* * * * *
When I left Brad’s, my cell phone jangled. I flipped it open when I saw the caller ID.
“Hi, D,” I said. “Anything new on Tina?”
“Naw,” he said. “But I’ve got the janitor’s name for you. It’s Greg.”
“Greg. That’s it?”
“I find out more, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. Where have you looked for Tina, by the way?”
“She ain’t with dad and she ain’t at her friend Rochelle’s house, if that’s what you were thinking.”
“They’d both crossed my mind. Could she have gone home?”
Little D grunted. “Checked there too. No sign of her.”
“I may run by and check again. I’m going to hit the school and pay a visit to Greg. If you’re not busy, you want to sit in on our chat?”
“Wouldn’
t miss it,” he said. “I’ll bring your copies of the DVD with me.”
“Great. I’ll see you there.”
“Ah-ight.”
I thought about the DVD and all the questions I had for Janitor Greg. I hoped that, somewhere in his answers, there would be a solid alibi for Tina.
* * * * *
Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to run by Kozmik and get some face time with Hirschbeck. Enough with voice mails. I had to see him.
I approached the building and spotted Ana Lopez lighting a cigarette as she pushed through the front door. The same spiky-haired Ana Lopez who’d all but thrown me out of Kozmik’s accounting department on my previous visit.
“Hi,” I said.
She turned away, blowing a dragon’s breath of smoke. “What do you want? Like I don’t already know.”
“I’m here to talk to Len Hirschbeck. I have some photos of the guys who may be the real embezzlers.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Can I see them?”
Fascinating, her sudden curiosity. Might she be in on this? “I thought I wasn’t supposed to talk to you about the case,” I said. Ana rolled her eyes. Score ten for me. I snickered to myself for parroting her words. “For the moment, it would probably be best if I kept their identities confidential and shared them only with your legal counsel.” I emphasized only.
She shrugged and struck another pose while taking a drag on her cigarette. “Whatever. How can you be sure you have the right guys?”
“I have evidence.” I decided this would be a good time to test my theory that she had accused Brad of embezzlement. “Do you have any evidence to back your claim that Brad Higgins did it?”
Her jaw dropped. “I never. Who told you that?”
“Your whole attitude about Brad screams disdain for him. Tell me, is there solid evidence against him? Or did you accuse Brad because you wanted him gone?”
“I didn’t,” she sputtered.
“You accused him because you wanted his job, right? The job you thought you deserved.”