AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Using a map of the city, she found C&P Locksmiths fairly easily. It was in a small strip mall in a good part of town. She parked the car and, putting Daisy on a leash for appearances’ sake, entered the shop. A Latino in his mid-thirties was making a key on a duplicating machine. He looked up and smiled, turning off the machine. “Hello, can I help you?” he asked, in slightly accented English.
Holly looked at the file folder. “Are you Pedro Alvarez?” she asked.
“That’s right.”
She showed him her badge. “My name is Holly Barker. I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
“That’s not a Lauderdale badge,” he said.
“No, I’m from Orchid Beach, up the coast.”
“What can I do for you?” He had become a little wary, she noticed, but some people did at the sight of a badge, even when they had nothing to hide.
“Do you have some place we can sit down?” she asked.
He went to the door, locked it, and hung up a sign saying he’d be back in ten minutes. “Back here,” he said, leading the way to the rear of the shop. It was a room just large enough to hold two desks and a couple of filing cabinets. He indicated where she should sit, then sat behind his desk.
“You’re Carlos Alvarez’s partner, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Brothers?”
“First cousins. We grew up together in Havana and came to the U.S. at the same time.”
“Same fishing boat?”
He nodded.
“Do you know where Carlos is now?”
“He’s taking some time off,” Pedro said. “A few days.”
“Do you know why?”
“He said he had some personal business to take care of.”
“Do you know where he’s taking care of it?”
“He didn’t say.”
Holly didn’t believe that. She took the locket photo, blown up, from the folder and handed it to him. “I expect you know this girl.”
Pedro looked at the photo but said nothing.
“What’s her name?”
“What is this about, exactly?”
Holly took a deep breath. She hated saying this to people because she never knew what their reaction would be, and it tended to vary widely. “I’m afraid I have some bad news,” she said.
Pedro sat up. “Has Carlos been arrested?”
“Was he doing something that he might be arrested for?”
“I don’t know. Tell me what’s going on, please.”
“Carlos is dead.”
