Blackout: A Pete Fernandez Mystery by Alex Segura

Author:Alex Segura [Segura, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Polis Books
Published: 2018-05-07T22:00:00+00:00

Sallis shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“I think that’s it—sure,” he said.

“What about it?” Pete said. “Was he very involved?”

“He would hand stuff out sometimes,” Sallis said. “Tell us about how it saved him and could save us. Nothing too preachy or annoying. Roger, like I said, was a pretty calm, friendly guy. I think this was the only weird thing about him anyone would comment on.”

“What’d he say about the church?” Kathy said. “Did he talk about his role?”

“No, nothing like that,” Sallis said, waving off Kathy’s question. “He would just talk about it, casually. Like, this is what I did over the weekend—I went hiking with my friends from the church, or, hey, I had a fundraiser, yeah, come to the next one. Stuff like that. He’d sometimes go a little deeper, about how it helped him. But it never got pushy or weird.”

“That’s good, I suppose,” Kathy said.

“Yeah, I miss Roger,” Sallis said. “All these youngsters around—I feel old. At least with him I had someone to roll my eyes with, you know?”

“What’s life without someone to roll your eyes at, right?” Pete said.

Sallis laughed, a soggy, hacking sound. He cleared his throat before looking at his watch.

“Well, I gotta get going,” he said. “You never know where the night’s gonna take you—might be quiet, or there might be a ten-car pileup on the Turnpike. Got to be ready either way.”

“Thanks so much for your time,” Kathy said.

“My pleasure,” Sallis said, nodding as he backed away. “I hope you find out what happened to Roger.”

Kathy moved toward the main hallway. Pete stayed where he was.

“One more thing,” Pete said. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all,” Sallis said.

“Do you know why Patty Morales was brought here?” Pete said. “After they found her remains? That’s what the medical examiner’s report said.”

“Yeah, yes—the ambulance brought her here,” Sallis said. “Roger demanded it—had a forensic anthropologist called in, too. He said Patty had to come here, to this hospital. He wouldn’t budge about it, from what I heard.”

“Weird to bring remains to a hospital, don’t you think?” Pete asked.

Sallis pursed his lips.

“Not really,” Sallis said. “As you seem to know, we have a medical examiner, so I imagine they looked at the body, or what was left of it.”

“Do you know who was working that night?” Kathy said. “Was anyone questioned by the police?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Sallis said. “I wasn’t on that night, I would have remembered if I was. But ask our administrators or someone who worked more directly with Roger, if you come back during regular business hours.”

Pete nodded. They thanked Sallis for his time and headed back toward the elevator.

“Something’s not clicking here,” Kathy said as the elevator doors hissed shut. “It feels like there were two Roger Morales running around.”

“We have to figure out which one was real,” Pete said, staring at their warped reflection in the elevator doors. “And why someone wanted him—and the version of events we were all pushed to believe—gone.

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