“How’d he die?” Max asked.
“Messy,” Mick answered. “Not clean, not professional. He’d been tied up, taken there, killed. Shot four times. Twice in the head, twice the chest. Whoever did it wanted to make sure he was dead.”
Max stared at Mick and I moved closer, so much closer Max was forced to slide an arm along my shoulders.
“Can I ask why you’re up here tellin’ me this?” Max queried.
Mick shuffled his feet, twisted his neck uncomfortably then looked Max in the eye. “Did you know your sister Kami bought a .38 ‘bout a month ago?”
I felt Max go still at my side. Then he answered, “No.”
“Paperwork filed then,” Mick went on, “got it at Zip’s Gun Emporium in Denver.”
“You’re tellin’ me this because…?” Max prompted.
“’Cause the PI was killed with a .38.”
“Jesus Christ, Mick!” Max exploded, coming unstuck, he leaned into Mick. “You tellin’ me you think Kami murdered this PI?”
Mick’s hands came up but he kept the dire information flowing. “She borrowed on her house, Max. Twenty-five K.”
“Fuck,” Max clipped.
“You know about that?” Mick asked.
“No,” Max bit out.
“Jeff ‘n’ Pete are bringin’ her in now,” Mick told Max.
“My sister didn’t kill any PI, Mick,” Max returned. “And she sure as fuck didn’t hire someone to kill Curt.”
“It ain’t lookin’ good for her, Max,” Mick replied.
I butted in, asking, “Why are you telling Max this, Mick?”
“I ain’t tellin’ Max, Nina,” Mick said to me. “I’m tellin’ you.”
I blinked. Then I asked, “Me?”
“Heard word you’re an attorney,” Mick explained. “We been combin’ Kami’s records, she don’t got a lot, bank statements show she’s pretty much got zilch, livin’ from paycheck to paycheck, beyond her means, flyin’ high in her Lexus cartin’ around those fancy-ass purses on credit. Figure she’ll need some help ‘round about now and George isn’t only covered in work, he’s pricey.”
“You’re coming here because you want her to lawyer up?” I asked in disbelief.
“I’m here because I watched Kami Maxwell grow up and doin’ that I watched her grow bitter.” His eyes went to Max. “Just like her Ma, wantin’ a man she had but let him get away.”
“Don’t mean she killed a man, Mick,” Max returned.
“She did this, whatever pushed her to it, she’s still one of our own and, right now, she needs help,” Mick told him.
“This is fucked up,” Max clipped.
“She’s got motive, she had twenty-five large that went in and out of her account in about three days. We talk to her and she don’t have an alibi, we may find she had opportunity,” Mick said to Max.
“Kami ain’t small but she’s also not got the strength to subdue a man, tie him up, take him to a building site and drill four rounds into him,” Max retorted.
“Toxicology shows he was roofied,” Mick stated.
“That’s not good,” I muttered and Max’s eyes sliced to me.
“Roofied?” Max asked.
“Date rate drug,” I answered.
“Christ,” Max bit out and looked back at Mick. “Kami doesn’t have it in her to shoot a man four times, he’s drugged or not.”
“That’s what I’m hopin’, Max, you got to know that. But I also gotta do my job and this is what we got. She don’t have an alibi and some good reason to buy a gun and take a loan against her house and blow it all in three days, what can I say? Any way you look at it, with her history with Curt and Bitsy, the evidence we got, it ain’t lookin’ good.”
“Do you have a ballistics match on her gun?” I enquired.
“Got a warrant to search her house. Jeff and Pete are bringin’ her in, other boys are goin’ through her house. We find the weapon, we’ll run the tests,” Mick answered.
“You said they’re bringing her in?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Mick said to me. “You comin’ down the mountain?”
“Fuck yeah,” Max answered.
I let Max’s belt loop go and muttered, “I’ll go get my purse.”
*
“I should sue you for wrongful arrest!” Kami shouted from her seat at the table beside me.
I drew in a calming breath and Mick, across the table from us, looked at me.
“Kami,” I said softly.
“This is crazy!” she yelled.
“They’re just asking questions, Kami,” I reminded her. “You aren’t arrested.”
She twisted in her seat and glared at me. “Then I’m free to go?”
“Um…” I mumbled, “technically, yes.”
She started to stand, declaring, “Then I’m goin’.”
I reached out and grabbed her hand. “As I explained to you before we came in here, you’re free to go but, if you do, you’ll appear uncooperative and you don’t want that.”
She glared at me and I noticed while she did it that her hand was trembling in mine so I squeezed it.
Then I continued, “Or if you try to leave, you may force Mick’s hand and he’ll have to arrest you on what he thinks he’s got.”