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“Sounds nice.” Dex smiled despite feeling as if his insides were twisting. With traffic, it took them roughly twenty minutes to get to The Styx. They parked the Suburban a few feet away from the place, and Dex turned in his seat to look at Sloane. “It’s cool if you want to stay in the car.”
“I’m fine. Let’s get this over with.”
The Styx was situated a block from the High Line—a mile long public park filled with plants, viewing platforms, restaurants, and gathering areas for exhibitions, all of it hovering over the Meatpacking District on an elevated rail. The Styx building itself was charmingly rough like so many others in a city offering variety and deliciously urban décor, situated on a street lined with exclusive clubs, trendy restaurants, and pricy boutiques. One side of the brick façade was crawling with that expensive, artificial ivy intertwined with wisteria used often by businesses occupying old buildings, and to each side of the central scuffed wooden doors were two sets of large, rectangular wooden pots filled with plants and painted green to match the entrance and exit doors. Next door was a large nightclub, which at this time of day was blissfully serene.
As they walked inside, Dex could see why Gabe had liked the place so much. It had a cozy feel to it. Trendy, yet not ostentatious. Inside it was all rustic beams and brick walls containing more wisteria, especially around the medium-sized marble-top bar. It was lined with black, high-back stools, and on the glass shelving unit behind the bar, a host of alcoholic spirits were on display.
To the left of the bar, Dex could see the garden Sloane had mentioned, the walls crawling with dense ivy and the floor scattered with small potted plants and trees. About a dozen white-clothed tables were spread across the tiled floor. Dex imagined the place got pretty packed in the evenings with folks grabbing a bite to eat before heading to the club next door. His gaze dropped to the glittering stone floor and there were traces of black sand everywhere. He’d be amazed if someone left here without getting the stuff on them. In the dining area, he found the surfaces decorated with spikes of striking purplish-blue flowers in black Greek-style vases. Strolling to one, he found each vase had black sand in it.
“Beautiful aren’t they?” Dex looked up at Rosa who tenderly touched one of the flower’s petals. “They’re Hyacinths. There’s a Greek myth that goes with it. A tragic love story.”
Dex grimaced. “Weren’t they all tragic love stories?”
Rosa chuckled just as Cael called them over. They followed a waiter into the back end, past the kitchen and into a medium-sized office where a slender man in his midfifties sporting jeans, a faded T-shirt, and trendy jacket, came around the desk to greet them.
“Hey, what can I do for you agents? Please tell me it’s not another murder involving my place. Frankly, I’m still recovering from the last.”
Dex watched Sloane’s lips press in a thin line, but his partner remained silent. Cael removed his tablet from his padded vest pocket, tapping away. “I’m sorry to say this, Mr. Danak, but our lab has confirmed the traces of black sand found on our last victim came from your establishment.” He showed Mr. Danak the tablet with an image of Ortiz.
“I remember. Your agents asked if he’d ever been here. I’m afraid the answer hasn’t changed. I never saw him, neither has the staff, and we would’ve remembered. Surely there must be another way the sand got onto Mr. Ortiz.”
“That’s what we’re here to find out. I phoned earlier and you stated you keep up to a year’s worth of security footage?”
“That’s correct.” Mr. Danak motioned to the small room off to the right of his office. “Equipment’s in there. Help yourself.”
“Is it digital?” Cael asked.
“Yes.”
With a nod of thanks, Cael headed for the room, the rest of the team following. They stood at the door as Cael hooked his tablet up to the fancy desktop. After a few taps to his tablet, Cael typed away on the desktop’s keyboard, accessing its server and the stored video files. “The Styx only has a few cameras inside and one toward the front entrance. Nothing out the back since patrons aren’t supposed to exit that way. I’m going to run the last three months through Themis. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”
Themis played the video at high speed, tiny white squares popping up over every face it came across, while a narrow screen on the right side scrolled information, names, details, dates, times, addresses, anything related to the individuals who popped up on the screen. The screen stilled on an image, the white rectangle flashing over a man’s face.
“We’ve got something.”
Dex leaned in, recognizing the guy. “Wait a second. That’s….”
“Isaac Pearce,” Sloane pitched in from over Dex’s shoulder.
Cael nodded. “Well, Tony did tell us to keep his information in Themis just in case. It’s bound to come across him again, especially since he’s connected to Gabe, and Gabe’s name has been reactivated in the system.”
“Yeah, but what’s he doing here?” Dex watched Cael play the video. Pearce sat at the bar, nursing a beer.
“Maybe he came here for the same reason I avoided it. It was Gabe’s favorite place.”
As they watched the video, someone in a hoodie and cap appeared in the doorway on the left. When he saw Pearce, and Pearce clocked onto him, the guy bolted. P
earce took off after him, nearly knocking over a couple as they entered the bar. “What was that? Play it back,” Dex said, watching carefully.
“Who is that?” Sloane asked.
Cael shook his head, swiping his finger across the screen. “I don’t know. His face was away from the camera. The second camera was pointing toward the garden at the time and the third at the back of the indoor dining area, so Themis can’t put together a 3D map. Whoever he is, looks like he’s scared of Isaac.”
“When was this?” Dex asked.
“Three days ago.”
Rosa turned to Sloane, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but we need to talk to Isaac.”
