Tina Whittle_Tai Randall Mystery 01 (2 page)

Chapter 2

Eric’s office was decorated with the military zeal that only a civilian could muster—navy carpet, gold brocade drapes, coat-of-arms wallpaper. Dueling pistols crossed above the loveseat and mock samurai swords above his desk, this bombastic creation as pitched and massive as a merchant schooner.

In the middle of the excess was one spot of hominess—an old family portrait on the wall, taken when I was barely eight, Eric on the edge of twenty. We were both dark blondes, but while he was tall and slim, I was short and compact, with Dad’s broad shoulders. All I remembered from that day two decades ago was how excited I’d been to have us all together for once.

The detectives didn’t care about Memory Lane, however. I waited in the doorway while Vance walked a slow circle around the office, as if she were printing it with her mind. Ryan stood by Eric’s desk, looking pointedly at the stacks of papers and manila folders, including Eric’s desk calendar.

“Did your brother have any appointments scheduled for this afternoon?”

“Why would he? He was leaving for the Bahamas.”

Ryan eyed the calendar. I stepped forward and moved a notebook on top of it, but not before I’d caught a glimpse of the day’s agenda—two items, both in the morning: Tai pick-up: 7:30, flight to Miami: 11:05. I wondered how much Ryan had scavenged from his brief perusal.

He smiled. “Maybe he forgot, made a mistake.”

“My brother doesn’t make that kind of mistake.”

“Thorough guy, huh? Organized, a good planner?”

I folded my arms. “Yes, Eric’s all those things. Why do you make it sound like that’s a crime?”

“Not my intention. I’m just wondering why a young woman would come to his home office unless she had an appointment.”

“What makes you think she was coming to see him? The car was parked across the street.”

Vance flanked me from the left. “Because we found your brother’s business card under the front seat.”

The white square I’d seen in the plastic baggie. So Eric had known the dead girl. And she’d heard of him.

Through the picture window, I saw movement across the street as the EMTs loaded the body into the ambulance, threading past a crowd that had swelled to include a news crew. Bars of waning sunshine cut through the branches of the oak tree, slanting across the hood of the Lexus. The sandy-haired man watched from the sidelines, cell phone pressed to his ear.

I noticed Ryan looking at me then, his expression alert. Vance seemed to be cataloging everything in her periphery—leather reading chair, framed Kandinsky print, cut crystal whisky decanter—and using it to decide who my brother was, who I was, what had really happened. Like Norris, she’d decided I didn’t fit. And she was right—I didn’t. But that didn’t make me, or my brother, a criminal, and I was determined to prove it.

“Is there anything else?”

Vance snapped her notebook shut. “We appreciate your cooperation, ma’am, but that probably does it for here.”

Ryan nodded in agreement. “For here.”

I felt a surge of relief. It was almost over. And then it hit me. “For here?”

Ryan nodded again.

“I know what that means. That means you’re taking me downtown, doesn’t it?”

Vance laughed. Ryan crooked a half-smile at me. “Oh yes, ma’am. You are definitely going downtown.”

I sighed and dug in my pockets for a piece of nicotine gum. God, I wanted a cigarette.

***

Waiting in the interrogation room felt very much like being kept after school. Boxy and square, off-white and badly lit, it had the same smell as a principal’s office—Pine Sol and plastic and industrial air conditioning—and the same sense of imminent unpleasantness.

Detective Ryan brought me coffee. Detective Vance turned on a video camera. And then I repeated a lot of the same information I’d told them before. But before I could explain once again how very little I knew, I actually learned something.

“Eliza Compton,” Vance said, slapping a file folder on the desk. “That name sound familiar?”

So they had an ID. “I’m sorry, no.”

“Did your brother ever mention knowing her?”

“No.”

“Not even in some offhand casual way?”

“No.”

I didn’t tell them that Eric and I had spent the majority of our lives being offhand and casual. But now, thanks to the gun shop, our every conversation was tinged with exasperation of the most personal sort. Still, we were trying to get along, and I was ready to follow our relationship wherever it led.

Of course, if I’d had any idea it would lead to the APD interrogation room, I’d have been a little more hesitant.

Ryan shifted forward and put his elbows on the table. “Any idea why she might be leaving him a voicemail message?”

“What message?”

