BLACK in the Box

by Russell Blake

  Back inside, Black nodded a thanks to him and went in search of Mugsy, who he hoped would be getting hungry by now. Brent and Nancy were having a hushed discussion at the far end of the liquor aisle, which they broke off as he neared, their expressions unreadable.

  “Still haven’t found your cat?” Nancy asked.

  “Nope. When he wants to stay gone, he’s pretty good at it,” Black said. “How are you holding up?”

  “I think I’ll finally be able to sleep when my shift’s over.”

  “Are you still planning to see your folks for the holidays? I mean, in spite of what happened?” Black asked.

  “I’m going to get back to it,” Brent interrupted, leaving Nancy alone with Black.

  “I…I haven’t decided. I just want to get some rest now. Maybe after some shut-eye I’ll be able to think clearer, you know?”

  “Yeah, it can’t be easy.”

  “No, it isn’t.” She glanced down the aisle and then back at her cart, which was stacked high with cartons of beer. “I’ll let you know if I see your cat.”

  “Please. Name’s Mugsy.”

  “I remember.”

  Black crossed to the snack area, where Tabitha, Lee, and Kristen were reloading the display racks with junk food. They all stopped what they were doing, their expressions clearly relaying that they feared having more of their precious time wasted. Black gave them a small salute and asked about Mugsy, to which they replied that nobody had spotted him.

  Black hated to go back empty-handed, but he had run out of things to do other than wait for Stan and McCarthy to arrive. Then his phone buzzed like an angry bee, and he eyed the screen. He’d gotten a message. His heart began beating faster as he opened the inbox, his thoughts now on Sylvia again, and saw it wasn’t from her. It was from Roxie, displaying her usual economy with words: “Get back.”

  With a glance at his watch he moved to the administrative offices door, his footsteps echoing off the high ceilings in the cavernous store. He hurried to the room and found Roxie sitting, waiting for him, a look of expectation and triumph on her face.

  “I knew it. Nancy’s a liar,” she blurted.

  “What? About what?”

  “Her parents are dead. Killed in a car crash eight years ago. Up in the central valley.”

  “How did you find that out?”

  “First I dug around in the employee schedule and saw that both she and Alec were on the day after Christmas. So the story about going to see them was a lie. Then I checked in Alec’s file. His Mom’s alive, lives in Brooklyn. It’s almost eight in the morning there, so I took a chance and called her. She’s broken up about Alec, obviously, but through my stealthy ways I learned that she wasn’t expecting him. Not that it was even possible to get there and back in time for work, unless all you did was stay on flights and drop by to kiss her and say goodbye.”

  “I’ll be damned…”

  “So then I smelled rat all over and went online to see what I could learn about our Nancy. Took a little work, but it’s all in the public record, and her name showed up in the obituary as a survivor.” Roxie smiled grimly. “I told you that whatever was going on with the ring didn’t make any sense.”

  Black nodded. “Then she lied to the cops, too.”

  “Of course. The question is why?”

  “Because she’s trying to hide something. Unless she’s just pathological. Which actually describes about half the chicks in this town, but don’t get me started.”

  “Chicks?”

  “Sorry. I mean women. And I didn’t mean to generalize.”

  “I can’t believe how intolerant you are. Misogynist.”

  “But I’m not,” Black protested. “I love women.”

  “No wonder Sylvia left you.”

  “It’s not that. And she didn’t leave me. We’re just working things out.”

  “Whatever, boss. But if you hate women, you can’t expect them not to hate you back.”

  “Roxie, don’t bust my chops.”

  She laughed. “I love to watch you squirm. You don’t do politically correct very well, do you?”

  “So you aren’t offended?”

  “At being lumped in with a bunch of sociopaths? Why would I? It’s charming company. You should put that on your Match.com profile. They’ll be falling all over you.”

  “Match?”

  Roxie shook her head and exhaled in exasperation. “I keep forgetting that you still use a dial phone.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “Well, Alec’s got a lot of bookmarks for precious metals sites in his unsecured area. Seems like he was a gold bug or something. Real-time tracking, bullion banks, the whole deal.”

  “That’s not all that weird anymore. A lot of people think the dollar’s going to be worth its weight in toilet paper eventually. Anything more?”

  “Not really. Some bookmarks for travel sites. He really liked Costa Rica. And prostitutes, because a third of his sites deal with how to negotiate the best deals there.”

  “Planning his honeymoon?”

  “Men are romantics, aren’t they?”

  Black chuckled and then his demeanor grew serious. “I’m going to go find Nancy and sweat her. I want to do it with you here. I could use the feminine intuition on this.”

  “Sure. I always enjoy the master at work. It’s like watching Picasso or something. You could sell tickets.”

  “Try to limit the sarcasm when she’s here.”

  “This is me trying. You should hear what goes on in my head that I don’t voice. It’s dark.”

  Black looked down at her full-sleeve tattoos and her ebony outfit and shook his head. “Hard to believe.”

  Chapter 47

  Nancy was still stocking the liquor section when Black approached her. Something about his body language must have put her on alert, because she visibly stiffened before plastering an obviously fake smile in place. “Mr. Black, back so soon?”

