Page 50 of Justice for Daesha

“Well, no! We were all just friends.” Ainsley made a big production out of looking at his watch. “Oh, my, look at the time! I’ve been out of the country, so I’ve really got to get everything caught up. I’ll have Barcelona see you out.”

The man from earlier stepped through the doorway just as Amos said, “Barcelona?”

“Yes. I love Spain, so I name all my employees after the cities there. Very chic, no? It was nice meeting you, Mr., um,AgentFletcher. Hope to see you again sometime.” He whisked his hands in a sweeping motion and Barcelona, or whatever his real name was, took Amos’s upper arm. Amos, of course, shook it off immediately.

“I can see myself out.”

“Then you won’t mind Barcelona making sure you reach your car safely,” Ainsley called as they stepped out of the office. When the door closed, it sounded like a huge steel thing rather than a simple door, and Amos couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Sounds effects for a door? Good lord. The guy had more money than sense.

They reached the reception area and Amos turned around to walk backwards. “Goodbye, Madrid. I’d give you a call sometime, but twats don’t have fingers.” She never looked up, just flipped him off, and when he reached the door, he smiled at Barcelona. “Your services are not needed past this point, my good man. Have a lovely afternoon.” The white-haired man never spoke, and Amos slid into the Jeep and drove away.

The brewery was only one street down with a field between it and Ainsley’s office. Amos pulled in and parked, then grabbed his phone and opened the app. As soon as it linked with the mic, the conversation poured into the Jeep, and Amos realized something very important.

All that foppish talk? The crazy clothes and strange office? It was all just an act, a persona that AinsleyKelso had donned to look like an eccentric fashionista. The voice coming through the mic was definitely Ainsley’s, but it was just about as Kentucky as they came. “He just showed up here! I mean, what the hell? How did the two of you let this get so out of hand? He’s going about asking all kinds of questions, and if one of us answers one of them wrong, we’reallgoing to be in trouble. I know, but… Look, if we tell him, he’s going to get crazy, but if we don’t tell him, he’s going to get crazy onus. I’d rather he did that with somebody else, wouldn’t you? I mean… Yes. I hate him too, but that doesn’t take away the risks involved, so we… Well,somebodyhas to call him, and I really don’t want to.” It was quiet for a little while until he said, “Look, if the two of you are going to fight, you don’t need me here to listen to it. But know that if we don’t take care of this on the front end, our back ends are going to be in a sling. Got that? I just got back from out of the country and I’ve got to deal with this? Bitch, please, I… Okay, you do that. Goodbye.” Amos was pretty sure the next sound he heard was a phone being thrown.

He could only record one mic feed at a time, so he skipped over to Chance’s and listened. Nothing. Then he skipped to Benson’s, and things got interesting very quickly. There was an argument going on between Benson and another man, and it wasn’t on the phone.

“Look, you’ve got to do something,” Benson barked.

“What do you want me to do? I’ve had no part in any of this.”

“Right. Like I believe that.”

“For the last time, I didNOTkill Dorinda! I wouldn’t do that! I know all three of you think I did, but I didn’t.”

“You were the one with a motive.”

He heard a deep sigh before the voice said, “Do you really think I’m a murderer?”

“I think you might’ve hired somebody. After all, the secret had to be kept, didn’t it?”

“Look, I don’t know what happened to Dorinda, and I never had a problem with what was going on. Yes, it made me uncomfortable, but it was none of my business. And no, I don’t think it was reflection on anybody but all of you, and I don’t think anyone else would see it that way either. What makes the most sense is that one of you got jealous and killed her. Why doesn’t the one who did it confess and spare the other two?”

The voice he knew was Benson’s shouted, “I can’t believe you just said that. Don’t you care anything about us? I mean, we’re yourSONS, for god’s sake!”

Holy hell. It’s their dad.For some reason, he hadn’t found a connection to their parents, and he wondered if that was deliberate. He also hadn’t asked Daesha about them, but maybe he should’ve. But then the man he now knew was father to the three brothers said something that chilled him to the bone.

“Somebody killed her. If the three of you didn’t, was there a fourth?”

“Dear god, no! Why would you ask me that?” Benson asked.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about all this, but I suppose I’ll have to do something or you’ll tell everyone I killed her.”

“But you did!”

“For the last time, Ben, I did not. It had to be one of you because of that ring.”

“It wasyou, trying to cover it all up so nobody would think less of you. You didn’t want to lose your job.”

Amos turned the volume down and started pecking around on the tablet he took with him everywhere. Kelso, Kelso… Why did that name bother him? Then he heard that same voice say Daesha’s name. When he turned the volume back up, it was Benson’s voice he heard.

“Do whatever you want. We don’t want you to kill us to cover this up.” In a second, there was the sound of a door slamming, but there was no more talking.

Why had they talked about Daesha? That worried Amos. What had the man asked?Was there a fourth?Did that mean what he’d suspected for a good while?

Amos wasn’t sure, but he wanted to find out.

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