Ryan motioned to Vance, who pulled out a small digital recorder and hit play. The voice that came from the machine was female and young, with a deep Southern accent. Her words were clipped and nervous at the edges: “Dr. Randolph? It’s Eliza. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it last night. I tried, but there was a problem, a big problem. I’m headed over right now, though.” Then a robotic voice announced the time: three-fifteen p.m.

Ryan looked at me. “You don’t recognize her?”

“I don’t know Eric’s friends.”

“She called him Dr. Randolph. Sounds like she’s a client.”

“I don’t think he works with individuals any more, just businesses.”

“If that’s true, then why would she be meeting him at his home, and not at work?”

I started to say she wasn’t really
at
his home, she was on the curb, but I dropped that idea. I’d heard rumors about Atlanta’s finest from Rico—taser-gun waving, bad cop/bad cop scenarios—and decided pretty quick the last thing I wanted to be was an uncooperative witness.

“I honestly don’t know. I take my brother to the airport, go to check his mail, and suddenly, there’s a dead girl across the street and everybody’s asking me what I know, which is nothing. Have you talked to Eric yet?”

“We’re still processing that information.”

Uh huh, I thought. That meant they were using me to verify whatever it was he’d told them. I wondered—again—why he hadn’t called me yet and took a sip of my coffee. It was surprisingly good, creamed and sugared with a heavy hand.

“How did you find out who she was?”

“We got an official ID on the scene.”

The sandy-haired business type, I decided. Mr. G-Man.

“Then I’m not sure what more I can tell you. If she is the woman on the answering machine, then it’s obvious my brother didn’t kill her—he was on the plane by eleven, on a cruise ship by two. I’m assuming you’ve verified that by now, along with my alibi.”

“I wouldn’t call it an alibi, Ms. Randolph. You said yourself that your friend Rico can only account for your whereabouts until about four o’clock, when you left Kennesaw. After that…” He spread his hands.

I put down my coffee. “Wait a minute, you don’t really think I had anything to do with this, do you?”

“Now why would we think that?”

Which wasn’t a no.

“Well, do you?”

“No, Ms. Randolph, we don’t. But the fact is, you found the body. And that makes you very important, whether or not you had anything to do with how that body got there.”

“What about my brother? Is he important too?”

“Of course. He was the person Eliza Compton was trying to see when somebody blew her brains out a hundred feet from his front door.”

He leaned forward, and I caught the smell of secondhand smoke on his jacket, probably from some other innocent bystander he’d been interrogating. The tips of my fingers itched. I rubbed them on my jeans.

“Do I get to go soon?”

“Yes, very soon. A few things to sign and you’re on your way.”

I sighed. “Good.”

“Just don’t leave town.”

“What?”

He smiled. “I’m kidding. We can’t make you stay in town—that only happens in the movies.” He got up and his chair scraped backwards. “But seriously…don’t leave town.”

***

Detective Vance escorted me to the lobby, where I sat in an anti-ergonomic chair and waited for a patrol car to take me back to Eric’s. She perched on the check-in counter, reading rap sheets and ignoring me. When my phone rang, however, she gave me her full attention. I got up and moved to the far corner of the waiting area.

It was Eric. “Tai! Thank God! I’ve been worried sick!”

Vance cocked her head. I turned my back on her.

“You’ve got some explaining to do!” I hissed.

“I’ve already talked to the cops.”

“So have I. Down at the station. Still here as a matter of fact, wondering what the hell—”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this under control.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t just get interrogated.”

Vance rustled her paperwork. I ignored her.

“I’ll explain soon, I promise, but right now the important thing is getting you someplace safe.”

“Why isn’t your place safe?”

“Tai—”

“I mean it, Eric. Who was that girl? Why was she—”

“Look, I had nothing to do with what happened, but I’d still feel better if you stayed someplace else. And I don’t mean that room over the gun shop.”

“Don’t start. This has nothing to do with the shop.”

“You’d better hope not. That’s the last thing I need right now.”

My temper flared. “When did this become about what you need? I’m the one stuck at the police station with you being all bossy and mysterious and suggesting I might be in danger—”

“Which is why I’m trying to help!”

I glanced at Vance. She raised an eyebrow. I lowered my voice.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“I’m setting you up at the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton. I’ve got a corporate account there, and the security is top notch.”

“But—”

“Just for tonight. Call it a favor.”

