by Blake Pierce
Kate and DeMarco approached slowly, not wanting to seem threatening or in a hurry. The woman gave them an uncertain smile as she finished up with the bird feeder. It swung gently as she released it, the red liquid she had just put inside of it looking almost like Kool-Aid.
“Hummingbirds?” Kate asked.
“That’s right,” the old woman said. She was pushing seventy…maybe eighty. It was hard to tell due to the beaming smile on her face. “They come by and see me at least twice a day as long as I keep the feeder full. Now…can I help you ladies?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Agent Wise, and this is Agent DeMarco,” Kate said, showing her ID. “We’ve been assigned to the case involving the Langleys and were hoping you could take some time to speak with us.”
The woman looked over Kate’s shoulder, toward the Langley house. The radiant smile on her face was gone now. There was no frown there, either…just a resigned look. A what-has-the-world-come-to look.
“Nice to meet you agents, I suppose,” the woman said. She hunkered down in a lawn chair that sat against the porch rails and looked up at them. “I’m Callie Spencer, by the way. Been living here in this house for about twenty-five years now.”
“So you’ve been here the entire time the Langleys lived there?”
“Yes indeed. Scott and Bethany moved in sometime in the early nineties, I’d say.”
“Would you call them friendly?” DeMarco asked. “Social?”
“I guess so. I mean, they weren’t rude or mean or anything like that. They were an okay couple, but a little private. Especially over the last few years.”
“Any idea why?” Kate asked.
Callie frowned and nodded. “Bethany sort of got different after her sister died in that car accident. Ten years ago or so, I suppose.”
“Can you expand on what you mean by private?” DeMarco asked.
“Well, you know…private might not be the best word. If we crossed paths on the sidewalk, we’d chat it up for a while. But they never came over just to visit. Never really volunteered any information. Scott would catch me out trying to mow the lawn from time to time and insist on finishing. So, no, not private but not really outgoing, either.”
“Do you know if they had any regular visitors?” Kate asked.
“None that I know of. I believe Scott had a friend or two from work come over every now and then during football season. And there was a period of time, you know, when Davey was living with them.”
“Davey?” Kate asked.
“Yes. Well, I called him Davey. His real name is David. He’s their nephew—the son of Bethany’s sister. When she died, he came and stayed with them. He was only ten years old. He’d stay with the Langleys for a while and then would go away for months at a time. I found out later from Scott that during those times, he was staying with his uncle from his father’s side down in Texas.”
Kate and DeMarco shared a look. This wasn’t necessarily a lead, but it was new information that could take them several different places. “Do you happen to know how long ago Davey was still living with them?”
“Oh, I think he moved out for good two or three years ago. About time, too. I felt sorry for him, you know? Passed back and forth between families. But the Langleys were good for him, I think. They were sweet people. They were foster parents. Did you know that?”
“Yes ma’am,” Kate said, recalling the information they had found while digging around at the Roanoke Police Department.
“When was the last time they fostered someone?” DeMarco asked.
“Oh, I can’t say with any certainty. At least a few years, I think. One time they kept this little girl for a few months. The sweetest thing. She’d come over here and we’d play checkers on the porch.”
“And what about Davey?” Kate asked. “Did you have many interactions with him?”
“Not many. They were keeping Davey for the first go-round when my husband passed away. They all came over here—Davey, too—and gave their condolences. But, you know, being neighbors, it’s pretty easy to sort of just see things about people, you know? And with Davey, he was always very quiet. He had this sort of brooding quality to him. I do know that as he got older, he became very hard to handle. Defiant, I guess.”
“Do you know where he ended up after leaving the Langleys’ care?” DeMarco asked.
“Oh, he’s still around. He ended up going to community college but he ended up dropping out. I don’t know why…grades, or just no commitment, maybe. I’m not sure where he’s living but I do know where he works. He’s been working at Gino’s Pizza for at least several months now.”
“You’re certain of this?” Kate asked.
“I know he was working there oh, about six months ago, because he delivered a pizza to my door. I usually think it’s stupid to have pizza delivered because then you have to give a tip, but I was sick, so…” She realized she was trailing off here. She smiled, rolled her eyes at herself, and continued. “Anyway, and then my friend Janell, whom I have tea with twice a week, said she saw him working down at Gino’s not too long ago. Maybe about two or three weeks.”
“Thank you,” Kate said.
“Hold on, wait. You don’t think Davey had anything to do with their murders, do you?”
“Most likely not,” Kate said. “But he’d be a great source of information about the family. And right now, every bit of information is critical.”
Callie seemed relieved at this, giving them a nod. As she did, a hummingbird floated into view at the feeder. The three women watched it for a moment, the smile returning to Callie’s face.
“I do hope you can find who did this,” Callie said. “Rumor has it that a family out in Whip Springs was killed, too. A husband and wife. Is that right?”
“We can’t comment on that,” Kate said, hating the sound of it. She knew that to someone like Callie Spencer, that noncommittal comment would sound like a big fat yes.
