Twisted Path by MILLER Melissa F

Author:MILLER, Melissa F. [MILLER, Melissa F.]
Language: fra
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery-Crime-Detective
ISBN: 9781940759432
Goodreads: 43516998
Publisher: Brown Street Books
Published: 2019-02-18T23:00:00+00:00

Van Lewis eyed the pair of detectives across the counter as he reached for a pair of rental shoes a bowler was returning.

“I don’t understand why the police want to talk about Damon now. He’s been in prison for years.”

Burton forced a smile. “Sure. But his name’s come up in the course of a new investigation, and we just need to rule out his involvement.”

Lewis squinted at him from behind a pair of dirty glasses. “We can talk in the party room. My office is the size of a closet and, wouldn’t you know, doubles as a supply closet. So unless you wanna sit on an overturned mop bucket—”

“The party room’ll be great,” Chrys assured him.

“Kayla, take over the rental counter,” he called over in a loud voice that was barely audible over the din of balls thwacking the pins, pins clattering to the ground, and electronic beeps, whirrs, and dings. Somehow the girl wheeling a cart of bowling balls toward the end of the room heard him. She raised a hand in acknowledgment.

Burton’s temples thumped and pulsed with pain. He’d been in here all of four minutes, and he already had a headache. How did these people work here?

“Sorry about the noise,” Lewis shouted. “You guys want a pop or something?” He gestured toward the soda machine.

“It’s nice of you to offer, but we’re good. We don’t want to take up any more of your time than necessary,” Chrys said.

Burton nodded his agreement using the smallest possible head movement.

Lewis ushered them to a glassed-in, rectangular room that housed a long cafeteria table and a dozen or so metal chairs. He flicked on the lights and closed the door behind them, muffling the noise.

“It’s quieter in here than in my office, too,” he said in a low, resigned voice. He looked from Burton to Chrys. “Does it matter where I sit?”

“Nope,” Burton told him. “Sit anywhere you like. Like Detective Martin said, we’ll try to make this quick. Thanks for meeting with us.”

Lewis deposited himself into the nearest seat. “No problem.”

Burton and Chrys pulled out two chairs directly across the table, and Chrys flipped open her notebook.

“You and Damon were in the same infantry company?”

“Yeah.”

Burton recognized the shadow that crossed the man’s face. He’d seen the expression countless times on everyone from Korean War vets to young guys just back from the Middle East.

“Thank you for your service,” Chrys said, managing to infuse the tired, trite words with feeling and sincerity.

Lewis shrugged it off, but his eyes lightened.

“Would you say you were good buddies?”

Another shrug. “Good enough. We were in the same bunk house. We were both from Pittsburgh. He lived up the hill from here, in Stanton Heights. I grew up right across the river in Sharpsburg. So we had that in common. We talked about the Steelers, mostly. He was a good guy, solid guy.”

“Damon re-upped when his initial term of service expired. Did you?”

“Nah, man. I wasn’t one of those young guns like Damon, all pumped up about being a soldier.

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