Page 69 of Kiss Marry Kill
I picked up the phone and scanned the message. He was right about the time. It made sense because that was around when Kobe had made his drunken speech. “Did you see Archie when you got to the restaurant?”
He shook his head. “Well, I saw him from a distance. But I didn’t talk to him.”
I scribbled some notes on my pad. “Why didn’t you talk to him?”
“Because he was having a conversation with Mr. Raiden, Janelle’s father.” His expression tensed. “It looked like a very heated conversation, if I’m honest.”
“I see. Did you see how long this… conversation lasted?”
“Not long once I arrived.” He met my gaze, looking worried. “Mr. Raiden was losing his shit at Archie. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it was obvious Mr. Raiden was furious.”
“Once they were done arguing, where did Archie go?”
Grimacing, Thomas said, “I don’t know. I didn’t see Archie leave. I got distracted when Mrs. Raiden came up to me and told me to get the presents in the trunk of the car.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “She was really drunk.”
“But you didn’t put the presents in the car at that time, did you?”
“No.”
“And why was that?”
Guilt shifted through his gaze. “I got a phone call from my girlfriend.”
“Okay. How long did that last?”
“About ten minutes.” He pointed toward his phone. “The record of the call is on there if you want to look at it. You’ll be able to see how long the phone call was.”
I nodded, but when I tried to open the phone, it asked for a password. “Can you unlock it?”
“Oh yeah, sorry.” He took the phone and opened it again. “There you go. It’s under Blue Eyes. That’s my nickname for her.”
I scrolled to his phone calls from yesterday, noticing there was indeed a phone call from Blue Eyes around 4:40 p.m. “So after you hung up, what did you do?”
“I went to find Archie to verify he wanted me to load up the presents, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Then I saw Janelle talking with one of her bridesmaids. You and Dr. Thornton were there too.”
“That’s right.”
“I asked Janelle if she wanted me to load the presents, and she said sure. But you know that because you heard the whole thing.” He gave a gruff laugh. “Mrs. Raiden didn’t like me double-checking with Janelle, that was obvious. She gave me the evil eye. I think she took it personally that I hadn’t obeyed her immediately about loading the presents. I just wanted to be sure I did what Archie and Janelle wanted.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Mrs. Raiden is used to people jumping when she speaks. But Archie was your boss, so it made sense you’d want to know what he wanted first.”
“Thanks. That’s how I saw it, but it was pretty obvious Mrs. Raiden did not see it my way.”
“So, while you were trying to find Archie, how long was the limousine left unattended?”
“Well, it took me a while to look around for Archie, to no avail. There was probably a twenty-minute window where nobody was watching the car? I wasn’t worried about it because it was right in front of the restaurant.”
“Was the car locked?”
Guilt reappeared on his face. “No. I didn’t think about it being a problem. It seemed safe enough where it was.”
“You didn’t worry at all about someone stealing the car?”
“No. Not in broad daylight. I mean, it’s not like you can steal a limousine and blend into the crowd. It kind of stands out.”
“Okay.” I studied him. “Do you live in Rainy Dale?”
“Yes.”
