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“No one. I don’t think he felt the need. This place was his life since he lost Perry.”
“Perry was his life partner?” Kerri knew the answer already, but confirming was always the best practice. Perry Sager and Leo Kurtz hadbeen together for thirty years. Neither had extended family, only each other and this place.
“Yes,” Caldwell said with a nod.
“You can’t think of any reason,” Kerri pressed, “that explains this worry or distraction you noticed?”
Caldwell shrugged. “In my opinion, it was probably Tara. I don’t think she was living up to his expectations in her new position as assistant manager.”
Now they were getting somewhere.
“I’ve been thinking about Tara,” Falco said. “Of all the employees here, you’ve worked for Kurtz the longest. Why weren’t you his assistant manager? Why Tara?”
Exactly,Kerri mused.
“My ticker,” Caldwell explained. “I’m on medication for my blood pressure and my heart. If I’m going to keep working, my doctor says I have to limit the stress. Leo wanted me in the position, but I had to turn him down.” He sighed. “I couldn’t take the risk.”
Falco glanced at Kerri, and she threw out the next question. “Why didn’t you mention your concerns about Mr.Kurtz the first time we spoke?”
He sighed again, gave his head a shake. “I was in shock, I guess. And it didn’t seem relevant when compared with murder. But then the idea just wouldn’t let go. It kept eating at me. I had to tell you, whether it was relevant or not.”
“You didn’t talk to Tara about this?” Falco presented the next logical query.
Another shake of the older man’s head. “I didn’t see the point. Especially now. If she wasn’t living up to his expectations, it was irrelevant with him gone.”
Understandable. Kerri said, “We’d like you to make a list of any friends or close associates Leo had—besides his employees. If you havephone numbers, that would be great as well.” If he had concerns, as Caldwell suggested, maybe he’d shared them with a friend.
“Sure thing, but I have to tell you, we”—he patted his chest—“were Leo’s friends and associates. Outside this place, he always said that anyone else was just an acquaintance.”
McGill had said basically the same thing. “Any names you can come up with may prove useful.” Kerri passed Caldwell her card. “We may have other questions later.”
“Of course.” He nodded adamantly. “Anything I can do to help. I loved Leo like a brother.”
Falco pushed back his chair and stood. “Thank you, Mr.Caldwell. Please call if you think of anything else.”
“Believe me, I will.” Caldwell got to his feet. “I want whoever did this caught. Leo was a good man. He didn’t deserve to go out this way.”
When he’d exited the stockroom, Falco said, “That leaves us with only Lucky Vandiver.”
They had saved him for last. Mostly to make him sweat. McGill had stated that the young man and newest employee of Leo’s was a coke user. He had a couple of public intoxications on his record. One public disturbance. Clearly the man had issues, including a temper.
“Let’s find out what he has to say,” Kerri said.
Falco walked to the door that separated the stockroom from the retail shop. He opened it and stuck his head out. “Yo! Vandiver, you’re up.”
Her partner waited at the door until Vandiver swaggered in, then he closed it with a firm thud.
Vandiver took a seat across the table from Kerri. Falco leaned against the wall a few feet away. Kerri allowed a moment to visually assess the twenty-three-year-old. Shaggy blond hair. Bloodshot blue eyes. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. The Rag & Bone Henley—she’d spotted the logo on the hem—paired with the probably equally expensive jeans looked as if he’d slept in them for a couple of daysalready. Daddy made him work, but Kerri doubted Lucky had bought his wardrobe on his minimum wage salary.
“Mr.Vandiver,” Kerri began, “thank you for coming in today.”
One shoulder rose, then fell with a careless shrug. “It’s not like I could say no.”
This was mostly true. “Are you certain you don’t want an attorney present?”
Kerri asked this question of everyone they’d interviewed as part of the preliminary prep before moving into the more relevant questions. With this guy, she felt the question was particularly important for setting the tone. She would wager every cent in her bank account that he hadn’t told his father about this command performance. Whenever a person hid something like this, there was a reason—a motive. In a murder case, every motive had to be analyzed.
Even those that might turn out to be irrelevant.
