I gave him a doubtful glare.
“Honestly.” He held his hands in front of his body, the proper amount of fear finally emanating from him. “I-I stayed overnight in Easton because I had a job interview. For a job I didn’t get,” he grumbled that last part. Easton was a city about ninety minutes from Williamsport.
“I don’t give a shit about your job prospects,” I snapped.
“Th-The interview went longer than I expected, so I decided to stay at a hotel that night. I didn’t get back into town until Friday morning.”
He lowered his eyes to the floor and dropped his chin to his chest. I knew a look of shame when I saw it, no matter how quickly Vincent tried to cover it.
“There weren’t any hotel charges on your credit cards,” I said.
His head snapped back up. “How did you—”
“Not the question you should be asking. Where the fuck were you last Thursday?” I demanded, slamming my fist into the wall right beside his head.
He flinched.
“I-I didn’t lie.” His voice quaked. “I was at a hotel, but I had to use my girlfriend’s credit card because all of mine are maxed out.”
That last part I knew was genuine. The quiver in his voice revealed his guilt.
“I assume she doesn’t know you used her credit card?”
He swallowed, his head falling again.
Useless.
I hated it, but I believed him. He was douchebag enough to either steal or open a credit card in his girlfriend’s name and use it behind her back. He was a user, a leech. He’d done as much with Mia at Corsica, used her for his own gain and tried to continue doing it even after she left.
But if he wasn’t in Williamsport last week at the time of the break-in then he wasn’t the one responsible. He could’ve hired someone to do it for him, but two things: he was broke as fuck and the break-in felt personal. Someone who had a stake in the game.
“Give me the name of the hotel,” I demanded. I’d have to verify that he was there that night before I completely took his word for any fucking thing. “And if it turns out that you’re lying, there isn’t a place on this Earth that you can hide from me,” I warned.
His eyes bulged, but he didn’t say anything.
Good.
I removed the pen I always kept on me from my breast pocket and handed it to him along with the employee manual. “Write down the name of the hotel, phone number, and name of the person who checked you in.”
“I don’t remember all of that.”
“Write what the fuck you remember,” I barked.
I gave him some space because I couldn’t stand being so close. I straightened the wrinkles out of my suit, my mind already going through the list of other suspects for the break-in.
A rival competitor, perhaps.
Another former co-worker.
I would have to ask Mia again if she knew anyone who might have a grudge against her. She continued to hold out hope that it was just a stranger who happened across her shop and wanted to cause trouble.
My gut said otherwise.
“I should’ve known that when I saw Mia on the street she’d cause me all types of problems,” Vincent muttered as he handed me the pen and the employee manual.
“What the fuck did you say?”
His eyes fluttered and he sputtered, like he knew he’d just put his foot in his mouth.
