Page 45 of Southie
I continued to explain that I’d gone to see her because we agreed to me stopping by that day as a part of our normal weekly routine. Liam confirmed it was true since he’d been there when she agreed to me coming by that morning, which explained why I was there at the scene of her murder.
“And you met Mrs. Daugherty through Liam, is that correct?”
“No, I met Mrs. Daugherty on the bus on my way to my father’s business in South Boston.”
“And what’s the name of your father’s business?”
“Premier Boxing. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Just establishing background information.”
I nodded.
He continued to write without looking at me. “So how did you meet Liam if not through Mrs. Daugherty?”
Before I answered, Liam spoke. “Why does how she met me have anything to do with who killed my grandmother, Rizzo? She was friends with her.”
Detective Rizzo stopped writing and scrutinized Liam. “Well, you two seem cozy. You’re very protective of her, that’s all.”
“And your point is?” Liam sneered.
Detective Rizzo sighed and leaned back in the blue plastic chair. He dropped the pen onto the legal pad and eyeballed Liam. “Listen, Liam. I understand the hostility. You just lost your grandmother, and there’s bad blood with our families, but I don’t want it to affect the investigation into her death.”
“Well, maybe there should be a new detective assigned to her case.”
Detective Rizzo shook his head. “I requested Mrs. Daugherty’s case, so no there’ll be no new detective, Liam. I’m all you got, and I’m determined to find out who did this.”
“And why the hell would you do something like that, Rizzo? Like you said, there’s bad blood between our families. Why in the hell would you want to find who killed my grandmother?”
“That’s not important, right now.” He cocked his head and smirked. “We’ll get to that later. What’s important is discovering who did this and bringing them to justice. No matter who it is and no matter why they did it.”
I squeezed Liam’s hand, and he slightly nodded to Detective Rizzo to continue.
Detective Rizzo removed a photograph from the folder on the table. “Okay. Do either of you recognize this man?” he questioned.
I peeked at Liam, and he shook his head. From the poor quality of the picture, it was obvious they’d lifted it from a security camera that wasn’t very high tech. However, I tried to see if I recognized the individual from the grainy color image.
I picked it up to get a closer look at the man. He was faced away from the camera and dressed in an all-black outfit, including a black fitted baseball cap and black gloves. He didn’t stand out in the neighborhood. In the South, he’d look suspicious as hell. Even though the weather in Boston had been warmer than normal, he wouldn't look out of place in the early morning hours.
He could be anybody.
Along with all black clothing he was tall, medium build, but as far as any other features that would zero on his identity, like race or hair color, there were none. However, I recognized his car. It was the same black Audi I’d seen around my house and school.
“Is that a black Audi?” I asked to confirm my suspicions.
“You recognize the car?” Liam asked before the detective had the chance to, pulling the photograph back to him. He picked it up and stared at it again before sliding it back over to Detective Rizzo.
“I thought it was my imagination.”
Liam’s grip on my hand tightened. I could feel his gaze on me.
“Ms. Jennings?”
“Umm… yeah. I recognize the car.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, I think it’s the same car. For the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing a black Audi everywhere. Well, not everywhere, just at school and around my home. I thought I was being paranoid. I’ve been…”
“You’ve been what Ms. Jennings?” Detective Rizzo asked, sitting up in his chair for the first time, looking at me.
The deep breath I inhaled and then exhaled was not enough to squash my anxiousness. This was not how I wanted Liam to find out about my problems with Frankie. While he needed answers, exposing what was happening in my life in front of a stranger wasn’t ideal.
