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“Maybe. But whatever it was, the matter seemed to resolve itself.”
“Right. Thank you. We’ll keep that in mind when we do the interviews today,” Nico said, mustering half a smile.
“Head’s up, everyone,” Nico said as the mutter of conversation overtook the room. He still needed to assign tasks.
“Pederson and Saito, I want you with me.” This time he meant to round up as many staff at the club as he could and question them all as soon as possible. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer from that hoity-toity gym owner today. He was probably going to regret this, but… “Carmichael, you’re also with me.” She’d been there on the first day he’d interviewed Erica Nellenbach, and she’d been the one to spot the sign above the door. He felt he owed her this, a way to help him dig deeper into this mystery. Lacey gave him a surprised glance, which quickly turned into a frown, but then Tyrell tugged on her arm and distracted her, perhaps filling her in on details about Linc’s recovery.
Nico asked Hickey and Gorman to make it a priority to locate Sukey’s car, then spent the next five minutes allocating duties for the day to the others in his team, so by the time he turned to follow the two detectives and Lacey out of the door, her frown had disappeared and her hardened cop face had taken over her features again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
NICO DID A 360-degree turn in the main foyer of the gymnastics club. The place was jam-packed. It turned out that Saturday was the best day to find all the staff together at the club as there was a local competition going on, and the place was teeming with kids, parents, and staff.
Nico waded through the throng, determined to find Erica, Lacey hot on his heels. The other two detectives bringing up the rear as they all ducked through the door into the main arena. The room rang with the sound of voices and movement as hundreds of young gymnasts competed on various pieces of equipment, while parents and the kids who weren’t competing sat around the edges on temporary bleachers. Some people looked at them with curiosity, but most ignored them as they weaved their way across the floor past yelling coaches and excited children. The gymnasts must be from different clubs or regions, because they were all wearing contrasting, brightly colored leotards. Some were sparkly purple, others were fire engine red, and they all bounced around like pieces of fluorescent candy.
The look on Erica’s face rivaled a thunderous storm cloud when she caught sight of him striding toward her. She was standing on a makeshift stage in the back corner of the cavernous room. Dressed in a dark, tightly fitted suit with a streamlined pencil skirt, she reminded Nico a little of Cruella de Ville, minus the black and white hairstyle. It looked like she was getting ready to hand out ribbons, probably prizes for one of the many competitions that were going on around them.
Nico stopped directly in front of Erica, not letting the fact she was looking down at him from her added height of the stage intimidate him. “Good morning,” he said but barreled on before she could reply. “We’ve come to interview your staff. You promised you’d send us a list with all relevant contact details but that wasn’t forthcoming. So we’ve come to you instead.”
Erica glared down her nose at him. “You can see for yourself how busy we are today. I can’t spare a single staff member at the moment,” she declared.
“You can and you will. Otherwise I will shut this whole club down and drag everyone down to the station to be interviewed one by one.” Nico wasn’t in the mood to take this woman’s attitude today. Two women had died and there was a strong connection to this gymnastics club. She needed to pull her head out of her ass and get helpful, or he might just charge her with obstruction of justice. He also intended to get to the bottom of this texting thing between her and Zoya. She might not know it, but Erica was directly in his line of fire today. “I need somewhere I can interview people. Do you have a meeting room?” he said in clipped tones, having to raise his voice over the hubbub of competition. More than a few people were now looking at them with open curiosity. Erica glanced around, and for the first time, Nico detected a hint of nervousness. Good. He wanted her on edge. To make it clear that he was in charge this time.
Erica stared at him for a full five seconds before she finally grimaced and beckoned a young woman who’d been standing on the corner of the stage over to her. “Claire, can you please show these detectives to the big meeting room?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The young woman ducked her head deferentially. She was plainly dressed in jeans and a loose T-shirt, with mousey-brown hair and large glasses that almost swallowed her face. Pederson and Saito had kept their mouths shut for the past five minutes, but Nico could see them taking this all in, documenting it all for future reference.
They followed Claire in single file out of the arena and past the reception desk. Nico had to make sure his jaw didn’t drop to the ground as they walked through the joint. This place was huge. Probably the best facility on the whole island. They filed past an array of rooms as they proceeded down the hallway. A fully equipped weights room on the left, a large cafeteria on the right which was full of chattering kids, and a parent viewing room, with an enormous glass window, fitted with one-way glass, for the parents to sit and watch without interfering. Four large offices side by side, one with a big mahogany desk right in the center of the room, which Nico guessed was probably Erica’s office.
“In here.” Claire gestured to the room at the end of the hallway, which was decked out with a large boardroom-style table at one end and a scattering of smaller desks and chairs at the other.
“This is perfect, thank you.” Nico smiled at the young woman, who seemed to be perpetually nervous.
“This is about Zoya, isn’t it?” she asked. “I couldn’t believe she was dead when I heard it on the television.” Her brown eyes filled with tears. “I liked her. Zoya was nice to me. Not like—” Claire stopped speaking as if she’d said too much. Nico was glad at least someone seemed to be missing Zoya.
“Yes, it is,” Nico confirmed, as the other three moved past him and spread out on the opposite side of the table. “Your name’s Claire, is that right? You’re the receptionist here?”
“Yes, sir. What can I do to help?” The petite woman stood taller and swiped at her eyes behind her glasses.
“I was wondering if you could get me a list of all the staff who work here? That’d be a great help.”
“Oh, yes. I have a list on my computer. I can print it out for you straight away.”
“Thank you.” So Erica had been intentionally wasting time when she said she’d have to get the receptionist to compile a list. It already existed, she was just withholding information. “And if you could help bring in each staff member as we need them, that would be most helpful too.”
“Certainly,” the young woman replied, seemingly invigorated now she’d been given a job to do.
“We might as well divide and conquer,” Nico told the others once Claire had left. “Do you and Saito want to do individual interviews? Carmichael and myself will work as a team.” It was fair enough. The other two were accomplished detectives, but Lacey was still in training.
Interviewing multiple people together in one room wasn’t ideal, but the room was big enough that they could spread themselves far enough apart for their conversations to remain private. Pederson and Saito settled themselves at desks in separate corners, and Lacey took a seat at the end of the boardroom table, watching him with wary eyes. They’d barely talked in the car on the way over, merely discussing aspects of the case, and completely ignoring any mention about the break-in, but that was okay, it meant Nico could keep his head in the game.
Claire bustled in with a piece of paper clutched in her hands and laid it down on the table in front of Nico. “Wow.” He sat back in his chair. “That’s a lot of people,” he said, whistling through his teeth.
“We have a lot of kids go through this club,” Claire commented. “And our ratio is one of the best in the country. Eight kids to one coach. Right from six years old and up.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at him proudly. “We also have many specialist coaches. And some who work part time.”
“And are they all here today?”
Claire nodded eagerly. “Most of them, yes.”
