Page 47 of Justice for Daesha

“Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a few years. Come on back to my office.” Amos followed him down a short hallway. There was a door at the end with a large window in it, and he could see technicians out there, working on bikes. Before they reached it, they took a right through a doorway and into BensonKelso’s office.

It was nothing like his brother’s. He had a plain metal desk, and as he looked at it, Amos realized it was one of the old steel tanker desks from back in the forties or fifties. Unlike Chance’s neat, tidy office, this one was a wreck. There were papers everywhere, but Amos had this sneaking suspicion that the man knew where everything was. “Thanks for talking to me,” Amos said as he sat down in the chair Benson indicated.

“I’d like to catch her killer as much as you guys would. KDCI’s got this case? That’s unusual, isn’t it?”

Amos let out a little chuckle. “Not if your girlfriend is the victim’s sister.”

Benson’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re seeing Daesha?” At Amos’s nod, he asked, “How is she?”

“She’s doing quite well, but she’d still like to find out who killed her sister. Which is why I’m doing this. So we had an interesting development. We found a picture of Dorinda wearing a ring, and we blew it up to look at it. And then I saw your brother’s logo and?”

“Stop right there. I know what you’re going to say, and yes, my logo is in it. So is Chance’s and Ainsley’s. We had it made for her. It was a gift.”

Pre-emptive strike, Amos thought. “Oh? Why would you do that?”

Benson sat back in his chair, tipped it back, and put his feet up on the desk. That was supposed to make him look cool, calm, and collected, but it didn’t work on Amos. He could still see the tiny speck of panic in the middle Kelso’s eyes. “Dorinda and I were good friends, and she was friends with my other two brothers too. No matter what we did or wanted to do, she always cheered us on. She believed in us, and she helped us if we needed it.”

“With money? Time?”

“Time. Advice. Research. If I needed something, I knew Dorinda would come through.”

“Was her husband jealous of the relationships you and your brothers had with her?”

Benson shrugged and dropped his feet to the floor. Speaking of MaxBlackmon obviously made him uncomfortable. “I don’t know and I don’t care. He was a son of a bitch, and I wish it had beenhimwho’d died. He didn’t deserve her.” There was a tone there in Benson’s voice that was far more forceful than Amos would’ve expected from a simple friendship. He hated MaxBlackmon?that much was clear. “When he left her for his girlfriend, I thought she’d come apart, but she didn’t. She just pulled herself together and made a home for her and the kids.”

“So let me ask you?who doyouthink killed Daesha?”

“I have no idea. None. Wish I did.”

Amos was running out of questions, so he let out a cough. He followed it with one or two more. “I’m sorry. I’m… Maybe it’s the paint fumes from back there…” He continued to cough. “Could I maybe have some water, please?” More coughing, and he kept going until he got what he wanted.

“Um, yeah, sure. I’ve got some in the break room. Just a second.”

As soon as Benson hopped up and headed out the door, Amos pulled another wireless button mic out of his pocket and slipped it under the chair, sticking it to the frame. He coughed the whole time, and when Benson came back with a bottle of water, he took it and gulped three or four swallows. Bringing it down, he gave a couple more coughs, drank a little more, and sighed. “Thank you. Sorry about that.”

“No problem. Would you like to look around the shop before you go?”

I’m effectively being dismissed, Amos thought with an inner smirk. “No. That’s quite all right. I just wanted to talk to you and see if you had any idea what happened or who might’ve been to blame.”

“Wish I could help you, but I don’t know.” Benson hadn’t taken a seat since he’d come from the break room, so Amos stood. “Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. I’d like to see her killer apprehended too.”

Amos extended a hand again and Benson shook it once more. “I will do that, and thank you so much for your time.”

“You’re quite welcome. Thank you for all your hard work. Have a good afternoon.”

Once he was back in the Jeep, he drove two parking lots down and parked, then brought up the app, chose the particular mic, and listened. The sound of papers being shuffled around rang through the speaker for several minutes. Then Benson’s voice sounded out.

“Hey, that KDCI guy? He was just here. He asked me all those same questions… No. I didn’t. But I admitted that we had the ring made for her, so now Chance looks like an idiot. I need to talk to him and… There was no point in denying it. He saw it. It’s plain as the noses on our faces. I expect he’s going to… Well, that’s a good thing too. When do you get back?”

Ainsley, Amos told himself. Benson had called his older brother.

“Well, I don’t know! But unlike Chance, I asked the right questions. Know where this is coming from? He’s dating Daesha! I… No, no. She wouldn’t have told him we’d hurt Dorinda. To her knowledge, we were all just friends. She didn’t know any better, and I know for a fact Dorinda hadn’t told her about us or she would’ve been asking questions. I think for now we’re okay, but… Yeah, I know. I probably should. I just hate dealing with him, you know? And I still believe it was him… Yeah, okay. Talk to you soon. Bye.” The call ended and the shuffling paper sounds resumed.

And I still believe it was him. So Chance had said practically the same thing. Were they blaming each other? That didn’t make sense. They were all friends, or at least some kind of friends that Daesha didn’t know about. That same thought he’d had before drifted through his mind, but he shut it down.Amos, you’re a fucking pervert, he told himself.

And what was that other comment about?I just hate dealing with him. Who? Hit man? Employee of some kind? Whoever it was, it was the same person they thought had killed Dorinda. None of it was making sense, but there was one thing for sure.

ChanceKelso had lied. That made him a weak link, and if anyone thought AmosFletcher was going to let that fact slip his mind, they were crazy.

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