“Thanks. I’ll be back. It was nice meeting you guys. Thanks for your help.” They all waved as I retreated through the crowd. The bathroom was my cover. I’d only needed an excuse to sneak out of the club and didn’t have a pack of cigarettes to use as a ploy. Michael and I passed the insanely long line to the Ladies Room and found one of the exits that spilled into the alleyway. Luckily, it hadn’t been a fire exit so an alarm didn’t go off. I stepped out into the dark and noticed that there wasn’t a knob to let us back in. Smart. Didn’t want anyone sneaking into the club without paying. I found an empty cigarette pack on the floor and wedged it in the door. If we got lucky, we could check the area before one of the bouncers noticed.
“What are we looking for? It’s been a couple days since I would have been here.” Michael watched me examine every inch of the concrete around us. The alley stretched a good ten feet and then turned into a right. Behind me, there was faint noise from the street, but its view was obscured by a large dumpster.
“True, but unless you were killed by an expert, they may have left some kind of evidence.” I slipped on a pair of purple surgical gloves that I kept with me specifically for snooping purposes and flipped on my flashlight. The Exit sign above the door shed an eerie red light over the area but that was about it. Aside from the dumpster a few feet away, there was a trio of trashcans against the wall opposite the exit. Great. My favorite part of the job.
Breathing as sparingly as possible, I peeked into the trash and carefully sifted through, looking for traces of blood or anything that may have been on Michael’s body when he left the club. Michael started to join me but I stopped him.
“What? It’ll go faster this way.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Michael, if someone happens to look this way, they’re going to see trash floating in mid-air. That’s not very inconspicuous.”
“Neither is a hot chick in a grey overcoat with purple gloves sifting through garbage,” he said, his voice flat. Damn. The man had a point.
“Just help me look around. And don’t touch anything.”
“Why?”
“Because shut up.”
Sighing, Michael walked past me to inspect the bits of garbage that hadn’t made it into the cans. I searched the three containers and found nothing out of the ordinary, which made me groan internally because that meant I’d probably have to check the dumpster. Did I like this guy enough to get that horrible smell in my clothes? No. Would I do it anyway? Maybe.
With a regretful moan in my throat, I stepped towards the dumpster, but stopped as my foot kicked something metallic into my line of sight. I stooped and picked it up, examining it in the dim light. A broken silver chain with a tiny padlock on it.
“Michael, come here for a second.”
When he walked over, I held the necklace up to him. They matched perfectly. Hot damn.
“I’d say this is a clue,” I muttered, inspecting the edges to detect any traces of blood. None. Still, this was definitely proof that something had gone down in this alley.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Michael said with half-hearted sarcasm, too busy staring at the chain to commit to sounding dry. “I’m guessing it snapped off in the struggle. Maybe I fell.”
“Yeah. Judging by the fact that there’s no blood around, I’d say whoever attacked you either broke one of your bones or used something quiet to take you out, like a syringe. The question is still why, though. As far as I can tell, you’re not an incredibly important person.”
He gave me a look. I winced. “No offense. I mean, your band is doing well but it’s not doing that well. I’m starting to worry that we need to involve the police. There are some questions I can’t go around asking without raising suspicion. You saw how your band mates reacted when I did.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I wish I could say everything’s rushing back to me, but I’m only getting a feeling that I really did die here. Someone said something to me, and when I turned around, it happened. I just can’t remember what, though.”
“Don’t stress too much about that. The point is to find out about your life and why you died. When we do that, your final wish should become clear. Come on. We’ll do one final check and then go back inside. Your band mates might be getting curious.”
We walked up and down the alley, as well as the one next to it that led to a dead end, but there wasn’t anything else. Afterward, I carefully placed the necklace in my pocket and threw the gloves away. I poked my head into the door of the club. Nobody. Lucky us.
Quickly I removed the empty cigarette pack and slunk back towards the main area of the club with Michael behind me. The girls in line to the bathroom gave me funny looks but I brushed past them, heading for the booth.
Chloe had gone off meeting her other friends, as Casey told me. Shame. I wanted to thank her again for getting me in. I left my number with Casey and Stanley and said good night, happy once we were out of the flashing lights and pounding music. We reached the bus stop, which was thankfully devoid of other people, and Michael exhaled slowly, glancing at me.
“So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“I have to take Linda to her funeral to speak to her Mom. I think that’s her final wish. We might get lucky. If I get her to cross over, Gabriel will show up and maybe I can ask him for help. He’s not allowed to directly help me solve cases by order of the Big Guy, but he can offer advice.”