Page 80 of Sleigh My Heart

“Why yes.”

Michelle leaned on the desk. “I have a couple more questions about Staniski and Garmen.”

“I didn’t know them well, but ask away.” She folded her hands in her lap. Competent or hiding her nerves, Michelle couldn’t say.

“Could you give me the exact dates they worked for Towers?”

Elaine smiled demurely, her fingernails tapped on the keys. “It should be in the files I sent to the police station, but it’s no trouble.” She hit print, then snatched the paper that spit out from the machine behind her. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Michelle scanned the dates. They both worked here from the time of their releases until three months ago.

“You said you knew Jonny and Cliff?” Michelle purposely used their first names.

“Not well. I had met them a few times.”

“Can you verify access of visitors?” At her nod, Michelle gave her the date and times that Jonny had been seen entering the building the day of his parking ticket. She scrutinized the other woman’s body language for tells. Did she know Staniski was in the building? Had he been in this office?

Michelle’s phone buzzed. An email from Jim popped on her screen. “Excuse me one moment.” Michelle moved away and pulled up the message. It was one line and an attachment. Jonny's phone recorded. They had been waiting on those all week.

She opened the attachment. Her mouth dropped. She hadn’t seen this one coming. One number repeated over and over until last month. Elaine's.

She glanced at Elaine and smiled. She smiled back but with less teeth.

Don’t ask her. Don’t. Let Jim do it.

She changed tactics. “Garmen had a girlfriend. Did you know if Staniski was dating anybody?” Well shit. So much for letting Jim handle it.

Her lips pursed. “No. I can’t say as I saw him with anyone. Then again, I work in the office and the men worked on the jobsites.”

“That makes sense. You’d said you had very little contact with Jonny and Cliff.”

“Yes. Except on the rare occasion when they came to pick up checks, and of course I saw them at the holiday party.”

Michelle nodded along as Elaine spoke. “So, you wouldn’t have any reason to call them?”

Elaine’s eyes widened. “Me?”

“Did you know Horace Silver Jr.?”

“No, should I?”

“He died last night in an explosion.”

“Oh, my gracious!” Her hand flew to her chest.

She had a lot of shock for someone she didn’t know. Michelle tapped her fingers in her phone while cataloging the other woman’s reaction.

“I, uh, I need to get back to work.” She focused on the monitor, her eyes held a fine mist.

Shit. She pushed too far. Time to backtrack. “Thank you for your time. I’m just trying to find out more about Jonny’s life. If you think of anyone who might have known him on a more personal level, let me know.”

“I’ll do that.” Elaine blinked multiple times, but she didn’t look up from the screen.

It killed Michelle, not to mention Margarita, but she needed to let Jim dig first. She folded the paper and pushed the elevator button for the lobby.

In her vehicle, she typed a quick email and hit send. Before Jim could answer, Elaine came rushing from the door, phone to her ear. She didn’t even look Michelle’s way as she hustled down the street across the parking lot to her car.

“Well, this is interesting. Who are you calling?” Michelle muttered to herself. She watched the older woman shove the phone in her pocket and click her key fob. “They didn’t answer. Margarita?”