you.”
“The alley and the back door area will be off limits.”
“No problem. I can work around them.” I would do just about anything if it meant I
wasn’t going to lose an entire day’s receipts.
“And I have one more caveat.”
I raised my eyebrows and held my breath, waiting.
“There’s a good chance that whoever killed Ginny may come in here tonight out of curiosity,
to see what he or she can find out about the investigation.”
It was a chilling thought, one that made me let my breath out hard.
“So I’d like to hang around to observe. I’ll sit at a table like any other customer
and see if anyone piques my interest.”
Having a cop on the premises made the idea that a killer might come back a little
easier to bear, but I didn’t want Albright just sitting around staring at people,
or intruding on any of my patrons and making a nuisance of himself. With my parents
both dead, my regular customers were like family to me. I felt protective of them.
“Tell you what,” I said to him. “You can hang here tonight while I’m open.” I said
this magnanimously, like I had a choice in the matter even though I was pretty sure
I didn’t. “But if you just sit around watching people, it’s going to put them on edge.
You said you were new to the area. How new?”
“Almost a month now.”
“So it’s unlikely anyone will know you or what you do. Why don’t I introduce you as
a new employee I’m training instead? I’m down a bartender anyway, and if you appear
to be working here, it will give you better access to both the employees and the clientele.”
Albright considered the offer. “It’s not a bad idea, but I don’t know the first thing
about bartending.”
“I’ll give you a crash course and you can stick with me all night. That way I can
also give you insight into the customers I know, my regulars.”
Albright smiled in a way that made me think I’d played right into his hands. I began
to suspect that despite what he said, I was still very much under suspicion and that
he liked the idea of being able to keep a closer eye on me.
That’s okay, I thought, returning his smile . I want to keep a close eye on you, too.
Chapter 6
A few hours and five pots of coffee later, the crime scene techs who were working upstairs
came down and conferred with Albright. When they were done, Albright walked over to
me and said, “Your apartment is cleared for now if you want to go back up there. We
still have some work to do down here but I think we’ll be able to wrap it up in time
for you to open at five as planned.”
“Thanks.”
“You can call your evening staff to let them know they need to come in. I’d prefer
it if you kept any details you know about the crime to yourself for now, though you
can tell them who the victim is once they get here. Everyone will be talking about
what happened and if someone lets out a bit of knowledge they shouldn’t have, it might
help us nab the killer.”
“No problem.”
I made the necessary calls to my cook, Helmut, my night bartender, Billy, my bouncer
and backup bartender, Gary, and Missy and Debra, the two waitresses who typically
worked Friday nights. Albright insisted I make the calls on speaker phone again and
he listened in on each one. When I was done, he and I spent some time working up a
cover story to explain his presence. With that taken care of, he got up from the table
and glanced at his watch.
“I have a few things I need to do but we’ll hook up again later,” he said.
I escaped from the bar and headed upstairs to my apartment to gather my wits and my
cell phone, which had one message on it from earlier, a sweet but slightly panicked-sounding
plea from Zach to call him. The crime scene techs were done and gone. They had been
thorough but not particularly neat. Almost everything was out of place or obviously
disturbed, and I discovered with a little chill that my
“The alley and the back door area will be off limits.”
“No problem. I can work around them.” I would do just about anything if it meant I
wasn’t going to lose an entire day’s receipts.
“And I have one more caveat.”
I raised my eyebrows and held my breath, waiting.
“There’s a good chance that whoever killed Ginny may come in here tonight out of curiosity,
to see what he or she can find out about the investigation.”
It was a chilling thought, one that made me let my breath out hard.
“So I’d like to hang around to observe. I’ll sit at a table like any other customer
and see if anyone piques my interest.”
Having a cop on the premises made the idea that a killer might come back a little
easier to bear, but I didn’t want Albright just sitting around staring at people,
or intruding on any of my patrons and making a nuisance of himself. With my parents
both dead, my regular customers were like family to me. I felt protective of them.
“Tell you what,” I said to him. “You can hang here tonight while I’m open.” I said
this magnanimously, like I had a choice in the matter even though I was pretty sure
I didn’t. “But if you just sit around watching people, it’s going to put them on edge.
You said you were new to the area. How new?”
“Almost a month now.”
“So it’s unlikely anyone will know you or what you do. Why don’t I introduce you as
a new employee I’m training instead? I’m down a bartender anyway, and if you appear
to be working here, it will give you better access to both the employees and the clientele.”
Albright considered the offer. “It’s not a bad idea, but I don’t know the first thing
about bartending.”
“I’ll give you a crash course and you can stick with me all night. That way I can
also give you insight into the customers I know, my regulars.”
Albright smiled in a way that made me think I’d played right into his hands. I began
to suspect that despite what he said, I was still very much under suspicion and that
he liked the idea of being able to keep a closer eye on me.
That’s okay, I thought, returning his smile . I want to keep a close eye on you, too.
Chapter 6
A few hours and five pots of coffee later, the crime scene techs who were working upstairs
came down and conferred with Albright. When they were done, Albright walked over to
me and said, “Your apartment is cleared for now if you want to go back up there. We
still have some work to do down here but I think we’ll be able to wrap it up in time
for you to open at five as planned.”
“Thanks.”
“You can call your evening staff to let them know they need to come in. I’d prefer
it if you kept any details you know about the crime to yourself for now, though you
can tell them who the victim is once they get here. Everyone will be talking about
what happened and if someone lets out a bit of knowledge they shouldn’t have, it might
help us nab the killer.”
“No problem.”
I made the necessary calls to my cook, Helmut, my night bartender, Billy, my bouncer
and backup bartender, Gary, and Missy and Debra, the two waitresses who typically
worked Friday nights. Albright insisted I make the calls on speaker phone again and
he listened in on each one. When I was done, he and I spent some time working up a
cover story to explain his presence. With that taken care of, he got up from the table
and glanced at his watch.
“I have a few things I need to do but we’ll hook up again later,” he said.
I escaped from the bar and headed upstairs to my apartment to gather my wits and my
cell phone, which had one message on it from earlier, a sweet but slightly panicked-sounding
plea from Zach to call him. The crime scene techs were done and gone. They had been
thorough but not particularly neat. Almost everything was out of place or obviously
disturbed, and I discovered with a little chill that my
Similar Books
