The man with the pipe led them to the left side of the floor. There, a conveyor belt was helping to move freshly stripped rubber onto what looked like a strange, metallic spool. Four men were working around it, including two black men. The man who was leading Ava and Frank along looked closely around the station before taking his pipe out of his mouth and shouting to the workers.
“Where’s Love?” he barked.
None of the four men said a single word, though one of them, a white man smeared in grime and dust, looked to the left, toward the back of the building. He did so quickly, in a move that made Ava think he wanted the boss-man to see, but not his co-workers. Ava, Frank, and the boss all looked in that direction just in time to see a black man hurrying out through a small exit door. A sliver of sunshine came onto the floor as he stepped out. When he passed through the doorway, he glanced back to the very station Ava and Frank were standing by. When the man saw them looking, his eyes grew wide and he dashed out the door.
“Great,” Frank hissed. He took off at a run, Ava falling in right behind him. As they passed by, the workers all stopped to stare, murmuring theories about what might be going on. When they passed through the door, Ava was surprised to see that the man had not run off like they’d assumed. Instead, he was standing directly beside the small set of crooked wooden steps that came down from the exit door.
“Going somewhere, Mr. Love?” Frank asked.
“I thought about it,” he said, not trying to hide the facts of the matter. “But I figured it didn’t make no sense to cause a scene at work.”
“Good thinking,” Frank said. At the same time, the boss-man with the pipe had come to the doorway, peering out. “Thanks, sir,” Frank said, giving a polite nod. “But we can take it from here.”
The man gave Robert Love a distrusting glance before returning inside to the floor. He closed the exit door behind him, the groans and noise of the machines now little more than a murmur.
“So you are Robert Love?” Ava asked.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Any reason you decided to try skipping out of work when you saw us coming?” Frank asked.
“You’re cops, right?”
“We are,” Frank said, showing his badge. “But how would you know that?”
“Saw the gun on your hip, sir,” Love said. “And…well, you have the look. You look like a cop.”
“You always run when you see cops?” Frank asked. “If so, that makes you seem suspicious, you know? So, why’d you run?”
“I’m on thin ice, sir. Had some trouble not too long ago…trouble with the law. And a few days back, I was around some stuff that…well, some bad stuff. I just figured you were here looking for me.”
“Well, we are,” Frank said.
“Mr. Love,” Ava said, “you claim to not want to cause a scene at work. And if you can answer some questions for us, we won’t do that. How’s that sound?”
“What questions?”
“Do you know of a man named Monty Lincoln?”
Love thought about it for a second, really considering the name. “Sounds familiar, maybe. But not someone I know well.”
“How about Carter Epps?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, I know Carter,” Love said. His tone indicated mild annoyance and defeat. It seemed he’d been expecting this question ever since he’d seen them come in. “This is about what happened the other day, isn’t it? At the Candle’s Wick?”
“It is,” Frank said. “We know you play bass for the band Carter is in. What we want to know is why you weren’t at the club when the rest of the band was rehearsing…on a day Carter Epps allegedly attacked and killed someone.”
“He didn’t kill anyone, sir.”
“Well, how about you?” Frank challenged. “Did you kill anyone?”
“Lordy, no!” Love said. He looked shocked and disgusted that anyone might even suggest such a thing.
“Okay, then,” Ava said. “Tell us about this trouble you say you were in not too long ago, and then why you weren’t with your band when they were rehearsing to get a gig at the Candle’s Wick.”
“It’s all the same, you see,” Love said. “I was at the club that day. But when things started getting bad, when they started going south, Ma told me to get up out of there. Carter, too. Like I said…I got in some trouble with the law back a bit…about five to six months ago. Did some time in jail because a white man claimed I stole his watch. I didn’t do it, but they said I was guilty all the same. So when Ma and Carter realized what was happening and that the law would show up, they told me to leave. They knew what it would look like, me being at the scene of a murder just two months after getting out of jail.”
“So you were there when the murder happened?” Ava asked.