Part 2 (2/2)
”Okay, let's go at this in an organized way.” I grabbed notebook and pen from my purse. I wrote the word *suspects' at the top of the page. ”Ramirez said the crime felt personal to him.”
”Right!” Dana agreed. ”A crime of pa.s.sion.”
”So we should start with those closest to Peach. Did she have a boyfriend?” I asked.
Dana nodded. ”Yes!” she said triumphantly. ”I met him at the store once. Vic something.”
”Perfect!” I said. I wrote *Vic Something' on the paper. ”What about family?”
Dana shook her head. ”Sorry. No idea.”
”Okay, well, what if her death was business related? Who else works at the store?”
”There's Gage. He's her business partner. Peach ran the place, but Gage came in to do the books and inventory and stuff like that.”
I wrote the name down. ”Anyone else Peach spent time with?”
”Oh! Celia!”
”And she is?” I asked, writing the name down.
”Her roommate. Peach told me they shared a place in Echo Park.”
I wrote *roommate' next to Celia's name. ”Got an address?”
Dana frowned and shook her head. ”Sorry.”
”That's okay,” I said looking down at the list. ”This is a good start. So, who do we question first?”
Dana shrugged. ”I say the boyfriend. Crime of pa.s.sion and all.”
I nodded. ”Suspects, here we come!”
Chapter Three.
Unfortunately, our enthusiasm proved to be greater than our actual knowledge about the suspects. Without Vic's last name or number or anything about him, it was a little hard to track him down for an intense interrogation. Instead, we decided to go back to the Pleasure Den and see what we could find out about the boyfriend there.
As I pulled my little red Jeep up to the curb outside the shop, we could see crime scene tape still lying on the ground just outside the doors. The neon *open' sign was shut off, but I could see movement inside the shop. Dana and I knocked on the gla.s.s door, and a minute later a guy wearing an earring in his eyebrow and a flannel s.h.i.+rt that looked stained in at least three different places came to the door.
”We're closed,” he yelled through the gla.s.s.
”I know. We wanted to talk to you about Peach,” I shouted back.
”What?” He put a hand to his ear.
”We want to talk about Peach!”
He shook his head. ”I can't hear you!”
”PEACH!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.
The guy jumped back. ”Oh.” He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pulling it open a crack. ”What do you want?” he asked.
”Hi. I'm Maddie Springer and this is my friend, Dana. Um, we were wondering if we could ask you some questions about Peach.”
He frowned. ”Why? Are you reporters?”
”No,” Dana said, shaking her head. ”We're helping the police with the investigation.”
I elbowed her in the ribs. ”Uh, sort of. We'rea”
”She's married to the detective in charge,” Dana said, pointing at me.
I shrugged and did a feeble little laugh. ”Uh, yeah, anyway, we just wanted to ask a couple questions about Peach if you don't mind.”
He bit his lip, probably trying to figure out what sort of official capacity the wife of a police detective had, but finally nodded. ”Yeah. I guess so. Come on in.” He opened the door, letting Dana and I through before locking it behind us again.
The place looked much the same as it had yesterday, the only difference the faint dusting of black powder on several of the surfaces near the cash register. Apparently CSU had covered all robbery bases after all.
”What do you want to know about Peach?” the guy asked, crossing his arms over his chest and taking a wide, defensive stance.
”You're Gage?” I guessed.
He nodded.
”And you were Peach's business partner?”
Again with the nod, but he didn't speak. This was going to be harder than I thought.
”So, what, exactly was the partners.h.i.+p?”
Gage shrugged. ”It was a 50/50 split. I'm not exactly a people person-”
Shocker.
”- but Peach had the personality to deal with the public. I was more behind the scenes. I did the ordering, books, inventory. Peach did all the customer service stuff. She also did some product development.”
”Product development?” I asked, hoping I didn't live to regret the question.
”Peach was very creative. She came up with a few original items. Our personal ma.s.sagers do very well, and her line of latex wear is selling off the charts,” he said, gesturing to the wall of rubber clothes I'd noticed the day before.
”So, business is good, then?” Dana asked.
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