“Well, best of luck, Agents,” Callie said as Kate and DeMarco started back down the stairs.
DeMarco got behind the wheel this time. As Kate opened the passenger door, she looked back to Callie Spencer on her porch. She was staring hard at the hummingbird—which had now been joined by two more. It was then that Kate realized that Callie wasn’t so much interested in the birds, as she was intent on not looking in the direction of the Langleys’ house. Finding something both sad and comforting about this, Kate got into the car and pulled up directions for Gino’s Pizza.
CHAPTER NINE
They arrived at Gino’s just as the lunch rush had apparently died down. Once inside, Kate’s stomach responded right away to the delicious smell of pizza and calzones. She could barely remember grabbing breakfast that morning seeing as how much of the earlier part of the day seemed to be nothing more than a blur.
“Hungry?” DeMarco asked.
“You read my mind.”
They approached the small booth adorned with a sign reading Please Wait to Be Seated. A teenaged girl greeted them with a smile. “Table for two?” she asked.
“And, if you don’t mind, we’d like to speak to a young man that works here. Is Davey here today?”
“No, not today,” the hostess said.
“How about the manager?” DeMarco asked. “Is he here?”
“Yes. Do you need to speak with him?”
“Yes, please,” Kate said. She looked around the place and saw that it was practically dead. She wondered if this was a reflection of the food but her stomach was too hungry to really care. So she added: “While we eat, if you don’t mind.”
The hostess led them to a table at the back of the restaurant, took their drink orders, and headed back toward the kitchen area. After looking over the menu and deciding that they were both starving, Kate and DeMarco opted for a large pizza. They bickered over toppings for a moment—DeMarco was one of the oddballs who thought pineapple belonged on pizza—and it brought a smile to Kate’s face. This was only the second case they had worked together and they had
a natural chemistry that most partners took a long time to build.
I really need to get to know her better, Kate thought.
The hostess came back three minutes later with their drinks. A hefty middle-aged man was with her. His little nameplate pinned to the breast of his shirt read Teddy. The hostess took their order, leaving them with Teddy. He looked at both of them with a nervous look on his face, perhaps assuming they wanted to complain about the service or the employee they had mentioned by name to the hostess.
“I’m Teddy King,” the man said in a soothing tone. It was the sort of tone someone who was used to making apologies tended to adapt to. “I was told you needed to speak with the manager?”
“Yes,” Kate said. She again took a look around the place. If there had been more patrons (there were currently only three, all older people sitting together on the opposite side of the restaurant), she would not be speaking about the case at a table, out in the open. But this place was currently about as private and quiet as anyplace else. She took out her ID and plopped it on the table, not wanting to give those other three patrons the opportunity to see it if they happened to look over in this direction.
“I’m Agent Wise with the FBI, and this is my partner, Agent DeMarco. We’re working a case that has led us to one of your employees, a young man named Davey.”
“That would be Davey Armstrong,” Teddy said. Kate thought she caught an edge of irritation in his voice.
“It sounds like you aren’t too surprised that the authorities might be looking for him,” Kate pointed out.
Teddy sat down at the chair at the edge of the table and shrugged. “Well, I mean I wouldn’t paint him as a criminal or anything, but he’s just the sort that always makes you feel on edge. He’s a decent employee when he wants to be, I guess. A little lazy at times. I’ve nearly fired him on two different occasions, but…I don’t know. I’m a sucker for a sob story.”
“What’s the version of his sob story that you’ve heard?” Kate asked.
“Well, I knew his mother. Went to high school with her. And when he came in looking for a job about a year or so ago, I made the connection right away. I’d sort of kept up with him through word of mouth after his mom died. He was bounced around from family member to family member, never really having a home. I talked to him one time about his mother, just to let him know I had known her and thought she was an amazing woman. It made him sad but he seemed to enjoy hearing it. But even then, when trying to connect with him, I felt like it might have been a mistake to hire him.”
“A mistake?” DeMarco asked. “Why is that?”
“Well, he’s just not very responsible. He’s twenty-six and just isn’t motivated. And he’s not very good with people. After I realized this, I made a point to put him on as a delivery driver—keeping him out of the shop and away from paying customers, you know? Plus, he just sometimes gets this look about him that—forgive me for saying so—creeps people right the hell out. I’ve had waitresses complain about it. And you know, he seems to prefer that…being out in the car, driving around and delivering food.”
“If I were to give you a few small windows of time, would you be able to tell me if Davey was making deliveries during those times?”
“Yeah. Just let me go grab the schedule.”
Teddy got up, leaving Kate and DeMarco to mull over what they had just heard. Kate tried to imagine a lackluster twenty-six-year-old who had been dealt a rough hand at life working in a place like this. Even driving deliveries around, she supposed she could see how someone like Davey Armstrong might seem to have a storm cloud on his heels at all times.
Teddy came back with the schedule and sat back down. He also brought their pizza with him. Kate was impressed. It had taken less than ten minutes to get it—which, in her experience, had to be a record of some kind. Maybe it was the FBI badge and ID. It came with certain perks, and apparently getting pizza quickly was one of them.
