Cat's Claw by Susan Wittig Albert - China Bayles 20 - Cat's Claw

Author:Susan Wittig Albert - China Bayles 20 - Cat's Claw [Albert, Susan Wittig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780425252024
Google: rAUxLwEACAAJ
Amazon: 0425252027
Goodreads: 11748556
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2012-02-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Richie Potts lived in a second-floor apartment in the university’s graduate student village, not far from the campus. As Sheila walked up the outside stairs, she saw a bike with a child’s seat on the back, chained to the balcony railing. A baby stroller with a blue plastic canopy was folded and propped against the wall beside two pots of dead plants. Sheila could hear rock music and feel the rhythmic thump-thump vibrations of the heavy bass, although it was difficult to tell whether the noise was coming from the apartment in front of her or the one on the other side of the double entrance. From somewhere close by, the odor of marijuana wafted into the night, mixed with the sour smell of cooking cabbage. A typical student apartment complex, she thought, remembering her own college days, which seemed like a century ago now. She knocked, then knocked again, louder. The door, on the chain, cracked open an inch.

“Police,” Sheila said to the crack, and held up her badge wallet. “Looking for Richie Potts.”

Richie Potts was twenty-two, twenty-three at most, red-haired and freckled, with an acne-scarred face and a thin stubble of gingery beard. A red-haired baby—a boy, about eighteen months old—clung to his blue-jeaned leg. A pretty young woman, heavily pregnant, appeared in the kitchen door, then disappeared. The sound of rock music (but not of the bass) was partially shut out when Potts closed the apartment door. When Sheila introduced herself, he pointed to one of a pair of living room chairs, arranged on either side of a sofa and coffee table. She sat down and told him that Larry Kirk was dead.

Watching the young man closely, Sheila thought that the announcement was news to him. Like Palmer, he seemed taken completely by surprise. But his first thoughts were focused more on the future of his employment than on the death of his employer—understandable, since he had a wife, a child, and another on the way.

“Jeez,” he said, blinking. “The shop isn’t going to close, is it? Will I be out of a job?”

“I don’t know,” Sheila said, taking out her notebook and pen. “You’ll need to keep in touch with Mr. Palmer. He may be able to tell you something.” She paused. “When did you see Mr. Kirk last? What can you tell me about him?”

If Potts wondered about the reason for her questions, he didn’t say so. He couldn’t produce much information, though. He hadn’t seen Kirk that day. In fact, he hadn’t seen him for several days—they hadn’t happened to be in at the same time. He had worked at the shop off and on for only a few months and didn’t know Larry Kirk very well—couldn’t say much about him, except that he was pretty obsessive about stuff being done according to the book, his book. What else? Well, the guy hated guns, which was kind of ironic, wasn’t it? In fact, he had taken a day off to protest the student concealed-carry proposal in Austin, which Potts himself supported.

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