Page 14 of In the Line of Ire

"We hadpermission from the mall manager, Samantha Strong," said Solomon."She'll confirm it but she might not want to tell youwhy."

Garrettrolled his eyes and pulled out his notepad. "Tell me exactly whatyou saw," he said.

"We weretaking a look around when I saw a shoe from behind a rack in thestore room," I said. "At first, I thought someone was watching usuntil I realized the shoe was on its side so no one could have beenwearing it. It was odd because Heavenly Handbags doesn't sellfootwear so I walked around the rack. That's when I saw her, justslumped there."

"Huh."Garrett made a note. "How did you know it was a her? I thoughtthere was a bag on her head."

"I sawlong hair and she was also wearing a skirt. The high heels were apretty good clue too. She still had one of them on."

"Did youmove the purse and look at her face?"

Igrimaced. "Why would I do that?"

"I haveno idea why you do a lot of things but since you came upon thecrime scene, I have to ask."

"Thenno, I didn't move the purse or look at her face. The blood wasenough for me."

Garrettdidn't make a note of that. "Did you see anyone? Or hearanyone?"

"No,just us. What happened to her? Was she shot?"

"Atclose range in the head," said Garrett and my stomach roiled. "Noone else was in the store room with you when you foundher?"

"OnlySolomon and Delgado. I suppose it's possible that someone couldhave left the store room when we were looking in the otherrooms."

"Notpossible," said Delgado, shaking his head. "I was in the corridorthe whole time. No one could have gotten past without myknowledge."

"And thetwo of you?" Garrett asking, pointing his pen to Solomon and thento me.

"We wentinto the office, the restroom and the breakroom, and finally, thestore room."

"Youtouch anything?"

"Yes,but I wore gloves," I said.

"Who letyou in?" he asked.

"Samantha Strong, the manager of the mall."

"She theone who hired you for this getup?" asked Garrett.

"Shedid," said Solomon. "She wanted to keep the nature of the jobdiscreet."

"I'lljust ask the hordes of onlookers to step back so we can talkprivately," said Garrett, looking around in mock concern. "Oh,look. There's no one here. Spill."

"Severalcounterfeit purses have been bought from the mall. Some of themcame from this boutique, but not all of them. Samantha asked us toinconspicuously look into it. She's afraid the customers that gotripped off will go public and ruin the mall's reputation,"explained Solomon.

"Why notjust give everyone their money back?" asked Garrett.

"Initially, it appeared to Samantha and the store managersshe spoke with that a theft ring was trying to rip off the storesby purchasing their purses and later attempting to returncounterfeit goods in their place."

"Youdon't think that's the case?" asked Garrett.

"We knowit's not!" I told him. I got to my feet at last, after I was surethat I wouldn’t be embarrassingly ill in front of my hardenedrelatives and colleagues. "Solomon bought me a gift which Irecognized as counterfeit. Before we could return it, Samantha cameto the agency with the case. We have another legitimate source too.Since one of the purchases was made from this store, Samantha letus in to take a look around. I opened some of the boxes in thestore room and found three counterfeit purses nestled amongst thereal ones. There might have been more but we didn't check everybox. It's enough to confirm that the counterfeit purses are comingfrom the stores, not a customer ring." Next to me, Solomon andDelgado nodded.

"Howmuch money are we talking about?" asked Garrett, his pen poisedover his notepad.

"Almosteight thousand dollars for just the purses I sawtonight."

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