“The first date would be yesterday, sometime between lunch and six in the afternoon,” Kate said. “The other isn’t as certain, but would likely have been four or five days ago. So let’s say Monday or Tuesday.”
Teddy scanned the schedule and pointed to a column with Davey’s name at the top. “Well, he was off Monday, but he worked the seven-hour stretch from two-to-nine on Tuesday night. And then yes, he was working yesterday from five in the afternoon until closing.”
“Did you happen to notice anything off about him on either of those days?” Kate asked.
“Well, like I said…he always seemed a little off. But no…I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Although…”
He stopped here, as if a thought had just sprung to the forefront of his mind.
“What is it?” Kate asked.
“He was late as hell getting back from one of those deliveries on Tuesday. I didn’t lay into him too badly because we weren’t all that busy. He claimed he knocked and knocked on this person’s door but it took them forever to show up. Said that was why he was late.”
“How late are we talking?” DeMarco asked.
“The run there and back should have only taken him about half an hour but he was gone for a little over an hour.”
“Can we get the addresses he delivered to during that run?”
“Sure. I’ll have to look back through the receipts and orders, though. Might take a few minutes.”
“No hurry,” Kate said. “When you do get the information, just give us a call.” She slid a business card over to him and then added: “By any chance did you ever happen to hear him talk ill about the Langley family?”
“Not at all. He liked them quite a bit. Why…is there something wrong?”
Kate did not want to tell this man the news of the Langleys. She was actually surprised he had not yet heard it. It made Kate wonder if Davey had learned of the fate of the family that had raised him for a while.
“I’m afraid Scott and Bethany were killed three days ago.”
“Oh my God,” Teddy said. “Well, I don’t think Davey has any idea. Three days ago?”
“It appears that way,” DeMarco said.
“And you think Davey had something to do with it?”
“It’s far too early to make such a speculation,” Kate said. “Do you happen to know where he lives?”
“I do, actually. I had to give him a few rides home when his car was on the mend. And I’m pretty sure you’d catch him there right now. He might not seem very committed to work, but he’s sure as hell committed to Fortnite.”
Kate had heard of Fortnite; she was pretty sure it was a recent online game that was insanely popular with teens. She didn’t want to say anything, though, because she wasn’t quite sure.
Ah, old age strikes again, she thought.
“Would you mind giving us the address?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know the exact address, but I can give you the directions. You won’t be able to miss it. He listens to his music so damned loud that his neighbors have called in noise complaints on him.”
“That would be fine,” Kate said.
And as Teddy gave them directions to Davey’s apartment, Kate’s mind wandered a bit. How could Davey not know about the deaths of the people who had helped raise him? It seemed peculiar to her. But even more peculiar than that was the idea that maybe he did know and had decided to keep it to himself, deciding not to tell Teddy or anyone he worked with.
And why would he do that? Kate could only think of one thing: because he was hiding a degree of guilt.
CHAPTER TEN
A simple call to the police was enough for Kate to discover that Davey Armstrong had not been informed of the Langleys’ deaths. He was not listed as next of kin in any reports, the only link being a doctor’s form from eight years ago where Bethany Langley had been listed as his emergency contact.
This made the impromptu visit all the more pivotal. Not only were they going to be questioning him about his whereabouts during the time of the murders and get a gaug
e on his mental state, but they were apparently going to be informing him of the deaths of his aunt and uncle.
Teddy’s directions had been quite detailed, so they found the apartment complex with no problem. It was actually not so much a complex as it was a large house-looking structure with five separate living quarters. It was in a small complex with three other structures. As Kate and DeMarco got out of the car, they heard yet another of Teddy’s details that turned out to be spot on: the booming sound of music turned up to an obnoxious volume. It was some sort of heavy metal from what Kate could tell, grinding guitars and a machine-gun-fire beat from double bass drums.
It was coming from apartment 3B, just as Teddy had said. The agents approached the door and Kate wasted no time trying to be polite. She pounded hard on the door, making sure she could be heard over the roar of the music. A demonic, throaty voice had joined in with the guitars and drums now.
After a few moments, the music came to a stop. Hurried footsteps could be heard coming toward the door. It opened quickly, but only enough for a hectic-looking man to peer through the doorway at them.
“Yeah?” he asked, clearly feeling that he was being horribly inconvenienced.
“Are you David Armstrong?” Kate asked.
“Yeah. And you are?”
Kate and DeMarco showed their IDs almost in perfect sync. Davey studied them with great interest, his expression going from awe to fright. He looked suspiciously at them but still showed an edge of irritation.
“I’m Agent Wise, and this is my partner Agent DeMarco. It has come to our attention that you are the nephew of Scott and Bethany Langley.”
“I am,” he said. He then peeked over his shoulder. Kate could see a computer behind him, the screen on some game menu screen. “Why is the FBI interested in me or the Langleys?”