He made it sound simple, which made me suspicious. I decided to take him up on the offer, however. Rico still hadn’t called me back, so his place was out. And I didn’t really want to stay at Eric’s, not until I could close my eyes and not see blood.

“Okay,” I said, “but—”

“There’s a car on its way to pick you up.”

“I don’t have my things.”

“Get some things on the way, I’ll pay you back.”

“But my car—”

“You can get it tomorrow.”

“I just—”

“Look, I know this is hard. I’ll explain everything tomorrow, I promise, but until then, stay put at the hotel. And relax.”

He hung up, and I stared at the phone. Something was happening, of that I was certain. I felt like a minnow in a trawl net, flopping about with sharks.

Just then Ryan joined Vance in the lobby. She frowned and looked a question at him. He nodded, then looked at me. A taut smile stretched his mouth, but his eyes were sharp enough to slice brick as he said, “Rumor has it the Mercedes out front is for you.”

Chapter 3

The Buckhead area of Atlanta is the ninth most expensive zip code in the United States. Often called Beverly Hills East, it houses two five-star restaurants, one governor’s mansion, and the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. When I crossed that opulent threshold, carrying a plastic Rite Aid bag filled with deodorant and a three-pack of underwear, I entered virgin territory, as daunting a frontier as confronted any pioneer.

It was almost eleven, so except for a few businessmen returning from late dinners, the lobby was deserted. My first impression was the smell—lemon verbena mingled with leather and the ghosts of expensive perfumes. Velvety light gilded the dark wood and golden fabrics, making everything seem deeply textured. Even the fire in the stone fireplace was well-mannered, a tidy blaze in coordinating flickers of auburn and yellow.

The doorman directed me to the marbled swath of the check-in counter, where a crisp young woman took my information. She eyed the plastic bag with no reaction and summoned a bellboy to cart it to my room. He pressed his lips together tight, fighting a grin, then bore it away.

That was when I noticed the man standing at the other end of the counter, watching me. He was very good looking, broad-shouldered and lean, with coal-colored hair brushed back neatly from his forehead. His attire marked him as one of the corporate crowd—black suit, white shirt, black tie, all of it perfectly tailored, probably designer.

The clerk noticed the man too and smiled his way. He didn’t smile back. I noticed the earpiece then—tiny, black, discreet.

“Security guy?”

She smiled. “That’s Mr. Seaver, yes. He usually works upstairs, but he’s watching the lobby tonight.”

“Is he always this…intense?”

“He’s very thorough.” She laughed a little. “You must have done something to make him suspicious.”

“Discovered a dead body earlier. You think that could be it?”

Her eyes widened. “The woman they found in Virginia Highland?”

I nodded. The man was still watching me. Pointedly.

The clerk looked concerned. “If you require any special safety measures, I’m sure—”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

I signed my name just as my phone went off. I tossed the key card in my tote bag and moved behind a luggage cart. Security Guy stayed focused.

It was Rico. I tried to keep my voice low. “Where have you been? I called you six hours ago!”

“Don’t even start, baby girl. Boss Lady’s got me working the Kanye concert—I told you this, like, a million times—and I didn’t get a break until fifteen minutes ago. Are you okay?”

Across the lobby, Security Guy moved down the counter, where he exchanged a few words with the clerk. She smiled at him, chatting while she worked the computer. He nodded at whatever she was saying, but kept his eyes slanted in my direction.

“I’m fine. Under surveillance, but fine.”

“Uh oh. That sounds bad.”

“We’ll see. Damn, it’s good to hear from you.”

“Same here. Well, except for the part where you gave my name to the cops. Who just showed up, by the way, and asked me a bunch of questions about where you were this afternoon.”

I apologized and filled him in on my situation. At his end, I heard muted crowd noise and the flurry of keystrokes on his laptop. He had steelworker hands with long thick fingers, dark as chocolate, but he could type like a house on fire. He worked tech support at a local PR firm, which meant that he logged some crazy hours, but it also meant he was on top of virtually every piece of breaking news in the Greater Metro area.

“Glad to hear your side of things,” he said. “All I knew was I came over to Mick’s to grab a burger, and there you were on the big screen, looking all Courtney Love and shit. And then I saw your seventeen messages, and then the cops—”

“I’m on TV? What channel?”

“All of them, all saying the same thing—that you found a body, somebody named Eliza Compton.” More tap-tapping. “The Fox website has footage up.”

