Page 64 of Daybreak

Sheets nodded. “Okay… If you have the staff’s contact info, let them go for now. Warn them not to leave town and that we’ll be in touch if we have more questions.”

“On it,” Blake said and went down to give them the word. “You two are free to go pack a bag before heading out. Stay with friends or family or at a hotel. But don’t leave town. And you, Whistler, are also free to go, but same rules. Don’t leave town.”

The trio stood up. Reggie and Linda went to their suite to pack while Whistler walked out the front door and drove away, remembering the cop who had downed him like a felled ox. It still rankled, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do about that.

* * *

Detective Blake frowned as he watched Whistler driving away. There was no way he was “just” Burgess Dixon’s chauffeur, but there didn’t seem to be an obvious reason for him to want his boss dead, and his alibi checked out. This left the managers who’d been at dinner with Dixon last night. Before he left the scene, he made a call to the precinct and had another detective begin contacting the managers and get them into the precinct ASAP, with orders not to tell them Dixon was dead. They were only to say there were some questions about their boss.

* * *

The phone calls to each manager had them in a panic. They were all afraid of getting charged with some crime related to their boss again, but none of them wanted to end up like Freddie Welsh. Being the good guy got him killed.

Blake was ready and waiting when the first of the managers began to arrive. None of them knew the others had been contacted until they began to gather.

Finally, a man named Wilson Case was the first to speak up. “What the hell’s going on? We get called here with no explanation, and I have a job to do. Unless I’m under arrest for some unknown reason, I’m leaving.”

At that point, Detective Blake entered the room. “My apologies to all for the delay. We were given to understand that you were all present at a dinner last night with your boss, Burgess Dixon. Were you all there? Just hold up your hand if you were not.”

“We were there,” they echoed.

“During the dinner, did you see Mr. Dixon exhibit any unusual behavior or mention that he wasn’t well?” Blake asked.

They all looked at each other, shrugged, then shook their heads. “Nothing,” Wilson Case said. “He was fine, conversing with all of us. We had steaks with all the sides, and the wine and champagne kept coming. It wasn’t a business dinner. It’s just something he does for his managers a couple of times a year. Now, that’s enough. We have a right to know what this is all about.”

Blake decided to blurt it out and see their reactions.

“Burgess Dixon was found dead in his office this morning. First look is that he committed suicide. We’re still waiting for test results.”

The communal gasp was encompassed by cries of dismay, and then Wilson said what everyone else was thinking.

“I don’t believe it! That man would never kill himself.”

Blake was surprised. The vehemence of their denials was a little hard to ignore. Maybe they needed to take another look at the scene.

“Why are you so certain?” Blake asked.

“If you had known him as well as we did, you wouldn’t have to ask. He was actually proud of his cleaning services. We just had a grand opening for a new location. Dixon Down and Dirty was his baby. Did you check his finances? His bank accounts? The man was loaded.”

“What about the manager who was going to testify against him?” Blake asked. “You know the FBI fingered him for all of that.”

“Well, of course we knew it. We were all grilled mercilessly for months by them. But asking if we knew anything again changes nothing. So, what do we do? Are we all out of jobs? There’s no one left to run the businesses,” Wilson asked.

The other managers were waiting, obviously satisfied that Wilson seemed to have constituted himself their spokesperson.

“I couldn’t say. This will all be adjudicated through the courts,” he said.

Wilson frowned. “If we aren’t going to be paid, then we aren’t going to work. Before we shut down, we will do payroll for money already owed to our employees and to ourselves, and then we’re out of there. This is your official notification that we are shutting down today. The fleet of vans will be in the parking lot. The buildings will be locked with the keys locked inside, but you need to go back to the drawing board. No way did that man kill himself. Are we done here?”

“I got the answers I wanted,” Blake said. “You’re free to go, but be aware that an audit will be done of property and debts if he died without a will or an heir.”

They walked out in silence, afraid to look back. That cop was actually looking for a killer among them, but they didn’t have a motive. They’d just lost their jobs because of this.

Blake watched them leave, then shoved his hands in his pockets. He was about to return to the crime scene when he got a message from their captain.

In my office. Now.

Blake frowned. Now what? He headed down the hall to the captain’s office and walked into a wall of federal agents.