CHAPTER SIX
Tony had the look and build of a man most people would clearly not want to mess with. As he filled in a few of the blanks concerning what he knew about the inner workings of what had happened in the alley behind his club yesterday afternoon, he looked larger somehow. His shoulders tensed up and even his forearms seemed to grow in size as he clenched his fists on his desk. While it was very clear that he resented the fact that he was being questioned like some common criminal, he managed to get out helpful information without letting his anger out.
“Monty Lincoln was coming by to look the place over,” he said. “His whole stock market catastrophe has me thinking about selling the place—and it also has men like Monty thinking about new avenues of income now that everything seems so uncertain when it comes to cash.”
“Hold on…did you know Monty Lincoln well before yesterday?”
“No. Actually, I’d never met him. Just heard about him. One of my food suppliers knows his brother and we got to talking about all of this stock market nonsense—how it’s all crashing down and these rich bankers are offing themselves. So some calls were made and he’d already been by here two times to check the place out. Just so happens I was away both times—at the bank on one occasion and then out of town, down in Boston, on the other. So we finally scheduled to meet face-to-face. He was supposed to come by here yesterday and he wanted to talk money. I had this particular band in the building because from what I hear they’re supposed to be amazing. I wanted him to see the quality of music coming out of here, you know? Sort of an extra bonus.”
“But instead, he came in screaming at Carter Epps?” Ava asked.
“Seems that way.”
“And you have no idea why?”
“I really don’t. And even after it all happened, I grilled the hell out of the other members of the band. They all swore up and down that they had no idea what the commotion was about. Said as far as they knew, Carter had never even seen Monty Lincoln before.”
“Do you believe them?” Frank asked.
For the first time since he’d started to speak, Tony leaned back a bit. Some of the anger was gone as he looked to the wall to his left, as if trying to glance through it and at the band members.
“That’s the hell of it. I do believe them and I honestly don’t think Carter killed Monty Lincoln. But based on the story they’re telling…what other possibility is there?”
“After the band brought Carter inside, what did you see take place?” Frank asked.
“Well, the witness came to the front door and when he saw that I was here and already on the phone with the cops, he seemed satisfied. Being that the cops were able to speak with him when they got here, I assume he just hung around outside.”
“So he never came into the club between the time you called the police and when the police arrived?” Frank asked.
“No, he did not.”
“And he was the only one, right?” Ava asked. “No one else was around the club during the time immediately after the murder?”
“Nope. Just Leon, the bouncer. Back in the restroom, fixing the toilet.”
“Can you get him down here?” Frank asked.
“Yeah. And he lives pretty close by, too.”
“In the meantime,” Frank said, “we’ll go have another round with the band.”
“Well, hold on a second,” Ava said. “They’re clearly keeping a secret. Or, at the very least, not telling us something. I say we wait. Let’s talk to the bouncer and then maybe even the witness before really plunging down deep with the band. If they’re trying to protect Carter, they’re doing a strange job of it. I think they’re hiding more than we might even suspect.”
“So…you want to what? Scare it out of them by questioning other people?”
“Not exactly. I want to give them some time to decide to do the right thing. And I want to give Carter some time to come forward on his own.”
She could see that Frank wanted to say something but was choosing to stay quiet. Instead, he nodded his head and gestured to the phone on Tony’s desk. “Call Leon, would you?”
Tony picked up the phone, some of that anger coming back as he lifted the receiver to his ear.
***
Tony hadn’t been exaggerating. Leon was quick to respond, showing up at the club just eighteen minutes later. When he saw that most of the band was also there, he gave them all a skeptical look but said nothing. Ava watched the entire exchange from the small hallway.
“Leon?” she said, waving him forward. “Back here, please.”
He came with a bit of caution, not easing up until both Ava and Frank showed their badges. He was a very large black man. Ava wasn’t sure she’d ever seen such large, muscular arms on a man before. He had thick, wiry hair and stood somewhere just north of six feet tall. When he joined them in the vicinity of Tony’s office, they no longer tried to pretend they’d all fit. Frank remained in his spot by the doorway while Leon remained just outside the door. He peered in at Tony and gave a half-hearted nod.