“What else are they saying?”

“Shot to death in quiet cul-de-sac. Neighbors shocked. No leads. Anyone with information blah blah blah. They’re calling it a homicide. That true?”

An Asian man got off the elevator and stood within three feet of me. He wore an Atlanta Braves baseball hat and carried a big foam hand on a stick. It was yellow. He was grinning.

“Oh yeah,” I replied. “Definitely a homicide. No gun in the car, though, not that I could see anyway.”

The guy with the baseball hat stared and his grin faded. I smiled his way, did the tomahawk chop. He smiled back and returned the gesture, then headed out, humming a war chant under his breath.

“So yeah,” I finished. “Murdered.”

Down the counter, Security Guy remained vigilant. Another clerk chatted with him now, this one a dazzling brunette. She ran a hand through her hair, tucked it behind her ear. He kept his gaze fastened on me.

Rico’s voice was serious. “This is deep shit you’re talking. You called a lawyer, right? Doesn’t your brother work for some fancy people who would know a fancy lawyer?”

I made a noise. “Don’t worry about Eric, he’s good at covering his ass.”

“We’re not talking about his ass, sweetie. That’s your ass up there on 11 Alive News at Ten.”

“I didn’t even know this girl!”

Rico snorted. “Like the APD cares. They got prostitutes to push, drug cartels to run—”

“This is ridiculous.”

“So say all suspects.”

“Rico!”

“I’m for real! And don’t think for a second they’re not looking at that assload of weapons you inherited and—” He muttered a curse. “Crap, I gotta go. You gonna be okay tonight?”

“It’s the Ritz. Safe as Disneyworld. I’m just gonna get one drink—”

Rico made a noise.

“C’mon, Rico, it’s on my wayward brother’s tab. One drink. And then it’s lights out for me, I promise.”

“In that case, comb the hair,” he said. “And some lipstick wouldn’t hurt, you know what I’m sayin’?”

***

The Ritz-Carlton bar was low-lit and walnut-paneled, plush in a very masculine sort of way. Mostly empty too, which was not unwelcome. I sat down and ordered a top shelf mojito. The bartender slid a napkin in front of me and pulled down the rum. That was when I noticed Security Guy standing at the entrance of the bar, arms folded. Staring at me. Again.

I crooked a finger his way. He cocked his head and frowned, but to my surprise, he came right over. Up close, he was not as tall as I’d first thought, maybe six one tops. Narrow of hip, long of leg, the kind of build made for running.

I smiled up at him. “You’re Mr. Seaver,” I said. “And you’re kind of relentless, anybody ever tell you that?”

He didn’t reply. His eyes were blue, startlingly so, and he directed them like x-rays. The bartender pretended to be engrossed in mashing up mint leaves, but his ears pricked our way. I lowered my voice.

“Look, I know you’re watching me, so just do me the courtesy of admitting it, all right?”

After the slightest hesitation, he nodded once, crisply.

I smiled wider. “See how easy that was? Now we can be friends.” I patted the stool beside me. “Would you like to sit down, maybe have a drink? I’m putting everything on somebody else’s tab tonight.”

He shook his head. “I don’t drink. Except for water. And hot tea.”

“Water like in ice water?”

“Water like in Pellegrino.”

“Ah.” I signaled the bartender. Then I stuck out my hand. “I’m Tai Randolph, by the way. Hi.”

He took my hand. He had a good handshake, firm enough for me to know what was behind it, but not so powerful that I thought my knuckles might pop.

“Yes, you are,” he replied. “Hi.”

The bartender delivered my mojito, which I charged to the room, along with one Pelligrino. My first sip was heaven, like sunshine and honey on the tongue, almost better than a cigarette. I took two more sips before continuing.

“So what was it about me that tipped you off? Oh God, please say it wasn’t Fox News. Apparently I looked terrible.”

“Not the news.”

“Courtesy call from the cops?”

“No.”

The bartender popped a bottle of Pellegrino and a glass on the counter. Mr. Seaver poured the fizzy water into the glass, then positioned the bottle exactly in the center of a napkin, which he then positioned exactly in the middle of the bar. He adjusted it a millimeter to make sure this was so. I studied him through this procedure.

“You’re wasting your time with me, Mr. Seaver. I had nothing to do with that girl’s death.”

He cocked his head. “Say it again.”

