“Danny Zigler,” he said.
10
“I just don’t see it, I really don’t see it,” Katie said. “I can’t believe Danny could be a murderer. He worked for your grandfather. I’d have had him work for me. Seriously, if we had to arrest everyone down here who didn’t make a fortune and was happy just to be, we’d be arresting a lot of people. And he’s responsible-he’s not living off anyone else. He does work. He just doesn’t need to own the world.”
“Katie, I came back, Sam Barnard came back-and Danny Zigler was suddenly busing tables at O’Hara’s. Don’t you think that’s a little suspicious?”
“No,” she said stubbornly. “Everyone is grabbing extra help with Fantasy Fest on the way. Hey-I don’t manage O’Hara’s, and I don’t want to,” she said. “Jon Merrillo hires on extra help when Uncle Jamie is away. Danny Zigler has worked there before.”
“Look, I don’t want Danny to be a bad guy, either,” David said. “But he was at O’Hara’s the night Tanya died, and he’s hanging around there now-and he was seeing Stella Martin. That makes him suspicious.”
“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.
“And what did you learn there?”
“That they’re not going to get much of anything. Oh, well, I guess everyone knows this-there was no sign of a break-in. They had the owners and managers all gathered in an area, and that lieutenant fellow-Dryer-was pretty hard on them all, demanding to know how many keys were out and around. Two fellows-snowbirds-own the place, but there are three managers, and they’re all local. Dryer wasn’t getting anywhere, but Liam Beckett tried a bit more of an understanding approach, and it turns out that one of the managers left one of the employees to lock the place up a few nights ago, and she managed to lose the keys. They didn’t rekey the place, they just had another set of keys made. Whoever broke into the place used the keys, apparently knew the alarm code and didn’t disturb a thing-other than the Carl Tanzler/Elena de Hoyos exhibit. Oh-they found Elena. The mannequin of Elena, that is. She was just behind one of the other exhibits. So, this is what I know-whoever did it was bright enough to grab the security tapes, use gloves-and find out the alarm code before bringing in Stella Martin’s body.”
“So we are thinking local,” Katie murmured. “Because I’d say whoever did it had to have followed people around. When the employee lost the keys, he had to have found them-and he had to have known what they opened.”
Bartholomew grinned. “That, my dear, was not difficult. There was a medallion on the key chain that advertised the museum.”
“That opens it up, I guess. Hey, did the police hold anyone from the museum?”
“As far as I know, they have a task force going over everything that they have and they’ll be bringing folks in for questioning by this afternoon,” Bartholomew said.
“You were gone overnight,” Katie reminded Bartholomew.
“Ah, yes. I came back to the house, but you were-occupied. I turned on the coffeemaker again this morning. You didn’t even realize it!” He was hurt.
“I’m sorry, Bartholomew,” Katie said. “I really am. I didn’t see you and David had gone down first.”
“David!” Bartholomew said, and sniffed. “You have rushed headfirst into this!” he said.
“I keep telling you, make up your mind. You like him or you don’t like him,” Katie said.
“Since he was with you, he definitely didn’t kill the prostitute,” Bartholomew said. “All right, I like the fellow enough. He reminds me of someone I knew a very long time ago.”