into. And on Christmas Eve Dad rented a Santa
costume and delivered all the stuff himself. He made me dress up as an elf and go
with him.”
I paused, smiling at the memory. “I was pissed as hell that he made me do it but afterward
I was glad he did. It felt good.”
“Your dad sounds like he was quite a man.”
“He was.” My throat seized up with emotion again, triggering a host of jagged lines
in a blue-purple color—like a fresh bruise—that zipped across my field of vision.
Fortunately one of the crime scene techs pulled Albright aside, giving me time to
recover.
When Albright returned, he settled back into his chair, leaned back with his arms
folded over his chest, and eyed me with a thoughtful expression. “The techs can probably
wrap up here in another three or four hours,” he said.
“So can I reopen for business this evening?”
“Tell you what. I still think your father’s death and Ginny’s might be related, but
I also can’t help but wonder if that’s exactly what someone wants me to think.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Two deaths, both occurring in the same alley behind the same bar, though technically
neither victim actually died in the alley. At the very least, I think the killer must
have some connections to you, or to this bar. It might be someone who knows about
your father’s murder and the fact that it’s still unsolved.”
“Well, that doesn’t narrow things down much since my father’s shooting was in the
city paper.”
“Yes, but was the fact that he was dating Ginny in the paper?”
I thought back to the articles I’d read, articles I still had tucked away in a drawer
upstairs. I hadn’t read them until weeks after my father’s death, unable to bear the
unemotional, black-and-white reporting of an event that had so devastated me. But
when I finally did read them, I dissected them word by word, searching for some hint
or clue that might be hiding in them. There had been no mention of Ginny in any of
them.
“No,” I admitted.
Albright looked thoughtful a moment and then said, “There are some obvious differences
in the two killings. Your father was attacked in the alley and Ginny’s body was only
dumped there. Ginny was stabbed and your father was shot. But he was shot with his
own gun, a weapon I presume is still locked up in evidence, forcing the perpetrator
to come up with a different method for killing Ginny. But planting Ginny’s body in
the same alley where your father was shot creates an obvious link between the two
deaths, a stronger one than just the fact that the two of them dated at one point.
That suggests to me that someone wants us to connect you to both of these murders.”
“Are you saying you believe I’m innocent?”
Albright smiled. “You’re still on my list of suspects, but I’m leaning that way. The
more I look at this, the more I think someone is trying to frame you. And if that’s
the case, I’m betting it’s someone you know, someone who frequents the bar.”
“But why would someone want to pin these murders on me?”
“Are you sure you don’t have any enemies? Someone you angered for some reason?”
I thought about it again. “I really can’t think of anyone,” I told him.
“Just because you can’t figure it out now doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection somewhere.
We just have to find it. I’ve got a team headed over to Ginny’s house to look around
and see what they can dig up. Maybe that will help.”
“God, I hope so.”
“In the meantime, I have an idea. I’ll let you open up for business again at . . .”
He paused and glanced at his watch. “Let’s shoot for five, okay?”
“That would be wonderful,” I said with a huge sigh of relief. “Thank
for their pet dog. One of the wealthier patrons he hit up, a local landlord, provided
an apartment for the family to move into. And on Christmas Eve Dad rented a Santa
costume and delivered all the stuff himself. He made me dress up as an elf and go
with him.”
I paused, smiling at the memory. “I was pissed as hell that he made me do it but afterward
I was glad he did. It felt good.”
“Your dad sounds like he was quite a man.”
“He was.” My throat seized up with emotion again, triggering a host of jagged lines
in a blue-purple color—like a fresh bruise—that zipped across my field of vision.
Fortunately one of the crime scene techs pulled Albright aside, giving me time to
recover.
When Albright returned, he settled back into his chair, leaned back with his arms
folded over his chest, and eyed me with a thoughtful expression. “The techs can probably
wrap up here in another three or four hours,” he said.
“So can I reopen for business this evening?”
“Tell you what. I still think your father’s death and Ginny’s might be related, but
I also can’t help but wonder if that’s exactly what someone wants me to think.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Two deaths, both occurring in the same alley behind the same bar, though technically
neither victim actually died in the alley. At the very least, I think the killer must
have some connections to you, or to this bar. It might be someone who knows about
your father’s murder and the fact that it’s still unsolved.”
“Well, that doesn’t narrow things down much since my father’s shooting was in the
city paper.”
“Yes, but was the fact that he was dating Ginny in the paper?”
I thought back to the articles I’d read, articles I still had tucked away in a drawer
upstairs. I hadn’t read them until weeks after my father’s death, unable to bear the
unemotional, black-and-white reporting of an event that had so devastated me. But
when I finally did read them, I dissected them word by word, searching for some hint
or clue that might be hiding in them. There had been no mention of Ginny in any of
them.
“No,” I admitted.
Albright looked thoughtful a moment and then said, “There are some obvious differences
in the two killings. Your father was attacked in the alley and Ginny’s body was only
dumped there. Ginny was stabbed and your father was shot. But he was shot with his
own gun, a weapon I presume is still locked up in evidence, forcing the perpetrator
to come up with a different method for killing Ginny. But planting Ginny’s body in
the same alley where your father was shot creates an obvious link between the two
deaths, a stronger one than just the fact that the two of them dated at one point.
That suggests to me that someone wants us to connect you to both of these murders.”
“Are you saying you believe I’m innocent?”
Albright smiled. “You’re still on my list of suspects, but I’m leaning that way. The
more I look at this, the more I think someone is trying to frame you. And if that’s
the case, I’m betting it’s someone you know, someone who frequents the bar.”
“But why would someone want to pin these murders on me?”
“Are you sure you don’t have any enemies? Someone you angered for some reason?”
I thought about it again. “I really can’t think of anyone,” I told him.
“Just because you can’t figure it out now doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection somewhere.
We just have to find it. I’ve got a team headed over to Ginny’s house to look around
and see what they can dig up. Maybe that will help.”
“God, I hope so.”
“In the meantime, I have an idea. I’ll let you open up for business again at . . .”
He paused and glanced at his watch. “Let’s shoot for five, okay?”
“That would be wonderful,” I said with a huge sigh of relief. “Thank
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