Chapter Nineteen #2
Cody moved to close the door. “You’re not a cop. I don’t have to talk to you.”
Sharp stuck his foot in the opening, preventing its closure. “As you said, I’m not a cop.”
Lance sidled into view and shoved the door open with one hand. Cody still had his hand on the knob, and the force of the push sent him stumbling backward a few inches. Sharp advanced through the doorway. Normally, when he was working a case, he mostly obeyed the law.
But this time, he wasn’t on a case. This was personal. This was about finding a rapist.
Who. Drugged. Nicki.
Sharp felt the anger bubbling up in his chest and tamped it firmly back down.
Lance followed him inside, closed the door, and stood in front of it. He knew his role and crossed his arms, biceps bulging. Under his short blond hair, his blue eyes stared coldly.
Cody swallowed. He looked strung out, as if he hadn’t slept. Purple circles darkened the hollows under his eyes, and his hair was greasy and disheveled.
“Not working today, Cody?” Sharp scanned the apartment.
The front door opened right into the living room and kitchen combo.
He assumed the hallway led to the bedroom and bathroom.
Cody’s keys and wallet sat on the kitchen table.
The wood veneer on the corners of the coffee table was peeling, but the place was neat enough.
A few dishes sat in the sink. No visible trash or dust.
“I took the day off.” Cody inched backward, but the apartment was small. There wasn’t anywhere to go. The living room didn’t even have a balcony, just double windows that overlooked the parking lot.
“I’m not going to jerk you around.” Sharp stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “You know the young woman you went out with last night?”
Cody swallowed and nodded.
“She’s my niece.”
Cody shoved shaking hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I already talked to the cops. I didn’t do it. I didn’t do anything. She—” He stammered. “She ordered her drink before I even got there.”
“You’re sure about that?” Sharp asked. “Because you went to the bathroom before the table. You passed right by the bar. You could have spiked her beer on the way by.”
“I didn’t!” Cody’s eyes bugged. “How would I even know what she ordered?”
Fair point.
But Sharp was not deterred. “Maybe you asked the waiter or bartender and slipped them some cash.” Something they’d be unlikely to admit.
“Why would I do that?”
Sharp gave him a look. “GHB is a date-rape drug. You were Nicki’s date.” He hesitated, allowing Cody to make the logical leap to you intended to rape her. “Why would anyone else have spiked her beer?”
“I don’t know!” Sweat beaded on Cody’s upper lip. “But it wasn’t me. The bar was busy. Anyone could have done it.”
“But why? What did anyone else have to gain?” Sharp asked.
Cody threw up his hands. He looked like he might toss up his breakfast. “Nothing.”
“You told Nicki you’re an investment banker, but that’s not exactly true, is it?” When Sharp thought of an investment banker, he pictured someone in a corporate office, not a branch employee.
“I work in a bank,” Cody said in a vague tone.
Sharp raised his brows.
“OK.” Cody held up his hands in a surrender position. “So I work at the branch in town. I’m not exactly an investment banker. I’m a customer service rep. I open accounts and help people access their safe-deposit boxes, things like that.”
“You lied.”
Cody rolled his eyes. “Yes. You caught me. I embellished my job a little to impress a girl.” He tried to sound flippant but failed.
“A lie’s a lie.” But Sharp admitted it wasn’t even close to the same scale as attempted date rape.
“I would never hurt a woman. Never.” Cody licked his lips.
“But dating is hard. Girls want successful guys, and with apps, you don’t even get a chance to get them to like you.
They won’t even bother to talk to you. When I was in school, I could meet girls at parties or classes.
Personality mattered. Now it’s just data and algorithms. For the dating pool of thirty-year-olds, I don’t make the computerized first cut. ”
“That must be frustrating,” Sharp said. “Maybe frustrating enough to slip a little something into a date’s drink to make sure you got what you wanted from her.”
“No!” Cody’s face reddened. Anger edged his words. “I might exaggerate on my dating profile a little, but that’s just to get a meetup. After that, what happens between us happens.” He sighed. “I just needed a leg up to get the first date. All I want is a chance.”
The guy was still a liar, but he sounded more pathetic than dangerous. “Why did you leave her at the restaurant?”
“I tried to take her home. That asshole wouldn’t let me.”
“That asshole is an ER doctor. He called 911 for her. He made sure she was all right. You didn’t.”
“I didn’t think she was that sick.” Cody’s eyes went white around the edges. “She said something about a virus.”
“You could’ve stayed with her. Waited for the ambulance. Offered to call her family.”
Cody’s gaze dropped to the floor. He studied his sneakers for a few seconds. “You’re right. I was the asshole.”
Sharp hadn’t expected the flash of humility.
Cody continued. “That other guy pissed me off.”
“So you just left.”
“Yeah.” Cody blinked. “I’m not proud of it. I should have made sure she was all right. But I swear, I was just going to take her home. I mean, she puked all over me. That’s not exactly a turn-on.”
Sharp knew it wouldn’t necessarily have stopped an actual rapist. “Instead of taking care of your date, you lost your temper and stormed off.”
“Yeah.” Cody sounded genuinely regretful. “I did that.”
“OK.”
“OK? That’s it?” Cody glanced between Sharp and Lance. Lance glared unforgivingly.
Sharp said, “For now.”
Cody sighed. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to.” Sharp turned toward the door. “But if I find out you’re lying to me, I’ll be back.”
Though he didn’t think Cody was dumb enough to open the door a second time. They’d have to ambush him at work to get a second interview.
Lance followed Sharp out onto the concrete walkway. They jogged down the stairs and climbed into the SUV. Lance slammed the door hard enough to rattle the windows. “If someone ever drugs one of the girls, I will rip off a head.”
“Unless Morgan gets to him first,” Sharp pointed out. Lance’s wife was more than a star defense attorney. She was a force. “And yeah. That’s what I want to do. But I have to find the guilty party first.”
Lance grumbled.
“You believe him?” Sharp asked.
Lance considered his question for a minute. “Either he’s a good actor or he didn’t do it.”
“Fuck.” Sharp rubbed the top of his head. “Maybe he is innocent.”
“I wouldn’t rule him out completely. He lied to Nicki, and he left the bar not knowing what happened to her. He didn’t bother to check on her the next day either. But I’d investigate him a little more and move him down the list unless you get new information.”
“Maybe he’s just an asshole,” Sharp said. “No law against that.”
“Unfortunately not.”
“That would mean someone else drugged Nicki.”
“The GHB could have been intended for someone else,” Lance said. “Morgan and I could use a date night. What if we go to the bar and stake out the place?”
“That’s not much of a date night.”
“She would enjoy it as much as I would. Rapists are repeat offenders. They hardly ever get caught.”
“If the risk is low, why not keep doing it?” Sharp felt anger rise hot up the back of his neck.
Cody could whine all he wanted about not being able to get dates, but women dealt with the possibility of being poisoned, raped, or even killed.
“Would the perp use the same location? After all the attention Nicki’s case brought to the restaurant? ”
Lance lifted a shoulder. “Who the hell knows? They got away with it. Sometimes, criminals get off on that. They feel emboldened. We’ve both seen it.”
“A smart one would lay low for a bit, then start up again in a fresh location.”
“Most of them aren’t as smart as they think they are.”
But it didn’t feel right to Sharp. He was allergic to coincidences, and this case was too full of them.