Page 50 of Hoodoo House
“I don’t know. If the recordings came out, she might have to step down from the trial because of a possible conflict of interest. Not to mention what it would do to her reputation. I’ve fucked everything up, and all just to have sex with this guy.”
“Okay, Cody. What’s this man’s name? The one blackmailing you.”
“Malcolm Tull.”
Charlie knew he couldn’t disclose that they already had a connection to Cody’s case, at least not yet. He had to continue the interview as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
“And where does he live?”
“A big run-down place outside of Rosebud. It’s called Hoodoo House.”
“Hoodoo House,” Charlie repeated as he wrote it down. “And what is it that you want Declan Hunt Investigations to do for you connected to your situation?”
“I need you to figure out how to get a hold of those videos.”
Charlie nodded.Just play it cool. Don’t give anything away, so you get the full story.
“And have you had any contact with Mr Tull recently?”
Cody began chewing the nail on the thumb of his right hand. “I went to his place to beg him to give me the files. I don’t have enough money to pay him off so I was going to offer myself up to him for whatever he wanted, but it was too late. When I got there, I found out he was dead.” Cody looked at the edge of his thumb, which had begun to bleed, and stuck his hand in his pocket.
Charlie focused on his notepad. “So you didn’t give Mr Tull any money?”
“No! I couldn’t afford it.”
“And your mother hasn’t indicated that she has received the recordings yet?” Charlie pressed on.
“I’m pretty sure she would have said something,” Cody replied.
Charlie leaned in. “Well, then why do you still think you need our help if Mr Tull is dead?”
Cody went still.
Charlie softened his tone. “Cody. This is important. You can trust me. Did you do anything to harm Mr Tull?”
“No! I swear it, but…what if the mob guy somehow got the tape before Tull died? What if they killed him for it? Tull gloated that he had it all on his computer. Look, I did something I shouldn’t have. I just needed to be sure. After I found out he was dead, I broke into the house at night when everyone else was asleep to see if I could find his computer.”
“Okay, Cody. When was this?” Charlie asked.
Cody pulled his left hand out of his pocket and began gnawing on the nail of his pinkie finger like a rat nibbling a piece of cheese.
“Last night. I snuck in through a back entrance. Tull showed me how to get in unnoticed.”
Charlie focused intently, “And then what happened?”
Cody started nibbling on the next finger over. “I tried to get into his desk, but I needed to be quiet. There were other people in the house. So I needed to look in the books.”
Charlie said, “What do you mean, you needed to look in the books?”
Cody stopped nibbling the fingers on one hand, and switched over to the other. “One day when I was meeting Tull, I got there early and looked in a window to see if he was there. I saw him take a key that fit his desk out of one of the books on the shelves. I figured maybe he’d hidden something in there, so I went back to find it. Maybe a USB key or his laptop.”
“And did you find anything?” Charlie asked
“No. I couldn’t remember which book it was in. I had a bunch of books pulled down and then I heard a noise. I panicked. So I quickly put them back on the shelf and went out of the front door.”
Cody had run out of fingernails to chew on. “Look, I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I couldn’tnottake the chance.”
Charlie nodded. “Cody, you’ve done the right thing to come to us. I just have one more question. Did anyone ever see you at the house when you came to visit Mr Tull?”
