“Don’t tempt me.”
Before he could deliver the retort on his smiling lips, a uniformed officer ducked into the hallway from the front room. The entrance to the massage joint had been opened up and the people milled around the waiting room as they processed the scene or worked some other angle of the case. I didn’t recognize the uni, but he looked like he’d worked enough scenes to not be a problem. “Prospero?” he called, looking around.
I walked over. “Yeah?”
“The receptionist is here.”
“Thanks.” I waved Morales over. We’d sent a couple of patrolmen to the receptionist’s house to bring her in for questioning. Even though it was technically a murder scene and fell under Duffy’s purview, we were proceeding as if we were in charge until a victor was declared following Eldritch and Gardner’s argument.
Out in the waiting room, the receptionist we’d seen the first time we’d come to the parlor waited by the front desk. She wore a pair of yoga pants and a hot pink T-shirt with the word Sassy airbrushed across her fake boobs.
“Ms. Harper?” I said, approaching her. “If you’ll follow us?”
According to the records we found in the filing cabinet, Felicia Harper had worked for Krystal since the massage parlor opened. Her address was in a Mundane neighborhood where the ratio of liquor stores to schools was five to one. She had no priors, but based on the way she was working the wad of chewing gum in her mouth, I was prepared to arrest her for disturbing my peace.
The uni had set up a makeshift interview space in the first treatment room. It held a massage table covered in white paper and two straight-backed chairs. I motioned for her to take a seat up on the table. The paper crinkled as she climbed on.
“What is this all about?” she said. “I do not appreciate being pulled away from my stories without an explanation.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be working today?” I asked.
She nodded. “I came this morning, but the door was locked. I tried to call Krystal like five times, but she didn’t answer.” She smacked her gum like most people used punctuation.
“You didn’t have a key?”
“Only Krystal has a key. The girl’s got trust issues.”
Considering she was dead in a puddle of vomit, I had trouble judging Krystal for that personality deficit. Besides, she had plenty of other ones to resent.
I also noted she used the present tense. She didn’t strike me as smart enough to be a good-enough actress to pull off that sort of misdirection if she had been the killer.
“What’d you do when Krystal didn’t answer?” Morales asked.
She shrugged. “I went home.”
“It didn’t occur to you that something might be wrong?”
“Not really.” Smack, smack, smack. “This wasn’t the first time she didn’t show up to open the place. I left because I didn’t want to have to deal with bitching from a bunch of horny guys who couldn’t get their wieners yanked, you know?”
I looked down at my paper to cover my smile. Morales, much better at maintaining his poker face than I, soldiered on. “Can anyone verify what time you got home?”
“My neighbor saw me come home. She was unloading some groceries from her car and I waved.”
“And her name?”
She offered it.
“When was the last time you saw Krystal?” Morales asked.
She looked up as if thinking back and methodically chewed like a cow enjoying some cud. “Last night. She was in her office. She asked me to stay and clean the treatment rooms, but I told her I was off the clock.”
“Did she argue with you?”
She shook her head. “Nah, she seemed distracted. Told me to go ahead and go. Said she’d lock up.”
“What was distracting her?” I asked.
“She was opening a package.”
“Any idea what was in it?”
“Like a teapot thingy.”
My brows shot up. It had to have been the one I’d seen broken next to the body. “Did she say who it was from?”
“I asked her.” Smack, smack. “She didn’t answer. There was a card, though. I saw her tuck it in her bra.”
Morales and I nodded, as if she’d said something of little consequence, but my blood pressure had just shot up. I pulled out my phone and texted to Franklin. Someone sent the teapot last night. Check the vic’s bra for a gift note.
“You still haven’t told me what happened. Were we robbed or something?” She looked around the room as if it might hold clues.
My phone dinged. Bra, got it.
I loved that Franklin didn’t demand an explanation. He just got to work. Total pro, that guy.
I nodded at Morales to let him know Franklin was on it. He acknowledged it with a quick nod and turned to speak to Felicia.
“Krystal was found dead in her office. I’m sorry.”
She stopped her smacking for one blessed moment. “Oh.” And then it resumed.
“Oh?” I frowned at her. “That’s all?”
“Well, whadaya want from me?” She snorted. “She didn’t pay me enough for tears.”
Morales glanced at me and shrugged.
“Do you know of anyone who might have held a grudge against Krystal?”
“Oh, shit, lady.” She cackled. “How much time you got?”
“Detective,” I muttered.
Morales placed a hand on my shoulder. “Does anyone in particular come to mind? Have you witnessed any recent altercations with anyone?”
She studied her fingernails for a moment. “I dunno. I mean, a couple of days ago, that Chinaman came in and was hollering about his payment.”
“What was his name?” I asked even though I knew who it was.
“Fuck if I know. He didn’t exactly make small talk, ya know?” She waved her hand and smacked her gum. “All’s I know is he comes by once a week to pick up money. He’s a real asshole. Acting all high and mighty when I don’t have the package ready the second he comes in the door.”
She smacked the gum philosophically for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, he came in a couple of days ago. I ran out to grab some food, so Krystal was working the desk. When I got back, she and this guy were facing off in the lobby. He was shouting or whatever.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
She shrugged.
“What did Krystal do?”
“She said that she’d bring him the package the next day. Something about her boss being behind or something.”
“Her boss?”
“That’s what she said.”
“Did she mention a name?”
“Nope. Just ‘my boss’—Krystal was a bitch but she wasn’t dumb, you know?” She paused. “Except I guess she wasn’t so smart if she got herself offed, right?”
I withheld my opinion on the matter. “Did you see the man after that?”
“Nah. I assumed she delivered the package as promised. And she never said anything to me about it after that. Like nothing happened.”
After that, we wrapped up the interview after asking her to stay available in case we had any more questions. We were rising to show her out when a knock sounded on the door and Mez stuck his head in. “Got a sec?”
We handed Felicia off to a uni in the hallway, who led her back to the lobby. “What’s up?” I asked Mez.
“Gardner wants to see you guys outside.”
I frowned. “Does that mean Duffy’s taking over?”
He shook his head. “Eldritch wants us to continue to take point, but we have to keep Duffy updated on the regular. Shadi and McGinty are doing door-to-doors, and Dixon’s reviewing the CCTV footage.” He laughed. “Poor bastard.”
Remembering what Krystal had filmed on those cameras, I winced on Dixon’s behalf. “We’ll definitely owe him lots of beers for that.”
“Franklin’s about to wrap up. He found the note in Krystal’s bra like you suggested.” He held up a baggie with the card inside. It was rectangular and blue, and someone had typed,
* * *
To Good Fortune and a Long Life
-A
* * *
“I’m taking that with me to run prints,” Mez said. “Also found the gift box and a tea tin. I’ll let you know what I find once I run all the labs.”
“Who you think this A is? And why did they kill her?” Morales asked.