Page 54 of Kings & Chaos

“How big were the deposits?” I asked Aloha.

“25k total. Deposited about 9k at a time over a few days,” Aloha said.

I raised my eyebrows. That wasn’t junkie money, and either Walsh knew deposits over 9k were flagged by banks for review or someone had told him.

“That’s a lot of money for a mechanic,” I said.

Aloha nodded. “Guy bought a new TV, some parts for his car. The rest was still sitting in his account when he bit it.”

“When did the deposits start?” I asked.

“October 14th.” The day after the first package had been delivered to Willa, the one with her earring, but there was no point telling Aloha that. He was the info guy. He didn’t give two shits what we were doing with it. “Anything on the suicide note?”

“Typed and printed from his computer,” Aloha said.

“Signed?”

Aloha shook his giant head. “Nope.”

I rubbed at my chin, thinking. So Walsh gets a bunch of money, buys a new TV, fixes up his car, then types a suicide note and offs himself?

I smelled bullshit.

“Thanks, man. I’ll tell Neo.” I shook his hand and started to walk away.

“One more thing,” Aloha said. I turned to face him. “I don’t know if it matters, but Neo said you wanted everything.”

“We do.”

“I ran a scan on the CCTV cams in town,” Aloha said. “Just to be thorough.”

“And?”

“Walsh didn’t get out much. Popped into the deli for a sandwich now and then, picked up groceries at Herb’s. Those were the only places he was recorded in the month before he bit it, except for twice, when he met with someone at Cassie’s.”

“Doesn’t seem like a Cassie’s kind of guy.” Cassie was from Blackwell Falls, but her place was upscale, frequented mostly by students and tourists. Townies went to the Greasy Spoon where they could get bad coffee for less than a dollar, like a proud local.

“I thought the same thing,” Aloha said. “Which is why I looked up the guy Walsh met there.”

“He met someone?”

“Guy from your neck of the woods actually,” Aloha said.

That took me by surprise. “From Aventine?”

Aloha nodded. “Put it all in the digital file I sent to Neo.”

“Good. Thanks again.” I headed into the crowd. Zachary Walsh had been paid twenty-five thousand dollars the day after Willa got the first package from her stalker. Then he’d met someone from Aventine.

Now he was dead.

And that meant someone was tying up loose ends.

Chapter19

Willa

Ididn’t pull my hand away as Oscar led me through the dancing crowd. I was still pissed about the game, but the Orpheum was a swarm of bodies, and I was new to Blackwell Falls. I was starting to get the feeling the place wasn’t what it seemed.

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