Former smoker.
Or at least trying to quit.
"We were having breakfast down the way and caught the call," she continued as I paused a few feet from the dumpster and studied it, then the door on the far side. "Body's over there."
"I know." I counted the steps to the door and then tried it. It had no give, but after a couple of test tugs, someone opened it from the inside. Crash bar in place, people could come out but they couldn't get back in. Okay, so if they came out these doors, they would have to intend it.
"Can I help you?" The guy inside was a little sallow around the eyes and definitely not in the mood to be here. Probably just woken up.
"What time do you close?"
"Two a.m." The man said. "Last call was ten minutes before. Bar shuts at two. Last patron got dumped into a taxi about two-fifteen or thereabouts. Then we cleaned up, locked everything down and left."
It was just barely nine.
"Out the front? Or the back?"
Guy scrubbed a hand over his face and then pulled a cigarette from behind his ear and tucked it between his lips before he lit it. The flare illuminated the darkened hall behind him.
The female detective's breathing increased a notch. Yeah, she was struggling with the need to quit.
"No one parks in the back at night. We all head out front. We don't even bother with the trash because pickup ain't till lunchtime today and the dumpsters are full." He exhaled a blue stream of smoke and stared at me like I was a special kind of stupid.
"Any alarms on this door when it opens?"
"Not a fire door, not required to have an alarm. Can't open it from the outside without a key to release in the inner lock. Only a couple of people got keys."
"The delivery driver one of them?"
"Nah, that was Sal's job, but he was late. Got hereafterthey already called me."
Five bucks said Sal got his ass reamed for that.
"You have anyone working back here last night, keeping an eye on the people coming and going?"
"No," he said. "Only got one guy for the kitchen and the bathrooms are right around the corner. Nobody comes out here unless they're planning a little service, you know—greasing the wheels. Most of the working girls don't come in on weeknights, not a lot of cash on a Monday."
Fair point.
"Thanks." I turned away to find the pair of detectives staring at me, both puzzled. Not that I cared. "Oh," I said as I turned back to the guy in the doorway. "One more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Is that real or just for show?" I pointed to the camera just inside the door that was tucked right up in the corner. I might not have noticed it if he hadn't lit his smoke. The detectives both made grumbling noises and the guy in the doorway gave me a baleful look.
“It’s active.” He kicked the door wide open and turned around to walk down the hallway. I’d take that as an invitation. The detectives were hot on my heels as I lengthened my stride to keep pace with the worker.
We didn’t have to travel far before he dumped us off at the manager’s office. A pudgy, middle-aged man, who looked as if he was constantly trying to relive his glory days, glanced up at us. Either he was hiding something illegal going through the bar or he’d already been questioned by the detectives, and not politely.
“Can I help you?” His hands fluttered over a messy stack of papers on his cluttered desk. How this man managed to keep track of anything would be a damn miracle. Hopefully, he’d be able to provide some video footage.
Glancing at the retreating back of the dour employee, I stepped into the stuffy room, waiting for Sullivan and his partner to step in before shutting it with a soft snick. I really should at least get her name to be polite.
No, their body language didn’t signal that they had any history with this man. But the manager’s body language said he was nervous about something. The question was, was it something that would interest me?
“I’m Agent Morgan, assisting these fine detectives on the crime scene out back. It’s come to our attention that the camera just inside the back door is active. We’d like to see the footage.” I left Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum by the door to walk around the back of the manager’s desk.
A brief flash of silent ass slapping porn graced the screen before the guy shut it down quickly, knocking over his empty mug in the process.