4. Fifteen out of Ten
4
FIFTEEN OUT OF TEN
Francesca
“ I t’s good to see you, Fleur.” Triumph was waiting for her outside of Tripoli’s office. At her startled look, he grimaced. “Sorry. Force of habit. It’s good to see you again, Special Agent McCabe.”
“Mr. Zelinski.” She ignored the slight widening of his eyes at her use of his formal name.
Yes, she could call him Triumph, but she needed to detach. Seeing Tripoli again up close had sent her reeling. She thought she’d managed to hold it together, but he was perceptive and probably saw right through her. She couldn’t allow any other avenues of familiarity to open. Referring to people she had once pretended to be friends with by their club names was one of those avenues.
Once inside the elevator, she turned to him. “Mr. Zelinski,” she said to further solidify the divide again. “Can you give me a quick rundown of what happened this morning?”
It was unfortunate, but she felt him bristle at calling him by his real name and by how cold she was presenting herself. His tone immediately matched hers. “Tilly and I arrived at six fifty a.m. Our regular cleaning crew would be in at noon, but since we had another private party tonight, we came in early to do some things to help out. I went to the storeroom to get some of the cleaning supplies, and I heard her scream for me. Ran into the trapeze room… and there was our unexpected guest. I pushed Tilly out of the room, checked the woman for a pulse, and then came back out for Tilly. I took her to the boss’ office and called our bar manager at home.”
“And you don’t know the murdered woman?”
He grimaced again. “I couldn’t tell who she was.”
Francesca noticed he appeared to pale slightly.
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
He confessed, “I watched what was going on over the cameras. I know I shouldn’t have, but…” He shrugged. “I figured when Special Agent Livingston didn’t call me out, because I know he noticed the camera was on, he was okay with it. When they fingerprinted her, I heard the name.”
“Thanks for being honest,” Francesca replied. “And yes, he knew.”
The doors of the elevator opened on the first floor, and once again, Triumph motioned for her to proceed before him. “The entire warehouse is structured to be like a labyrinth. Part of the fun is for the patrons to get repeatedly lost. The path to your right will be the fastest, then take the second left. If you head straight for the light, you’ll just end up across the warehouse.” Triumph put a hand out to stop her. “Agent, I know this is your job, but… it’s pretty gruesome. I just thought you should be prepared.”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“A fifteen.”