“I don’t think that’s politically correct anymore,” Katie said. “He’s a person of interest.”
“Right. And I’m interested. And I want to talk to him before they get him down at the station, but I don’t want to hang on to evidence too long.” He looked at her. “Katie, I’m going to talk to Danny Zigler. I have to find him, of course, but he should be at the ice-cream parlor. I…”
“You don’t want me around,” she said.
“It will be easier for me to speak with him alone. And…”
“David, look, I appreciate the fact that you’re afraid for me, I really do. But it’s broad daylight. I’ll hang in clear sight, all right?” Katie said. He was still staring at her. “David, this is my home. A home I love. I intend to stay here, live here and be part of whatever the future brings. I cannot become afraid of my own home.” She inhaled, meeting his eyes. “I know how badly you want the truth, and I understand completely. But Tanya’s death went unsolved for more than a decade. Let’s face it, sometimes, things are never solved. I can’t become paranoid, but we should always know how to be very careful.”
“Do you ever carry Mace or pepper spray or anything like that?” he asked her.
“No. And I’m afraid I never took karate classes, either.”
“I’ll talk to Liam about getting you something,” David said.
“David, really-” She broke off, seeing his eyes. “Pepper spray sounds like something good to keep in my bag,” she agreed.
“All right. Listen for me to call, please,” he told her.
She nodded. “I’ll just get a bite to eat,” she said.
He went his way.
David didn’t know the man he found working at the ice-cream parlor.
When he asked about Danny Zigler, the man exploded, issuing a barrage of Spanish that David didn’t really follow. But he knew enough to understand that Danny Zigler was being cursed.
“I’m sorry-he didn’t show up for work?” David asked.
“The little rat bastard just disappeared,” the man said. “He was due in to open up at eight this morning, clean the machines, get it all going. At ten Mrs. Clasky calls me to tell me that the place is not open, and here I am myself, working, when I gave that good-for-nothing a job!” the man said.
“Did you try calling him?” David asked.
The man glared at him as if he was an idiot. “Of course, I call him! His phone is turned off.”
“Have you been to his house?” David asked.
The fellow, a tall, beefy man, leaned on the counter. “Do you see me here? If I’m here, I’m not going by his house!”
“Do you have an address for him?” David asked.
The man looked angry and exasperated. “You the cops or something?” he demanded.
“I’m the ‘something,’” David told him.
The man stared another moment, muttered, then reached under the counter for a memo pad. He wrote down an address off Union Street. David thanked him.
David’s cell rang as he started toward Union. It was Liam.
“Hey,” David said. “Have they brought anyone in for questioning yet?”
“No. Uniforms are out looking for Danny Zigler, I guess he and Stella were an item, and Pete is trying to track down the crowd that was outside O’Hara’s the other night. He thinks one of those college kids has to know something.”
“Zigler didn’t show up for work.”
“We don’t have anything for a search warrant, and he didn’t answer at his place,” Liam told him.
“So-do you have anything?” David asked.
“Yeah. You’d asked me before about tracing down Mike Sanderson-Tanya’s new boyfriend, the guy she was supposed to meet up at Ohio State.”
“And?”
“We know this much about Mike Sanderson-he used one of his credit cards for gas in St. Augustine on the thirteenth-the day after Tanya was killed,” Liam said.
Katie felt Bartholomew striding along at her side. She cast a sideways glance his way. “Where have you been?” she asked.
“Naturally, I have been using my charm and persuasion to discover the truth,” he told her.
“Oh? So-where have you been seeking this truth?” she asked him.
“I hung around the museum for a long time, just watching the crime-scene folks,” he said.