  “Nancy, I need your help with something,” Black said.

  “Um, sure. What can I do for you?”

  Black lowered his voice in a conspiratorial fashion. “Not here. In the office. I have a few more questions for you.”

  “I’m still pretty behind, Mr. Black. The bins won’t stock themselves, and it’s almost six o’clock. It’ll be light out pretty soon.”

  He checked the time. “The police will be here any minute. We need to cover a few things before they get here.”

  That shook her. “The police are coming back?”

  “Purely routine. They need to finish up with the crime scene and tie up a few odds and ends.”

  “Ah.”

  Nancy checked off an item on her clipboard and set it on top of the remaining beer cases, and then followed Black to the administrative offices. When she entered the corridor, she eyed the crime scene tape stretched across the IT room’s doorway with a troubled expression. Black held the door to his office open, and as she stepped in, Nancy appeared surprised to see Roxie sitting by the terminal, waiting.

  “Nancy, this is my assistant, Roxie. She’s doing a little follow-up. Hope you don’t mind if she’s here while we talk.”

  “Um, no, not at all.” Nancy gave Roxie a nod. “Nice to meet you.”

  Roxie didn’t say anything, just gave Nancy the blank stare.

  “Great. Have a seat and we can knock this out in no time.”

  Nancy sat down and Black pulled up another chair. She looked at him expectantly.

  “So, Nancy, Roxie here was looking at the personnel files and saw that you and Alec were scheduled to work the day after Christmas.”

  “Really?” she asked, her voice instantly guarded.

  “That doesn’t really jive with you going to see your folks over Christmas, does it? Because that’s what you told me.”

  Nancy tried another smile. “It must be a mistake, that’s all. Mary probably entered it wrong or something. She was always doing stuff like that.”

  “Oh, that explains i
t, then. Where did you say they live? Someplace in the central valley?”

  “In a little town outside Fresno. Middle of nowhere.”

  “Really? What’s it called?”

  “Dinuba,” she answered without hesitation.

  “Sure. I think I passed through there once. Not a lot going on, is there?”

  “No. It’s an armpit.”

  Black laughed, but to his ear it sounded forced. “Were you going to drive?”

  “No other way to get there.”

  “Take Alec’s car?”

  She shrugged, but looked puzzled by the line of questioning. “Or mine. Either way.”

  Black’s stare hardened and he stared at her wordlessly. She shifted in her seat, now visibly uncomfortable. Seconds stretched by and Black shifted his gaze to Roxie. She gave him a slight head shake, and he took another tack. “Nancy, could you show Roxie your engagement ring?” he asked.

  “Why?”

  “Humor me.”

  “Mr. Black, I’m not enjoying this at all. I have work to do, and I’m worse than beat. It’s been a really long night…”

  “We’re all tired, Nancy. For the record, I’m not loving being here, either.”

  “All due respect, Mr. Black, your fiancé didn’t bleed out in front of you. It’s not really the same.”

  “Right. I know.” Black tilted his head in Roxie’s direction. “The ring, Nancy.”

  She gave a small huff and pulled her necklace from beneath her shirt. Roxie glanced at it without interest, and Black cursed her for not making her involvement look any more convincing.

  “And you’ve been saving officially breaking the news until you had a chance to tell your parents?” Roxie asked, her tone skeptical.

  Nancy nodded. “That’s right.”

  Roxie snorted. “You should write a book. Or start your own religion. You’re good,” she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, and swiveled back to her screen, her part in the little minuet over.

  “Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?” Nancy spat. She turned to Black and began to rise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means your parents died in an accident years ago, Nancy, so you’ve been lying since you came in here. And you lied to the police too. Which is perjury. They take a dim view of that. They tend to put you in jail for a long time, especially on a murder case,” Black said, steel in his voice.

  Nancy’s face seemed to collapse in on itself for a moment, like an animatronic figure whose power was cut, her expression frozen in a blank as her gaze darted around the room. She sputtered and began forming a response, but then shook her head and stood. “This is total bullshit. You’ve got some nerve.”

  “Sit down, Nancy. Like I said before, the cops will be here any minute, and if you don’t cooperate with me, they’ll cuff you – do you understand?”

  Nancy nodded and slowly lowered herself back into her chair, her mind clearly working as she did so. “I…how did you…”

  “It’s my job, Nancy, remember? Now how about we cut to the chase and you tell me why you’re keeping your engagement hidden and making up stories about dead parents?”

  Her eyes moistened and she sniffed. “Do you have any tissues?”

  Black shook his head. Roxie ignored the question. Nancy wiped her face with the back of her arm.

  “Spill, Nancy, or you can do it with the cops, and believe me, they won’t be nearly as sympathetic as we are.”

  “I…the truth is that I’d been having second thoughts. I mean, I loved Alec, but he could be really volatile, go off for no reason. Probably something to do with his stretch in Iraq. I mean, not at first. He was nothing but sweet. But as we spent more time together, I started to see another side of him. There was a lot of anger, a lot of resentment – he didn’t let things just go by, you know? Took everything personally. And sometimes he would act out.” She blinked away more tears. “He hit me a couple of times. I mean, he apologized, but…you know.”

