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“Return dates don’t tell me what day you left, genius. You still could’ve killed him.”
“Come on, man. I don’t even know who this Schafer guy is. Swear it.”
“Shapiro.”
Cassie found a small bag of dog biscuits on the counter. Right next to it laid an email receipt for Marcus’ trip to Arizona. She handed the paper to David and a biscuit to Bear, who took it gently and walked over to the corner of the room to eat it.
“The dates work.” David shook his head. “Damn it.”
Cassie could feel his frustration. “Back to square one?”
David tossed the piece of paper on the couch next to Marcus. “You’ve really never heard of a man named Robert Shapiro?”
“Yo, I swear to God. Never. Who is he?”
David and Cassie exchanged a look. She decided to rip the Band-Aid off. “He’s the man who killed your uncle, Joseph Warren.”
“Uncle Joe?” Marcus’ eyebrows knit together. “He died when I was a kid.”
“So, you weren’t close to him?” Cassie asked.
Marcus shrugged. “Not really. He tried to take care of me after Mom died, but then he disappeared. I kept a low profile till I turned eighteen so they wouldn’t throw me into foster care.”
David looked back at Cassie. “Yeah, square one.”
“I haven’t thought about him in years. And you’re the second person asking me about him. Is there something I don’t know about?” Marcus leaned forward. His eyes widened. “Yo, did Uncle Joe leave me money?”
David froze. “What do you mean, the second person?”
“What?” Marcus said. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing? You’re the second cop to ask me about him.”
“Your right hand and your left hand are going to be permanently cuffed behind your back if you don’t start being real clear, real fast. I’m tired of this shit.”
David’s outburst caught Cassie off guard and she took a step back.
Marcus sat up straight. “There was a cop or, I don’t know, maybe a security guard. A couple months ago. He was asking me all sorts of questions about Uncle Joe. Where he used to hang out? How many times he’d been in prison? If he had any friends who were still alive. Like I said, I was just a kid. I didn’t know any of that stuff. I tried running from him, too. He didn’t cuff me though. Gave me a hundred bucks to answer his questions.”
“What did you tell him?” David asked.
“All I remember was he got out of prison, and he was excited about something. Said he had a big windfall coming. He was always saying stuff like that. Never worked out for him, but he never gave up. Stupid dick.”
“Do you remember what he was excited about?”
“Said he was gonna go into business with some guy selling apples or something. Can you believe that? Uncle Joe made decent money on the side. He didn’t need to sell freaking apples.”
Cassie looked to David. “Sounds like Shapiro.”
“Yeah, question is, who’s this other cop?”
“Maybe he wasn’t a cop. A security guard or something. I don’t know. He was arrogant like a cop, but without the balls to match.” When David and Cassie both looked confused, Marcus rolled his eyes. “Cops will push you around. Cuff you. Threaten to arrest you. He didn’t do that. He was built like a cop, but he handed me a wad of cash. Means he had the swagger but not the authority, you feel me?”
“Yeah, we feel you.” David stared at Marcus for a few seconds, but Cassie couldn’t tell what was on his mind. Finally, after Marcus started squirming, David smiled. “Correctional officer.”
“Yeah, like that. Security guard.”
“What did he look like?”
“White. Younger than you, but older than her.”
