by David Horne
“I hooked the dealer plate to the back of the car. I opened the truck to secure the plate strap.”
“How can you be so sure of the plate?” she asked.
Perry knew the pushback was to dislodge him from any anchor of sensibility. He was angrier than confused now. “I opened the trunk. I check the vehicles before I drive anything new.” He gave a slim shrug as if to add to her visible irritation. “When I hook up the dealer plates to any of the cars I drive, I use the trunk latch to secure the plate.”
“This is something you always do?” she pressed. “Maybe the body was too far back to see. Maybe you didn’t look in the trunk.”
“I know what I did. I know what I saw.” He felt the agitation. It was her job to find a guilty party. Unfortunately, it felt to Perry that he was already guilty of something. It might not be murder, but he knew about the body. “There was nobody in the trunk.” He'd meant it as an observation but understood it sounded as if he knew the person.
She nodded slightly.
“Do you know who it is?” he asked. It was a mistake. She read him, and he had a concern that radiated off him like a culpable sweat. Fortunately, Perry wasn’t sweating. He was confused and worried about the business. It was selfish in light of learning someone had died, and the trunk of the car had something to do with it. But he wasn’t responsible.
“We’ll let you know.” She didn’t give away anything. “We’re taking the car.” The manner in which the information came out sounded more like a child claiming a ball before marching home and ruining the game.
Perry didn’t bother with worrying about the vehicle. It wasn’t something that had sale value anymore. Instead, he found the spare key in the lockbox at the finance desk and handed it to her. “That’s fine. I assume you’ll supply us with the paperwork on the vehicle and we’ll pick it up when you rerelease it.”
When Perry dropped the car keys into the detective’s open hand, she gave him a look that went beyond studying him for signs of guilt. “Why the attitude change?” she asked.
“I understand you’re taking the car. Why should I give you trouble about it? I’m hoping we can resolve this and we can get back to business as usual.”
“I see.” The keys went into the pocket of the cheap blazer. “So you’re not concerned there’s a body in the trunk of the car?” she asked.
“Detective,” Perry started and took a long breath. “I’m upset. I get you’re doing your job. However, I have more than just one thing to think about here. I have a business to run. We haven’t been open very long, and now it looks as though we’ve got something to hide here and I’m worried that people are relying on me for a paycheck and I’m not going to be able to pay them because we don’t have any customers.”
“Is that all this is to you?” she asked accusingly, “An inconvenience?”
“It’s a lot more than an inconvenience, detective. This is my life and my livelihood, and I don’t know if I’m going to recover if this goes on for too long.”
“Okay.” She turned to leave. “We’ll be in touch.”
After she left the hallway, Perry stood shaking, fist balled at his sides. The door to the tiny office opened, and Johnnie peeked out. “Is she gone?” he asked timidly.
“She’s gone,” Perry replied. He went through the door at the end of the hallway.
Chapter Seven
It was a matter of circumstance and opportunity that made the trunk of a parked car the perfect body dump. Now Perry had a mess to clean up, and it took more than a few days before the city police allowed him access to the west side parking area. It wasn’t just the body dump car sectioned off for the evidence collection. The forensic team had collected evidence from three other vehicles near the Ford. Detective Macdonald supplied a vague police report that sufficed as a recipe for the impounded car, but little else in the way of the investigation. When it came to what Rick and he would expect next at the dealership, they didn’t have answers for the rest of the crew. Heavy-hearted, they told the rest of the staff to take the week off, and they would get in touch as soon as they learned more.
The trouble was, Detective Macdonald wasn’t answering the phone. She didn’t return phone calls when Perry called. And Rick wasn’t any help. In his usual fashion, he gave hopeful noncommittal advice to Perry and the rest of the employees and disappeared to his apartment. It was something Perry expected. Rick was right in the face of the public when it benefited him. When it came to others and bad press, he wasn’t worth a damn.
***
The attorneys’ office was swanky. It was almost an hour from the car lot through downtown traffic. But Perry knew the lawyers had represented a few other dealerships in the past when it came to representation against false claims from customers. They came recommended. A few general managers had reached out to Perry when the news of the body hit the local media. In the vein of courtesy calls, they were in competitive business together. But it wasn’t about murder. He got the firm’s name from a dealer a few miles up the road.
“Mr. Sawyer will see you now.” The office assistant told Perry. He stood up and waited for the young woman to lead him through the small swinging doorway that led to the main offices beyond the reception area. “Can I get you some tea or coffee, Mr. Conway?” she asked.
Perry went through the doorway into a conference room. She stood at the doorway with her hands folded in front of her, waiting.
“No thank you,” he replied.
“Please have a seat. Mr. Sawyer will be with you shortly.” She closed the conference room door, and Perry sat in one of the available high-back, black leather chairs at the long, shiny table.
He hadn’t gotten comfortable before the door opened and the angel appeared.
“Mr. Conway,” the angel said, his voice a feathery mixture of sweet syrup and a heavenly chorus. Perry stood and extended his hand. “I’m Gordon Sawyer.” His handshake was firm, the palm of his hand cool and smooth. “Please sit down. Call me, Gordon. Did Helen offer you anything to drink?”
