The Prettiest One: A Thriller by Hankins James

Author:Hankins, James [Hankins, James]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2015-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

DETECTIVE HUNNSAKER FLASHED HER SHIELD to a good-looking bartender who would have been just her type twenty years ago. She smiled and he smiled back, and she remembered a couple of mistakes she had made in her youth with guys like this one. She held out the sketch of the redhead.

“You know this girl?”

He hesitated. He could have been thinking or he could have been stalling. He shook his head.

“Manager in?” Hunnsaker asked.

“Martha,” the bartender called to a medium-size, medium-age woman who had just come through a door from a back room. “Can you come here?”

Hunnsaker identified herself to the woman—Martha, apparently—then showed her the computer sketch.

“She look familiar?” Hunnsaker asked.

Martha looked at the sketch closely and frowned.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “But a lot of people come through here. It’s possible she came in here, had a bite to eat or a few drinks, but I don’t remember her.”

Hunnsaker nodded as though that made perfect sense. “Yeah, but we got a tip that maybe she works here.”

Martha’s frown deepened and she shook her head. “Nah, that girl doesn’t work here.”

“You sure?”

“I think I know my employees, Detective.”

Hunnsaker nodded. “Mind if I ask around?”

Martha hesitated only slightly, then said, “Knock yourself out.”

“Thanks for your cooperation.”

Hunnsaker surveyed the room. Three servers. Probably a cook or two in the back. Only seven patrons at the moment. Maybe one of them would recognize the redhead even though Martha hadn’t . . . or claimed that she hadn’t.

Ten minutes later, the employees present had given Hunnsaker nothing. Either this was a tight-knit group and they were covering for her, or they truly didn’t recognize her.

Hunnsaker looked at the patrons. The odds of one of the seven of them recognizing the redhead were slim, but Hunnsaker asked each of them anyway. She came up empty again. From behind the bar, Martha watched while pretending not to. Hunnsaker walked back over to her.

“Guess that’s it, then,” Hunnsaker said. “Except for your list of employees. I’d like to see that.”

Martha nodded slowly, as if considering the request. “You got a warrant?”

Hunnsaker smiled. “See, that’s why I don’t like TV cop shows. Everyone thinks they’re smart because of those shows. Criminals think they know how to get away with crimes. Witnesses who don’t want to be helpful ask for warrants. All because they see stuff like that on TV.”

Martha said, “I’m not—”

“But if you watch those shows,” Hunnsaker said, “then you know what would come next . . . in one of those shows, I mean. The cop would threaten to bring the Board of Health down here, and if everything’s not totally up to snuff, the place gets shut down for a while.”

“This place is right up to code,” Martha said defensively.

“Of course it is, but then the TV cop would say something like, ‘Hope you haven’t served alcohol to any minors here,’ and then the bar owner would say, ‘We don’t serve minors,’ and then here’s where the cop crosses the line, because tough cops don’t always play by the rules, do they?” Martha said nothing, so Hunnsaker continued.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.