“Say what?”

“The last part.”

“You mean the part where I assure you I’m not a murderer?”

His gaze moved deliberately across my face, focusing on my mouth, then returning to my eyes. There was appraisal in it, but no emotion.

“Well?” I prodded.

He nodded. “I believe you.”

“You do? Now why is that?”

“Because you’re telling the truth.”

One hand rested on his thigh, but the other toyed with the green Pellegrino bottle, a restless gesture completely at odds with the smooth blandness of his expression. Why did I feel strangely opened before him, as if I didn’t have a single secret anymore?

Something wasn’t right. Why was this man shadowing me like I’d just debuted on
America’s Most Wanted?
Eric had said the hotel had good security, but this was ridiculous.

I took another sip of mojito. “Must be a relief to know I’m not a killer.”

“It is.”

“I mean, it must be annoying to have some random woman show up at your hotel, RiteAid bag under her arm, her picture all over the news. Stuff like that probably makes your job really stressful.”

“Not stressful. Just complicated.”

I chewed on a spring of mint. “So as long as I stay here, you have to stay here, right?”

“Right.”

“Even if I’m just sucking down rum and hitting on the bartender?”

“Even then.”

This man was giving me nothing to work with. In some other bar, on some other evening, I might have tried flirting him into submission. He was a fine-looking creature, even if he never smiled, and I was pretty sure the suit disguised a first-class physique. But I had other plans, and tempting though he might be, Mr. Seaver wasn’t in them.

I finished off the mojito. “So I should just go to my room then? Get out of your hair so you can get on with your other important duties?”

“That would be helpful, yes.”

“You’re going to follow me up there, aren’t you?”

I expected him to smile at that, but he didn’t. Instead, his mouth curved just the slightest, a quirky pull to the left.

“Of course,” he replied.

***

I lost my key on the way up. I was legendary with keys, leaving them in restaurants, in taxis, finding them weeks later in my sock drawer or the glove compartment. He watched patiently as I searched my wallet, patted down my pockets. I finally found it in my tote bag and slid it through the slot. To my relief, the light flashed green, and he held the door open for me.

I saw my Rite Aid bag waiting for me at the foot of the king size bed along with a white cotton bathrobe and a tea tray. Through the window beyond, the Midtown skyline skipped and jutted across the dark horizon like an incandescent EKG.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been obnoxious,” I told him. “But first, there’s this dead girl, and then my brother vanishes, and nobody will tell me crap, especially not the police.”

As I talked, I heard the soft purr of his cell phone. His gaze dipped to examine the readout, and a tiny wrinkle appeared right between his eyes.

“And I’m tired, and stressed out of my mind, and I want a cigarette so bad I might steal one, if I could find one. I mean—”

“I have to go now.” He slipped the phone in his jacket pocket. “If you have any problems, call the front desk. They’ll find me.”

He was less than two feet from me, and he smelled good, a hint of crisp aftershave mingled with warm maleness and soap. I noticed a scar on his chin, caught the pattern of other scars, webbed and barely visible, at his right temple. This was a man with history.

“Mr. Seaver?”

“Yes?”

“I never got your first name.”

“Oh. It’s Trey.”

I smiled up at him. “Goodnight, Trey. Thanks for the escort.”

“You’re welcome, Ms. Randolph. Please enjoy your stay.”

Then he was down the hall and in the elevator. I watched the doors close after him. Enjoy your stay, he’d said. As in stay put. As in Eric’s last remark. As in be a good girl and let the menfolk take care of this.

Phooey. I grabbed a bag of M&s from the mini-bar, plus some peanuts for later. I stuck my head into the hall—empty. Then, after making sure my key card was in my jeans pocket, I headed back to the lobby.

Taking the stairs, of course. Also keeping to the less-traveled hallways and finally slipping sideways into the bar, where I asked the bartender to call me a cab.

“And a coffee to go,” I added. “Heavy on the cream and sugar.”

Outside, Atlanta churned in all its chaos. Inside the Ritz, however, it was all potpourri and feather duvets and squares of dark chocolate on my pillow, none of which provided a single clue to what was going on.

I checked my tote bag one more time. Car keys, house keys, office keys—every tool of access I needed to get back into Eric’s and see what was in that desk of his, especially his calendar.

Returning to the scene of the crime. Excellent girl detective behavior.