I traced my finger around the edge of the envelope. “Where have you been?” I asked it. “Did Blitz give you to Ebony after I gave you back to him? Or am I missing something?” I pulled the cash out of the envelope and fanned it in out in front of me, feeling only slightly silly for talking to it. Now would be a great time to discover that money really did talk.
No closer to answers twenty minutes later, I put the money back into the envelope and set it next to the fabric and the empty hair spray cans. Grady had paid for the costumes, so our fee from the party had been covered. All this time I’d thought that Blitz had stiffed Ebony, but maybe he hadn’t. And if that was the case, then her motive for murder would be gone.
But she’d told me at the party that she still had to work out the details of his payment. So how was it the envelope of cash had turned up in her possession after he was dead?
Chapter 14
I WAS EAGER to leave the store once we closed on Monday night. I hopped onto my scooter and drove to the fire hall where the party had been. It was, by all accounts, the scene of the crime, and even though I’d been there when the body had been discovered, I wanted to look around now to see if there was something I’d missed.
Several white vans were parked by the curb in front of the building. Two men stood on the sidewalk, smoking. They each had clear plastic shields pushed up on the top of their heads. Remembering how Tak had spotted my scooter, I passed them and wedged the scooter into an available space on a residential street two blocks away.
A small man with a fringe of hair around an otherwise bald head stood in front of the building. His arms were crossed as he glared at the smokers. I watched from the side of the road as three additional men dressed in blue plastic containment suits came out of the building. They were carrying large red plastic bags marked with a black biohazard symbol.
I approached the bald man. “Excuse me,” I called out in a friendly voice. “What’s going on in there?”
“What’s supposed to be going on is crime scene cleanup. It’s bad enough that this—this thing—had to happen in my fire hall. The police wouldn’t let me touch the place until they were done. Can you imagine what that’s going to do to my business? My future rentals?”
“Your future rentals? Oh, you must be the owner,” I said. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think you’re thinking of the bigger picture here.”
He turned his attention from the smokers to me. The anger in his face softened to understanding. “You’re right. That young man’s death is far worse than my loss of income,” he said.
“Are those men part of the crime scene cleanup crew?”
“Yes. They’ve been at it for most of the day. Usually it’s the party planner who gets the job of cleaning up the day after. Ebony got lucky this time.” He looked at me again. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually this insensitive,” he said. He raised his hand to his forehead and his eyes fluttered dramatically. “I think I’ve blocked the whole thing out of my mind.”
“I can see why you’d want to,” I said. It would be hard for me to reenter the kitchen, having seen Blitz’s body facedown in a puddle of blood. “Do you know how much longer they’ll be at it?”
“I told them to keep working until the job was finished, but it’s after seven and I expected them to be done by now.”
“Do you have to stay here?”
“No, but I want to do a final walk-through before they leave. No sense in having to get them back out here and lose another day of work.”
“Wait here and I’ll find out for you.” I left the little man before he had a chance to change my mind.
The smokers watched me approach. One tossed his cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out. The other held his behind his back.
“Hi,” I said. “The owner over there wanted to know how much longer you guys think you’ll be.”
“Job’s almost done,” said the taller of the two men. “Everything’s been bagged and bleached. The crew inside is coming out with the waste now. Once they’re clear, we’ll take him for the tour and if he signs off, we’re outta here.”
The shorter man put his cigarette out on a nearby trash can and then tucked the butt into the pocket of his shirt. “We leave the place cleaner than we found it. Company motto.”
I looked at their T-shirts and jeans. “Why aren’t you wearing blue suits like the other guys?”
“Suits are for inside. Once you leave the building, you dump the suit so you don’t track chemicals outside.”
“So what happens if you have to go back in?”