Page 16 of In the Line of Ire

"I'llsend an emergency email tonight but I doubt anyone will see ituntil tomorrow morning. Convening a board meeting so soon will be astruggle but I'll do what I can. They can't be blindsided by thisnews in the media." She stopped and began wringing her hands. Whenmy brother called her name, she glanced over, then gave us anapologetic smile. "I think I better go now and make my statement tothe lieutenant. Hey, he's a Graves too!"

"He's mybrother," I told her. "You can trust him."

"Youseemed to want to make a swift exit," I said to Solomon as wewalked away. I was in the middle, flanked by both men, and wewalked quickly.

"I havesome concerns," said Solomon. We passed through the service doorand into the corridor before going out into the still evening air.As we continued toward his car, he said, "It's kind of convenientto have a potential counterfeiter served up to us soquickly."

"Youreally think the counterfeiter we're looking for could be the deadwoman?" I asked.

"Ifyou’re right and the bag over her head is fake, then I think sheknew something," said Solomon, nodding, "and someone didn't wantthat information revealed."

"Was thepurse over her head a fake?" asked Delgado.

Ishrugged. I was too shocked at finding a body to take notice of thefiner details. "I'm not sure. I didn't get close enough to see butI think so. I can’t say for certain."

"It's avery open message if it was. They didn't care enough about thecounterfeiting op not to send a message via that bag," saidDelgado. "If this Alison was involved, it's like saying 'don'tscrew with us'."

"That'snot what's bothering me," said Solomon. We climbed into his car andhe waited until we were settled before he continued, "We found thevictim in a locked store. Hence, we can presume no one was supposedto find her until morning. I overheard the medical examiner sayshe'd been dead less than an hour. That puts her death very soonafter closing time."

"No oneexpected her to be found for hours," I agreed, nodding.

"Couldbe. But I'm thinking about where she was found." He glanced at me,waiting.

Itdawned on me slowly. "She was in a locked store. Locked from theoutside!"

"We allsaw Samantha plugging in the access code to open the metalshutters," said Delgado.

"Someonehad to lock them again after Alison was killed. Does that meanwe're looking at another store employee?"

"Possibly," said Solomon, "Or even Samantha! She has a masterkey and access codes to every store in the mall. She can open themup and lock them up too. No one would think anything of her beinganywhere in the mall, at any time, so her cover is almostguaranteed. She wouldn't even need to use her master key to closeup the stores. If Alison were in charge of closing the store, thekiller could take her keys and toss them later. If any records arekept of which key or code was used, Samantha's wouldn't showup."

"Shewouldn't need to worry about fingerprints either. Anyone shouldexpect to find her fingerprints all over the mall," Iadded.

"Isthere anyway she couldn't be behind this?" asked Delgado, lookinguncomfortable at the question. "She seems like such a nicelady."

Solomonrested in his seat, contemplating the almost empty parking lot. Ihad no idea where the police and emergency vehicles were but Ifigured they were parked on the other side of the mall near themain entrances that the shoppers used. "Several things trouble me.Samantha already knew the information about counterfeit purses wasgetting out and she could have come to us just to show her boardmembers that she was tackling the situation head-on, knowing theywould find out eventually. She invited us in and the timing of ouraccess was largely on her. She opened the store doors with hermaster key and left us to look around. What better way to cover upa murder than by being in on its discovery?"

"I justcan't see Samantha killing someone in cold blood and then calmlywalking away," I said. "I don't buy it."

"Shecould have intended for us to be the fall guys. Someone could haveknown we were due to make an inspection. The body was fresh," saidSolomon.

"So whydidn't she pin the murder on us when the police arrived?" I asked,shuddering slightly at his last words. Fresh was a word that shouldbe applied to fruit, vegetables, and cream cakes. Not tobodies.

"Shemight be doing that now." Delgado darted a worried look towards themall.

"There'snothing that can tie us to being there an hour ago," I pointed out."We were all seen at the agency by our colleagues. I don't think weneed to worry. Solomon, are you really that concerned?"

Solomonblew out a breath and turned on the engine. "No, it was just athought that sprang into my head. That being said, if the boardrequests we get involved, we'll need to strategize carefully andremain alert. I would like to confirm that Samantha is not aparticipant. We signed up to confirm the presence of acounterfeiting operation and find out who is behind it, not to lookfor a murderer. The stakes have changed."

"Wecan't walk away now," I said.

"It might not be our choice. We have to wait for the board andtheir decision. The MPD is all over this too and that meansheadlines in theMontgomery Gazettetomorrow. I'll want to get some information fromGarrett before we proceed, if we're asked to," saidSolomon.

Wereturned Delgado to his car, which was parked in the undergroundlot at the agency. He hopped out, got into his own car, waved andtook off.

"Time togo home," I said. Solomon turned the car around and we headedhome.

Home wasthe little, yellow bungalow that I bought as a single woman. It wastwo-bedroom with a kitchen just big enough to eat in and acomfortable living room. It wasn't as large or as luxurious asSolomon's house, where we once both lived, but it sufficedcomfortably for now. We had several discussions about moving backinto Solomon's house or selling both homes and purchasing somethingnew together but we'd yet to come to a final decision.

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