“Yes, she did. Thank you.” It was hard for Perry to not stare at Gordon Sawyer. He wore an expensive suit, a fetching tie, had a smooth angular face, steeple chin, chestnut eyes and matching short hair. He had male-pattern baldness that made targeting his age difficult for Perry. He guessed Gordon was a few years his senior.
“I hear you’re in a little trouble with the police.” He didn’t smile. Perry felt as if the lawyer wanted to make an impression, maybe a leading question wasn’t the best way to gain a client.
“I’m not sure.” It was an honest answer. While Perry felt he’d done nothing wrong, the police made him feel as if there was something to hide.
“I read the police report,” Gordon added conversationally. “You’ve got detective Macdonald on the case.” It sounded like a snide comment. And while defense attorneys typically clashed with police officers, Perry felt there was an animosity that the lawyer wasn’t ashamed to share with him. “She’s a handful.”
“I’m not sure what to do,” he admitted. “It’s been three days.”
“She’s not in any hurry to make it easy for you,” Gordon said. “Her job isn’t to make you feel comfortable. You’ve got some serious business attached to the car lot now, and she’s not going away any time soon.” He stared at Perry for a few seconds before adding, “Unless someone confesses.”
“We’re going to lose our shirts on this already.” He shook his head. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but I’ve got bills to pay. People depend on me for a paycheck. I can’t do anything until this gets resolved.”
The attorney seemed satisfied with Perry’s answer. “I’ll have someone make a phone call. We can see about moving this along.”
“Thank you.” Perry sighed. “It’s too much to think about.”
“I understand.” He leaned back, laced his fingers and pressed the palms of his hands together as Gordon leaned back in the chair across the tabletop from Perry. “Do you want to talk about it?” he
asked.
“I don’t know what I can tell you. It isn’t something I know very much about. They’re not telling us anything, and frankly, I’m afraid to ask too much.”
“Maybe it’s better if you don’t talk to the police anymore.” It was the typical attorney jargon, and Perry only knew as much as he understood from watching television. “I assume they took the car.”
“I gave the detective the keys and told her to take it.”
“They should’ve gotten a warrant to impound the car.”
“They gave me one.”
“Oh?” Gordon broke his hands apart and leaned forward. “Helen, can you bring me Mr. Conway’s file.” He thumbed the intercom box on the table. “Thank you.”
After a minute, the young lady returned to the conference room with a manila folder in her hand. “Thank you,” he said.
Gordon flipped through the paperwork. “I don’t see the warrant.”
“I’m sorry,” Perry said. “I might have left it on my desk.”
“We’ll need a copy of that.” He narrowed his eyes. “Did they take the car before or after you received the warrant?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Perry replied. “Does it matter?”
“Not if you’re not guilty of a crime.”
“I don’t even know what’s going on. I assume they found a male body in the trunk of the car. But they didn’t give me any details.”
“And your business is suffering because they’re taking their time with everything.”
“I understand.” Perry had sympathy for the corpse. He was fairly certain it wasn’t anyone he knew. But there was a dead person found on his property. Someone missed the corpse. “I just wish they’d let us get back to work.”
“Did they say you can’t open again?” Gordon asked.
“Well, no. But we assumed it was etiquette. Whatever that means when it comes to a dead body,” he supplied for an excuse.
“You can open again. Maybe just make that part of the business inaccessible to the customers.”
“Really?” He frowned at the information. “Do you think it’s okay?”
“Well, I’ll ask your lawyer, but I’m fairly certain the city police department isn’t going to stop you from opening your business to the public. It doesn’t look good to the taxpayers or the city council.”
Perry gave the handsome gentleman a long look. He was trying to work out the logistics of the law firm. “I thought you were our lawyer,” Perry pointed out.
Gordon returned Perry a pleasant smile. It was a heartfelt expression that made him feel better. The gesture rivaled Rick’s patented smile and made Perry feel flushed. “Well,” he said with a tilt of the head. “I’ll be your point guy here. But one of the other partners is taking the case.”
Perry offered his hand again when he stood up. “Thank you, Mr. Sawyer.”
“It’s Gordon. And you’re Perry.” He didn’t let go of the hand immediately. They stood together, hands extended over the tabletop. Both men assessed the other for seconds that lasted longer than either wanted to acknowledge.
Chapter Eight
There were catastrophic instances that hindered customers when it came to business growth. But murder wasn’t anywhere near the list of facts that came to Perry’s mind. He thought about weather issues, storms and electrical failure, but something as heinous as using a car lot for a body dump was beyond his imagination.
Perry arrived for work the following day before sunrise. It wasn’t as if he slept through the night. Car lots had to stay open to make money. Every day the doors were closed to customers, was thousands of lost dollars. He looked to the area where the car stood before the police impounded it. There was yellow plastic tape swinging in the morning breeze. A stark visual reminder that something happened and they were still in recovery mode.
He worked out some of the sales plans for the week. If they sold eight cars before the following Monday, they’d have barely enough to cover the mortgage but not the loans on the vehicles. Rick had too many cars on the lot.
