A knock came at the door and we both jumped. Keely looked at me and I looked at her, both of our eyebrows rising in suspicious surprise.
“Grab the cast iron skillet Mam gave me,” she mouthed to me.
“I’ll stand behind you,” I mouthed back.
She opened the door a crack, and I stood behind, hiding the skillet behind my back. If it were Armino, he wouldn’t see it until I knocked him over the head with it.
It wasn’t Armino Scarpone. It was Detective Stone and Detective Marinetti again. It felt like they lived around here these days.
We stood back and let them enter. Detective Stone raised his eyebrows when he noticed the skillet in my hand but didn’t comment on it. Figuring they were here to discuss something with Keely, I turned to go back into the kitchen.
“We need to speak to you this time, Ms. Flores,” Detective Marinetti said, gesturing toward the sofa.
I brought the skillet with me as I took a seat. Keely took one next to me. The two detectives stood in front of us.
“Are you familiar with a man named Merv Johnson?” Detective Stone asked.
“Merv the Perv?” Keely scrunched up her nose.
Stone grinned at her and his eyes softened.
“I know him,” I said, staring at him until he looked at me. “But not well. He was the super at my last apartment, if you can even call it that. A place to sleep that’s not outside is more like it.”
“Yeah,” Detective Marinetti said. He seemed so tired.Done.He sighed. “We gathered that.”
“What about Merv?” Keely sat up a little taller. “If you’ve come to tell us that he’s dead, good riddance.” She fake-spit on the side of the sofa. Something I saw her Mam do all of the time when something disgusted her.
“Merv Johnsonisdead,” Detective Marinetti said bluntly.
I elbowed Keely and she started to cough. It seemed like she was shocked that he actually was. She probably thought they were coming to question me about his character after one of the girls in the building had gone missing.
“What happened to him?” Keely said, stealing the words from my mind.
My mouth was dry, my body full of sweat, and my heart raced. All I could think of was his stunned face after I had hit him in the temple with Vera. Did I kill the bastard? I didn’t stick around to find out. And there was no telling how long he had been in the apartment if he was.
The place’s personal best was two months. Merv didn’t check until the second month the rent was due. He was trading sex for rent with some of the women in the building and went to collect when he needed to get some. I was sure no one,no one, went looking for him until the smell became too much. They probably thought it was me, if he was still in my old apartment.
“Murdered,” Detective Stone said. “The reason we’re here is because we’re wondering if you happen to know of anyone that might have wanted him dead, Ms. Flores. Since the incident with Ms. Andruzzi, Detective Marinetti and I felt we’ve already established a relationship with you. No one at the complex will talk. Mr. Johnson doesn’t seem to have many friends.”
Keely opened her mouth to speak at the same time that Detective Marinetti sighed. He took a chair from the kitchen and placed it in front of the sofa, taking a seat. He looked bored to death, like he knew where this conversation was headed. Merv had no friends here either.
“When was the pervert killed?” Keely got out. Once you crossed her, there was no going back. Keely hardened herself toward anyone she felt did her or her family wrong. She would forgive, but she’d never forget.
“Yesterday.”
That ruled out Vera and me.
“Ms. Flores, can you give us anything at all to help us bring the person responsible for this crime to justice?”
I went to open my mouth, but Keely spoke up. Her neck had turned red and it started to creep up her cheeks. She stared Detective Stone in the eyes. “I can give you something. Merv Johnson assaulted my sister.” She grabbed my hand. “Did you notice her face the other day, Detective? He did that to her. He tried to abuse her in that rat-infested place he called an apartment. He traded sex for rent. If you said no, he’d take it out on your face.
“So, no, neither of us know who could’ve wanted him dead, because the list is too long. But I will say this. I don’t wish death on anyone, but I’m glad he’s dead. Justice? Whoever has done this has served it for the good of all mankind. Now, if you have no further questions, this has been a long week for us. And after you’ve gone, we’d like to be thankful for the death of a predator in peace.”
* * *
Four hours later,another knock came at the door.
I looked up from the box that I was packing and blew a wild tendril of hair out of my face. It had slipped out of my makeshift bun. I heard Keely moving toward the door, and swiping the skillet from the sofa, I met her there.
