No One Saw by Beverly Long

Author:Beverly Long [Long, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488056130
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2020-04-24T12:02:37+00:00

* * *

A.L. found the neighbor with the blue siding sitting in a lawn chair in his garage. Figured it was a thing in the neighborhood. He was not smoking but he did have two empty bottles of cheap beer next to his chair. He was retirement age with thinning gray hair and wore an old Rolling Stones T-shirt and blue jeans.

“Hello,” A.L. said. “I’m Detective McKittridge with the Baywood Police Department.” He held out his badge, gave the guy plenty of time to look at it. “What’s your name?”

“Why? Am I under arrest?” the man asked, his tone serious. Then he smiled. “Just screwing with you. Roger Martin.”

“Thank you, Mr. Martin. I wanted to ask you about your relationship with Troy Whitman.”

“We don’t have a relationship. He lives down the street. That’s it.”

“He said that the two of you recently had words after he complained about your dog taking a dump in his yard.”

The man smiled again. “I’ve been walking my dog past his house for two years, ever since we moved in here. Didn’t realize who he was until my wife took her car to his garage about two months ago. Thank God I got a quote before I had him do the work. A thousand bucks. Double, literally double, what the guy six blocks down the street charged me. I told Lois that Troy Whitman was a crook. That’s when I decided to let my dog shit in his yard. After all, he’s shitting on his customers.”

Troy hadn’t said anything about a disagreement over a quote. “Did you and Troy discuss the quote?”

“No. Maybe Lois called them up and told them we were taking it somewhere else. I don’t know and I didn’t care. I hate it when people think they can rip senior citizens off.”

A.L. did not think this man had a five-year-old hidden in his house. “Are you aware that Mr. Whitman’s daughter is missing?”

“You couldn’t be alive in Baywood and not know that. Goddamn shame. Nobody deserves for that to happen. I may not like his business practices but I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

“Where were you, Mr. Martin, on Wednesday morning?”

The man gave A.L. a look that told A.L. that he was now the equivalent of dog shit. “Lois and I volunteer at the homeless shelter on Portuana Street every Wednesday. We were there by 8:00 and didn’t leave for several hours.”

“Okay. Thank you,” A.L. said. “I won’t take up any more of your time.”

“I got a lot of time,” Roger Martin said. “I sit here a good portion of the day. And sometimes, at night, when my back is bothering me, I come out here, too.” He paused. “You know, I can see the Whitmans’ driveway from right here.”

A.L. moved to a spot behind Roger Martin’s chair. He did have a good view of the house and the start of the driveway. Couldn’t see as far back as the garage, however. There was a reason the man was making a point of the view.

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