“Yes ma’am.”
“Did you see it happen?” Frank asked.
“No, I was inside. But I could hear Carter and that man arguing out in the alley.”
“That man was Monty Lincoln,” Ava said. “And the way it looks right now, Carter Epps killed him.”
“Oh, but ma’am, there’s no way Carter killed that man—or any man for that matter.”
“How can you be so sure?” Frank asked.
“I just know the man, sir. Just a few days ago, Carter just about broke down crying because he saw a dead cat in the street, a little gray kitten. He’s that kind of man, you know? Hates fighting and cross words. Carter would never throw a punch at nobody, so there’s no way he’d kill someone.”
Ava knew that this sort of testimony ultimately meant nothing. But she also knew that her instincts were telling her that Carter Epps was innocent.
“Your bandmates must really like you,” Frank said. “No one even mentioned you were there. Not even Tony, the club’s owner.”
“Yeah, they’re some good friends. Good people.”
“And what you’re saying,” Ava said, “is that if we confront them with omitting that you were even there at all, they’d tell us you were never out in that alley with Carter and Mr. Lincoln, right?”
“That’s right. But…they were only trying to keep me from getting in more trouble…trouble I never even caused in the first place. They won’t get in trouble for leaving me out of their stories, will they?”
“Likely not,” Ava said. “But if turns out they were lying about anything more pressing, then it may have to be looked at very hard. So you’re not quite free just yet.”
“Mr. Love, did you see anything odd that day?” Frank asked. “Do you have any idea who might have been out there in the alley other than Carter Epps and Monty Lincoln?”
“I know there was a man that says he saw Carter hurt the man, but I never saw him. I was out the door, right out the back, before he came inside. But he was out there alright, cussing and screaming.”
“Anything else?” Ava asked.
“Not really. I mean, there was some heat between that big man—the bouncer for the club—and that same man that Carter was gumming with.”
“You mean the victim?” Frank asked. “Monty Lincoln?”
“Yeah. I never saw them going at it or anything, never even heard them arguing, but he was mad. And I think one of the reasons that man, Mr. Lincoln, showed up at all was to give that bouncer a piece of his mind. I don’t know all the details but they seemed to be mad at each other just based on what I heard the bouncer saying.”
“The bouncer,” Frank said. “You mean that huge, massive black man named Leon, right?”
“Yeah, Leon. I forgot his name until you just now said it.” Robert Love then seemed to regret having said anything. There was a look of shame on his face that made her think he was worried he may have gotten someone in trouble.
Frank seemed to sense this, too. He was starting to look frustrated but she was pretty sure he was also certain Robert Love had not killed anyone. More than that, she also thought the frustration showed one more thing they were both becoming clear on: someone was lying to them.
Between the band members, Carter Epps, Leon the bouncer, and Tony the club owner, someone was not being honest with them. And Ava was determined to find out who it was and why they were telling lies.