  “Then why did you agree to get married?”

  “It was always my dream. But after he gave me the ring, I started really thinking about what it all meant, and I realized that I didn’t want to marry him – I couldn’t go through my life being afraid like that. And if we had kids, well…so I reconsidered.” She sniffed. “I was trying to figure out a good way to tell him, but I was also afraid.”

  “Why did you keep the ring hidden?”

  “I guess because I didn’t want to make it any worse. Alec told some of the people here. Mary. A few others. That’s why I had to tell the cops I was engaged. I mean, as far as anyone knows, I was. So it was the truth. Just not the complete truth.” She paused. “Come on, Mr. Black. It doesn’t change anything whether we were working over the holiday or not, or whether my parents are alive. Someone killed Alec, probably sweet little Bethany you’re working so hard to defend, and whether I planned on giving the ring back or not doesn’t come into it.”

  Black nodded sympathetically. “Okay, Nancy. Since we’re being so honest here, tell me about the drugs. No more fake outrage or refusal to talk about it. That’s over now.”

  She grimaced. “I think that was why he was getting more erratic. He went from smoking a little weed every now and then and having a few drinks to using harder stuff. Oxycodone, when he could get it. Meth, coke, whatever. But it made for some ugly changes. It was like one of those movies they show you about drugs – Reefer Madness. He was always paranoid about things, but it got way worse after he started really using. It’s like he was obsessed, convinced everyone was out to get him. That was a big part of why I decided not to marry him. I begged him to get help, talk to someone, but he blew me off and said he could handle it.”

  “Who was he getting it from?”

  “Someone here. I swear to God, that’s all I know. I don’t do anything but have a couple of beers and smoke a little weed now and then to relax, so nobody really talks to me about that kind of stuff.”

  Black continued the drug questions until she began repeating herself. When her story stayed consistent, he looked at his watch. “We’re searching for a dongle, Nancy. To access Alec’s files. We’re hoping that will give us some idea of why he was killed.”

  “A…a what?”

  “A dongle. It’s a USB flash drive. Small, like the size of your thumb, and flat. You plug it into a computer to store data. Did you ever see him use one?”

  “I’m not real tech savvy, I’m afraid.”

  “What about his stuff? Did he bring anything to work?”

  “Like what?”

  “A briefcase or a satchel or something.”

  “Oh, well, he had a soft messenger bag, like bike delivery guys use. It’s probably locked up in the office.”

  Black shook his head. “Would he have come to work without it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s okay, the cops will check his house if they haven’t already. Pretty routine.”

  “Oh. Sure. Of course,” she said. “Do you have to tell the police about my little fib? I mean, I didn’t think it would matter, and in the heat of the moment…I think I was in shock.”

  Roxie looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

  “Depends,” Black said. “I can talk to the detective and soften it. They probably won’t arrest you if it isn’t material.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I’m sorry for not telling the whole truth, Mr. Black,” she said, standing again. “It was nice to meet you, Roxie.”

  Roxie didn’t bother to look up. “Yeah, it’s been real.”

  Nancy departed, and Black scowled at Roxie. “You could have acted like you despise her a little more, couldn’t you?”

  “She’s still lying. She just fed you a plausible story.”

  “That’s what I was thinking too. But why?”

  “There’s probably another guy.”

  “Really?”

  Roxie nodded. “Well, duh. Only a dude would believe that whole sob story. She’s probably ban
ging someone else and didn’t want Alec to flip out.”

  “You don’t think it might be tied to the drugs?”

  “Maybe she’s banging the dealer.”

  Chapter 48

  Black walked back out to the store area after McCarthy finally called and told him gruffly that he was just pulling into the lot. The first rays of dawn were glowing behind high clouds, lending them the appearance of brightly colored smoke in the purple sky. Black was surprised to see Larry behind McCarthy and his partner. The skin was hanging from Larry’s face like he’d aged ten years overnight, and the cops also looked worked. Larry opened the front door for the detectives and stepped aside. McCarthy strode through, all business, while the others hung back.

  “You must be Black,” McCarthy growled as he neared.

  Black held out his hand and the two men shook. “The one and only.”

  “Colt says good things about you, but I won’t hold that against you.”

  “When’s he going to be here?”

  “Said soon. But that could mean anything. It’s been a busy night for me, and it sounds like for him as well. This is my partner, Michael Trout.” McCarthy gave a tired sigh. “So where’s this rig he told me about?”

  “Back by the offices.”

  Black led the group to the far wall and pointed to the door. “My prints are on it. That’s it.”

  McCarthy nodded, withdrew a cloth handkerchief from his pocket, and twisted the lever. All four of them stared at the laptop, and then McCarthy turned and faced Black. “How do you know what this is?”

  “My assistant’s here. She was able to open the files. They’re self-explanatory.”

  “Yeah? Can you get her?”

  “Sure.”

  Larry eyed the computer with a glum expression. “Damn. This is a nightmare. If it hits the papers…”

  “Yeah,” Trout agreed. “Probably shouldn’t expect a lot of credit card users to be shopping here anytime soon.”