“You’ve never heard the name before?”
“No.”
“Have you had any involvement with Zeeke Private Investigators and Personal Security?”
“No.”
“Where were you yesterday?”
“Here. I'm always here. I don’t go out because you guys are looking for me. You want to pin those muggings on me. But I didn’t do it. I swear.” Lennox stared at him beseechingly.
“Then why did you hide? If you honestly didn’t do it, then why not come forward, clear your name?”
“You didn’t want to find the real guy, you just wanted to blame it on me.”
“Who did you sell your gun to?”
“Some pawnshop.” He shrugged disinterestedly.
“Which one?”
“I don’t remember, but I gotta ticket thing, you know so I could go back and get it if I wanted.”
“I’m going to need to see that ticket.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure thing.” Lennox nodded emphatically.
Jonathon didn’t know what to think now. Had Lennox really sold his gun? Why would a mugger progress from apparent spur-of-the-moment crimes to something as detailed as the plot Naomi’s stalker had laid out? Maybe the two sets of crimes really were unrelated. The odds weren’t high that Naomi would be involved in an attempted mugging the same day her stalker decided to escalate to murder, but it wasn't impossible.
“Jonathon.”
He turned, expecting to see Allina still in the chair where he had left her. Instead, she was over in the corner by the stairs that led to the kitchen. “Ali, you should be sitting.”
She waved him off. “I'm fine. He tossed something as I chased him down the stairs.” With a gloved hand, she lifted up a gun. “Guess he didn’t sell it for drug money after all.”
* * * * *
11:38 A.M.
Oscar Yla was in a fabulous mood today.
Everything in his life was falling into place so perfectly. He felt like the luckiest guy alive. He was only twenty, and he already had everything he had always wanted. His girlfriend was the most beautiful, smart, funny, amazing woman on the planet, she was the one, he knew it. He was already thinking up the perfect way to propose.
Sure, they were young. Victoria was only nineteen, and their parents were going to freak out at the prospect of them getting married now, but why wait? They were in love. He was about to be financially stable, and Vicky could continue her studies.
Who would have thought that his hobby would lead to a great career? He had been a gym junkie for as long as he could remember. His dad was a semi-professional boxer, and he had grown up in and around the gym. As he’d gotten older, he’d become interested in bodybuilding and competed a few times. Now the owner of his gym was offering him a job, a job with the potential to become business partners.
How did he get so lucky? A job that he loved, a woman to spend his life with.
Oscar had never thought he’d be so into the whole marriage thing, but he was. He wanted it all. Children too. He wasn't really a kid kind of guy, but when it came to Vicky, he couldn’t wait to make a baby with her. Not for a while though, it was tempting to try to get pregnant right away, but the timing wasn't right. He was just starting a new job, Vicky was still a college sophomore, bringing a child into the world right now wouldn’t be right, but he was excited just knowing that one day someone would exist who was half him, half the woman he loved.
Vicky’s birthday was just a month away, he was thinking that would be the perfect time to propose. Maybe he’d plan a weekend away. They'd stay in a fancy hotel, have a meal at the fanciest restaurant he could find, and he’d propose.
Then he glanced out the window and he knew.
Right here.
It was perfect.