Kip took a glance at Pescoli’s belly. “Shouldn’t you be like packin’ for the hospital or somethin’?”
Her smile was ice. “Or somethin’. Y’know, Kip, less than a year ago you were charged with dealing. Opioids, I believe. Those are killers, y’know, and I think anyone who sells that crap should be put away for life.”
“Hey, I’m working here. This is legit. I’m clean, too. What kind of shakedown is this?”
Alvarez gave her a questioning look, too, but Pescoli knew from experience that she needed to be the alpha dog right from the start if she wanted anything from Kip Bell.
“I need some questions answered,” she stated flatly.
“What questions? Uh. Wait. The murdered girl. The friend of Kywin’s. That’s what this is about.”
“You knew her, too.”
“Her name, maybe.”
Pescoli glanced down at his shoes, scuffed black leather and extremely large, possibly a size or so bigger than his brother’s work boots.
“You were seen at parties with her.”
His eyes narrowed, then slid to the side. “Someone’s lying,” he said, and went back to arranging the cans, matching numbers and color dots, lining them up on heavy-duty metal shelves.
Pescoli felt he was the one who was lying. “Some people called your brother her protector.”
“Kywin? Like he could ‘protect’ anything.” He stopped what he was doing and, towering over them, asked, “Was there something specific you wanted to ask me? Cuz, if not, I got work to do here. Arlene and Bruce, they don’t like me loafin’ around, y’know?”
Bruce. The “B” in A&B Painting and Supplies.
“Okay. Let’s start with the last time you saw Destiny Montclaire.”
“I barely knew her!”
“That’s established.” Pescoli waited, her expression hard.
He finally exhaled heavily. “I dunno. Maybe . . . maybe that night at the Midway? Lots of kids were there.”
“A week ago Friday,” she said.
“Yeah . . .” From there, Pescoli asked him the same questions she’d asked Kywin and his answers were nearly identical to his brother’s, as if they’d rehearsed their story. He didn’t know who would want to hurt Destiny, who had slept with her and could be the father of her unborn child or anything much about her. “She got around,” he admitted finally. “Lots of guys, you know . . .”
“Had sex with her.”
“Yeah. As I said, I didn’t know her. All of the guys in my brother’s group did. They’re the ones who bragged about bagging her.”
“Give me a few names.”
“Ask Kywin. He’s the one who knew her, and that’s his crowd.”
“How about him? Did he sleep with her?” Alvarez asked.
“Probably. Hey, I really don’t know. Look, I’m only hanging out with all of ’em cuz it’s summer. I’m a sophomore at UNLV. This job, here, at A&B, I got it when I was in high school and Arlene lets me fill in during the summer. They’re busy, y’know, with the good weather. That’s all I know.”
“Where were you last weekend? Your brother was up at Reservoir Point,” Pescoli said. Bell was a huge man, physically capable of snapping a small woman’s neck, and surely able, should he don an ape/ Sasquatch suit, of scaring the bejeezus out of anyone who came across him on a shadowy evening or a dark night. Including her daughter.
“Man, you really don’t give up. I worked here, late, then hung out with friends.”
“Who?”
“I dunno. Let’s see. My bro, of course.”