“What are you up to?”
Perry looked up from the computer monitor. Rick stood in the doorway to the office. He had a cup of coffee in his hand.
Perry sighed and said, as politely as possible but still trying to get the point across. “We’re over on our budget. We’ve got too much inventory in the lot. I’m not sure we can swing the mortgage, loans, and payroll. I’m not taking a paycheck this week. I suggest you do the same.
Rick stepped into the office from the doorway. He brought a hint of coffee and aftershave with him. He stood slightly behind and to the left of Perry, looking at the same budget sheets. He pointed.
“We’ve got a reserve there. Why not use that?”
“It’s not going to make a difference. If we don’t recover and sell at least twenty-five cars by the end of the month, that rainy-day fund you saw, isn’t going to matter.”
Rick nodded when Perry tilted his head up to look at him. He wanted to make sure Rick understood the implications of staying closed longer. And when the doors opened again, if the customers were scared off, they might not return.
Rick walked around the side of the desk and dropped in a chair facing Perry. “I can make a call to the lots around; see if anyone wants some of our inventory.”
It was a good idea. Perry nodded. “But it might not be enough.”
“I get that you’re upset,” Rick told him. “You can’t sit there and cry about a few smashed eggs.”
Perry sat back, pressing his back against the cushion. His hands were clamped on the edge of the desk. He clenched his jaw together before he spoke. Rick wasn’t a man who saw further than what was in front of him. While Perry never felt cruel enough to point out the obvious to his former lover, it was one of the reasons, among the long, sad list of reasons, which culminated in the end of their romantic arrangement.
“I’m concerned. Obviously, your reference to broken—or smashed—eggs is your way of describing this situation. We’re trying to run a business here. This murder isn’t a customer slipping in the parking lot and breaking a hip. It’s not the faulty structural integrity of the building after an earthquake. We have insurance for both those eggs. This egg is not only smashed, but it’s also impossible to ignore, and we don’t have insurance for murder on the premises.”
“Okay.” Rick nodded. He put down the coffee mug on the desktop and Perry only thought of a coaster under the mug. “I get we’re in a little bit of trouble. And if we’re late on the loan payments, we’re both going to suffer. It isn’t just you who has a stake in this business.”
Perry shook his head. “That’s not what I’m getting at.” He felt the palpable wave of anger flaring from Rick. “Please don’t get mad. Please don’t think I don’t value you. I’m just worried about how this is going to affect us; both of us.” Rick was wily and brave. He was handsome and great in bed. But for Perry, in the end, he didn’t have the maturity level to maintain a long-term relationship. “I don’t want either of us to worry so much about this that we’re unable to come back at all.”
“I’m not too worried if we miss a loan payment.”
“I get that. And you might find this a little frustrating, but I’m worried. We default on these loans, and we’re never going to recover.”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Gordon stood just high enough in the stairwell to see into the office. Rick had to arc his head around to see. He stood when he got a better view of the lawyer.
“The doors were unlocked. I saw you in the office from the showroom floor.”
“Hi,” Rick said to him. “Come on up.” He extended his hand and introduced himself. Gordon did the same.
“I was curious if you’re ready to open again.” He slipped his hands in the pockets of his slacks and leaned in the doorway. “I saw the crime scene tape out there.” He tried a joke. “Too bad it’s not Halloween. You could drape crime scene tape everywhere, and no one would notice.”
/>
“Yeah,” Rick said and snapped his fingers. “That’s a good one.” Then he shrugged. It felt to Perry as if Rick was condescending, but it was hard to tell with him because of his habitual smirking. He collected the coffee mug and moved by Gordon. “Good to meet you.” He looked at Perry. “I’m going to make some calls to unload inventory.”
“Thank you.”
After Rick left, Gordon continued to stand near the doorway to the small office. “I feel like I interrupted something.”
Perry shook his head. “We’re both tired.” He used a napkin to wipe the coffee cup ring on the desk. “And I’m just trying to sort out this business.”
“I can come back if you like.”
Perry stood up. “I need to get some air, and maybe some food.”
“I could join you.” It was an offer that sounded like a question. And Perry thought it was the best offer he’d heard in a long time.
“I would love that.” He grabbed the keys on the desk and headed out of the office. Gordon followed and closed the door.
Chapter Nine
It was impossible to sit across from Gordon and not feel an immediate kinship. He was charming and intelligent. The diner was quiet and light of patrons. They had a booth that faced the parking lot, and the sun shone through the window, warming their faces.
“So,” he started in a noncommittal tone. “Rick’s your partner?”
Perry gave him a sideways look, trying to read if he implied there were layers to the question. “Yes,” he replied. “We started the business together.” And after a pause, he felt inclined to add, “When we were together.”
Gordon wiped his mouth with a napkin. He’d eaten very little of his tuna melt and only a few fries. He drank unsweetened iced tea. It was the dedication of a man who had control of his limits. A man who understood food was sustenance and people indulged too much. Perry pushed away his plate. The fries were gone, along with the burger. He drank soda.
