“No,” Harris said then flipped to the page that had the notes about the parents. “Mrs. Turner died of lung cancer in May of 1999 and Mr. Turner died from a heart attack five months later. An online story I found on the couple indicated that he died from a broken heart.” So Nate didn’t kill his parents for money, he wasn’t peddling drugs from the club, nor was he involved in prostitution. What was he into then? Someone obviously wanted him dead for reasons he didn’t want disclosed. Why?
There was a knock on the door and two people walked in. First, was a tall redheaded woman and behind her was a man I recognized, even if it had been a year since I last saw him. I swallowed hard when his eyes lit with recognition also. I chewed the inside of my cheek and hoped that working with him wouldn’t be awkward.
“Detectives Allyson Drake and Paul Seviere,” Jade said in introduction, “meet Detectives Winchester and Wyatt.”
“Dorchester,” John corrected. “Winchesters are the dudes who hunt demons and stuff on a television show. I’m not nearly as cool or bad ass.”
“Sorry about that,” Jade said. I wasn’t sure if we was apologizing for the mistake that he made or because Dorchester wasn’t as cool or bad ass as the Winchesters.
Drake and Seviere came over and shook both our hands. Nothing was said between Paul–now that I knew his name–and me. What was to discuss really? We hooked up at a hotel near Vibe one Saturday night a year ago and never saw each other again.
“It’s good to meet you,” was exchanged between the four of us and everyone took a seat.
“Detective Wyatt was someone that Nate Turner reached out to when the threats started arriving via email,” Harris said. I listened to him explain to the new arrivals the events that took place between my meeting with Turner and him being killed in my county.
“So you think he was coming to find you?” Detective Drake asked.
“That was the original theory,” I replied then told them about the drug bust and Billy Sampson’s arrest. “Was there any serious rumors or hints that he was moving drugs out of the club? We’re just trying to see if the two cases are tied together somehow.” The more information I heard about Nate made me think that they were two separate incidents. As much as we wanted to tie everything up with a Billy Sampson bow, we just couldn’t.
“None,” Seviere said. “Sure, some of the club patrons had their own stash that they brought in, but no one even hinted that there was anything good I could score there. I didn’t just show up once or twice and ask either, I’m talking I was there as a regular club goer for more than six months and nothing.”
“We didn’t find anything during the prostitution investigation,” Drake said. “Nothing. If he was breaking the law, then he was brilliant at it.”
“Knowing what all of you know about the circumstances, how likely do you think it is that Nate Turner is connected to Billy Sampson’s drug bust?” I asked.
“Not likely. Right?” Seviere said then looked at the rest of the group to see if they agreed. It was a unanimous agreement that we were looking at two separate cases.
“So, we push all talk of Billy Sampson aside and focus solely on Nate Turner,” Dorchester said.
I had thumbed through the interviews but didn’t have time to go through them all in detail before we starting talking. I decided to read them thoroughly at home, but for the time being I wanted the highlights. I started with Dorchester. “Who claimed the body?”
“His lawyer did,” he replied.
“What about the interviews you did with his employees?” I asked him. “Did anyone give any reason why someone would want to kill him? Any fights with vendors, city officials who wanted to close him down, or a religious group who protested the immorality of a gay club? Anything?”
“Nothing,” Dorchester said. “They all seemed to really like working for him. He had a reputation as a hard ass and a playboy, but his employees didn’t see him that way. They spoke highly of him.”
I asked some follow-up questions as they came to me, but I didn’t learn anything new after nearly two hours of talking about the case. I blew out a frustrated breath and said, “I want to set up interviews with all of them again, but only after I’ve had a chance to review all of the notes. I’m pretty good at the bad cop thing,” I told them. Of course, the last time I played the part I was knocked unconscious, but they didn’t need to know that. “Besides, I’ve been to that club a time or two and I can promise you that not all of his employees loved him.”
I’d seen the looks that some of them gave him when he came out of his office. In most instances, people didn’t like to speak ill of the dead. In others, they had something to hide. What we needed to determine was if either applied to Nate Turner.
“Can you tell me where the bathroom is?” I asked Jade. “It’s a long trip back.”
“Sure, it’s the…”
“I’m heading that way too,” Seviere said, cutting him off. “I’ll show you.” I knew he wanted to have a private word with me so I wasn’t surprised when he said, “I’m not out at work,” once he was certain we were alone in the restroom.
“I have no desire to change that,” I assured him. “What happened between us was a long time ago and is no one’s business.”
I saw the relief wash over his face before he smiled at me, very similar to the one he gave me the first night we met. I had a suspicion I knew where his mind was going and I wanted to make my position clear to avoid any more awkwardness than already existed. I looked at my watch and said, “I need to start heading back. I have things to wrap up at the station before my dinner plans with my boyfriend.”
“Ah, I don’t want to hold you up. I’m sure we’ll see each other again before the case gets wrapped up,” he said. Although I appreciated his confidence, I figure it was more likeifthe case got wrapped up.
Dorchester and I got on the road as soon as I finished using the bathroom. I was sure that Adrian would be glad to get a break from his new partner, if he hadn’t killed him already.
“Let’s go rescue your partner from mine,” Dorchester said, reading my mind. I was once again grateful for the hand that fate dealt me and hoped that Adrian wouldn’t retaliate too terribly.
IREGRETTED IT THEminute I sent Adrian that childish text asking if Gabe’s temporary new partner was cute. It made me look extremely insecure when I mostly wasn’t and I was reasonably certain that Adrian was going to tease Gabe about it. When Adrian told me that the new guy was fine, not cute, then I knew for a fact he was going to tease Gabe, so I bit the bullet and texted Gabe in hopes that I beat Adrian to the punch. Then Gabe sent me the sweetest damn text that made my insides melt.
