Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
At the bookstore, Vivian was not surprised when they were greeted by the owner as they walked through the door. “Welcome to Parsonage Bookshop, Officers!” Heather was in her usual good mood.
Tyler told her they were following up on an incident that had happened to Dana Broderick after she’d left the shop the previous day and were just checking out the timeline of events. She was able to confirm that Dana and her assistant had been there to sign books and that they’d left right before lunchtime.
“And that’s about it. Gee, I hope she’s okay.” Heather’s forehead furrowed in concern.
“She’s just fine,” Tyler said smoothly. Oh no. What a rookie move. Vivian made a mental note to talk to him later about giving witnesses false reassurances. If Dana Broderick turned up dead, this woman would know they’d lied to her.
“Anything out of the ordinary happen while Dana was in the store?” Vivian asked.
“Like what?” Heather gave her a puzzled look.
Tyler jumped in. “Did anyone take a special interest in Ms. Broderick? Talk to her, follow her?”
Heather shook her head. “She was in the stockroom the whole time. When she left, she went out the back door to wait for her ride. Her assistant...” She pursed her lips. “I can never remember her name.”
“Courtney,” Tyler prompted.
“Yes! Courtney.” She snapped her fingers. “For some reason I can’t get her name to stick in my brain. Anyway, she and a young man came back this morning to ask if we’d seen Dana since then. I hadn’t, which I told them. I gave them her phone and then they left.”
“Her phone?” This got Vivian’s attention. “She left it behind?”
“Not on purpose,” Heather said. “She dropped it and didn’t realize it, I guess? One of my employees found it by the dumpster out back when he was closing up last night. We didn’t know it was Dana’s until her assistant came in and claimed it.”
Interesting.
With Heather’s permission, Vivian and Tyler visited the stockroom and went through the back door to inspect where Dana had been waiting, but they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Once they were back in the car, Tyler said, “I find it interesting that Courtney didn’t mention the phone when I talked to her.”
“Highly suspicious.” Vivian started the engine. “My take on it is that all of them are covering something up.” But what? It might be something innocuous. A matter of confidentiality. Perhaps Dana had gone off to rehab and they didn’t want it known, or she’d had some kind of meltdown and was sent away to decompress. Maybe right now she was at a wellness retreat or a luxury spa.
Or maybe, and this was the more interesting scenario, Dana Broderick had been taken against her will and the family had been instructed not to involve the police. Vivian felt a surge of elation at the thought of having a real crime to solve.
“Now what?” Tyler asked.
“You said that Dana’s boyfriend, Antonio, works at Let’s Get Fitness, right?”
He shuffled through his notes. “That’s what Courtney told me. He’s been living at the house for about six months. She didn’t know his last name. I found that odd.”
“The brother and his wife didn’t know his last name either. Or so they said.” Vivian tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “Ian Broderick said he thought he was from Italy. His wife said she thought he was Romanian.”
“How could they not know?” Tyler asked.
Vivian shrugged. “They said that Dana valued her privacy and shut them down if they asked too many questions. She’s known for being difficult.”
“Even so.”
She gave her partner a grin. “I say we find out more about him.”
The parking lot of Let’s Get Fitness was surprisingly full. Vivian found a space on the outside edge of the lot, and wordlessly, she and Tyler made their way to the front door. Inside, they found a cute young girl with a curly ponytail sitting behind the front desk. She had earbuds in both ears. Her chin was bobbing in time to music only she could hear. A wall behind her separated the lobby from the rest of the studio, but upbeat techno music and an instructor yelling out directions gave the impression some kind of class was being conducted.
From past experience, Vivian found there was no need to flash the badge when wearing the uniform, and it was true this time as well. The girl did a double take as they came through the door. She pulled out an earbud and stood. “Can I help you?”
Vivian took the lead. She always did. “We need to speak to the manager.”
“That would be me. I’m Shelby Lucas.”
“ You’re the manager?” Vivian had been a cop for twelve years and didn’t feel any older than the day she started. Why was everyone else getting younger?
“Since Thursday,” she said with a toss of her head.
“Is the owner here?” Vivian asked.
Shelby shook her head. “Graham never works on Sunday.”
“Okay then.” Vivian sighed. She had no choice but to talk to the infant. “We have some questions about one of your employees. Antonio?”
“Antonio doesn’t work here anymore. He hasn’t in a long time.”
Tyler stepped forward. “How long?”
Shelby squinted and looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe six months or so. He left without notice and took three of our top clients with him. All wealthy women, of course. I heard he’s doing personal training in their homes. Rich people like it when you come to them.”
“How did your boss react when Antonio took off like that?” Vivian asked.
“Oh, was he ever pissed! Left him in a huge bind. Plus, Antonio talked trash about Graham and it got back to him.” She leaned forward. “He wanted to sue Antonio but said it would be more trouble than it was worth.”
Vivian had heard this kind of thing before. People just assumed they could easily sue others for damages when the actual legalities were far more complex. “Did Graham ever seek Antonio out after he stopped working here? Do you know if they spoke at all?”
Shelby shook her head. “Graham never talked to him, I know that much, and Antonio knows better than to show his face around here. No, we’re done with him. Graham said what he did was unforgiveable. A betrayal.”
A betrayal. Enough of one to cause a man to literally steal a client back? If so, maybe he had something to do with Dana Broderick’s disappearance. Unlikely, but possible. People were crazy. Vivian had stopped being surprised by what human beings were capable of long ago.
“Are you sure they didn’t communicate at all? Maybe a text or phone call?” Tyler asked. “Or maybe they crossed paths elsewhere?”
“Not that I know of.” Her voice was dubious. “Graham and I are pretty close. He would have mentioned it.”
“Can we see your employment records for Antonio?”
Shelby laughed. “No way. Graham would kill me. You’d need a search warrant before he’d let you dig through his paperwork.”
She’d been hoping the girl would slip up and let them have Antonio’s file, but no luck. She was savvier than she looked. But Vivian wasn’t the type to give up that easily. “How about an employee ID photo?”
Shelby shook her head. “Antonio wasn’t technically employed by us. We referred members to him and he used our space. Antonio billed his clients and gave Graham a percentage of his fee.”
“I see.” Vivian’s brow furrowed in thought. “Is that usual for your industry?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It’s how we do it here.”
“How long did he work here?”
“Two and a half years? Give or take.”
“Do you happen to know where he worked before he came here? The name of the place?” Surely that wasn’t top secret.
The girl had a thoughtful look. “Some place in Janesville. It had one name, like Energy or Zone or something. I thought it was kind of weird.”
“Just one more thing,” Vivian said. “Can you tell us Antonio’s last name?”
“Of course,” she said. “It’s Camero. Antonio Camero.”