“Business partner?” I asked.
“He had a silent business partner, a Mr. Marlon Bandowe. Mr. Bandowe is a member of a very conservative family and didn’t want his involvement in the gay night club made public. Mr. Bandowe handed over the financial records and the business agreement between them. It turned out that the majority of the money to start the enterprise was provided by Bandowe, I’m talking a seventy-thirty split. Therefore, the profits were split by the same percentages. Nate’s thirty percent was a decent chunk of money, but not enough to account for his lifestyle.”
“Do they think he was skimming off the top from whoever was running illegal activities?” Adrian asked.
“He did something to bring their attention down on him and that would be my assumption,” the captain said. “You see, the detectives kept investigating the threats even after he told them not to, so I don’t think there was any improper conduct on their parts. CPD was able to locate the person sending the emails by tracking the IP address. Unfortunately, when they showed up at his apartment to ask questions they found him dead from a gunshot to the head.” Reardon blew out a frustrated breath. “He’d been dead awhile and none of the prints pulled from his apartment led them anywhere.”
“A dead end,” I said softly.
“Literally and figuratively,” Adrian said.
“How does any of this tie to Nate being in our county or Josh getting threatened?” I asked.
“Honestly, Gabe,” the captain said hesitantly, “you’re the only common denominator in the equation.”
“Fuck!” I stood in the captain’s office and paced. “Why the hell did Nate have to choose me and what the hell do these people think I know?”
Adrian rose out of the chair and came to me. “We’ll figure this out, partner.”
“Look, Gabe,” the captain said, “why don’t you go on home for the rest of the day. Take an extra day to rest.”
I didn’t want to take the time at first because going home and taking a nap wouldn’t solve the case, but I felt exhaustion and stress weighing me down. I hated the thought of Josh cleaning that mess alone or dealing with the alarm installers because those were both irritations that loving me brought into his life. “You’ll call me if this breaks?”
The captain assured me that he would and his word was enough for me. I smiled when I saw the vehicles parked behind Josh’s house. Why did I think he would be alone after what he’d gone through the night before? In fact, the more I thought about it, I was surprised they hadn’t showed up sooner.
I was happy to see that I had been locked out. I called Josh on his phone and he came down to let me in. “I came back to help you clean,” I told him as we headed upstairs. “I should’ve known the cavalry would be here already.”
When I got upstairs, I saw that Willa was there with Chaz and Meredith. They were scattered through the house, all of them dancing a bit to the music playing as they cleaned off the black dust and smears.
“You have amazing friends, Sunshine,” I said, hooking my arm around his neck and pulling him close.
“I have a lot to be grateful for,” Josh replied. “Namely that you get to deal with the alarm guys when they get here in the next hour. If you’re a really good boy I’ll bake you another pie tonight.”
I put my mouth to his ear, “How good do you want me to be?” I saw the shiver work its way through his body.
“Don’t be distracting me with your sexiness,” Josh told me. “I do have an errand that I’d like you to run, if you’re willing,” he added.
“What?”
“I found the door I like on the home improvement store app. I was hoping that maybe you could order it for me and have it delivered. I don’t mean pay for it,” Josh said, reaching for his wallet.
“Let me do this for you. It’s the least I can do.” I saw the argument in his eyes and knew he wanted to argue.
“Let him buy you the damn door,” Willa shouted. “Pick your battles, baby.”
“Fine,” Josh said with a huff. Then a smile worked its way across his face as he dug out his keys from his pocket. “One more thing,” he said, then bit his lip nervously. “Will you make a copy of these two keys?” They were the keys to both doors downstairs. “For yourself.”
I knew he wasn’t asking me to move in and that his suggestion was more for convenience than anything, but it made me deliriously happy. “I can do that.”
NOT THATIWANTEDit to become a habit, but trying to kill me, bringing me in for questioning, or threatening to kill me was great for my business. I had the ladies lining up for days in the guise of buying products in the hopes of finding out the juicy details of my late-night visit from Blissville’s finest–well, the police department. My late-late-night activities with Blissville’s finest, my Gabe, was going to stay private.
“I’m starting to see a trend here,” Meredith said one night after the salon closed. “This keeps up you might want to stock up on some extra inventory. Hell, you might even want to rent a storage unit to keep it in.”
“Girl, you know it.”
“Not that I want you to get threatened or hurt, it’s just you might as well make a little profit out of the madness.”
Some might think it was wrong of me to capitalize on the town’s curiosity, but I thought they were wrong for being nosey. Besides, I wasn’t the only one to make some cash off the townsfolk. I sold out of every single item that Marabeth made specifically for me. It was so exciting to call her and let her know that I sold completely out of the Jazz’s Spice-N-Sass line she had created for my salon. Better yet, were the people who came in a few days after their first purchase looking to buy items in the line they passed over on their first visit. It was an arrangement that benefited both Marabeth and me very well.
