“Thanks for getting down here so quickly, Leon,” Ava said.
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Tony tells us that when the man was killed in the alley yesterday, you were in the restroom, working on the toilet. Is that right?”
“Yeah. Damn thing wasn’t wanting to flush.”
“Were you able to fix it?” Frank asked.
“Yeah. Got the floor pretty wet, but I fixed ’er.”
“When exactly did you come out of the restroom?”
“Well, the folks in the band were getting kind of loud, but I figured that was normal. Musicians tend to get loud and rowdy. But then I heard Mr. Tony shouting about something, and he sounded worried. And then there was this other voice—a voice that turned out to be a white man, the man that said he saw the murder happen.”
“Did you know this witness?” Frank asked.
“No, never seen him before.”
“And what about the victim? Had you ever seen him before?”
Leon shook his head and gave a nervous smile. “I don’t…uh, I don’t do dead bodies well. I never even saw it. But Tony told me it was some rich white man, name of Monty Lincoln, right?”
“That’s right,” Frank said. Just like Tony moments before, Frank glanced back in the direction of the main room where the band was still waiting. Ava could hear the sounds of a drum kit being assembled as they chatted back and forth.
“How long have you been a bouncer around here?” Ava asked.
“About five or six months.”
“Coming up on six months next week,” Tony confirmed.
“You see many wealthy white men in here?”
“No ma’am. The only whites I catch in here are pretty plain, you know? Not poor by any means, but…you know…”
“Normal,” Frank clarified. “Not rich.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ava considered something for a moment and gave Frank a questioning look. He seemed to understand where she was going with it because he gave her a nod and a smile, essentially saying: Go ahead and run with it. She had no illusions that it was because he wanted her to take the lead; he simply knew that she fit in better with this crowd, that she had once been a part of it and would likely connect with them much better than he ever could.
“Tony, I wonder if you’d be willing to help us out?”
“Sure,” he said, hesitant but obviously interested.
“If Frank and I head out to hunt down this witness, can you make sure you know where the band is at all times? Maybe convince them to stick around to rehearse or something?”
“I can do that. For how long?”
“I’m not sure just yet. As long as possible without getting suspicious.”
Frank, already on the same page with her, made his way out of the doorway, excusing himself past Leon as he went. As Ava and Frank made their way out of the club, Ava noticed Ma watching them from out of the corner of her eye as she spoke quietly with Buster about something.
When they were back out on the street, Frank chuckled slightly. “You think it was Carter?”
“I don’t know. I’m willing to admit that the evidence makes it appear that way, but something about this whole thing isn’t quite lining up.”
“Can I ask you something that might come off a little offensive?”