The Sixth Man (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 5)

“Excuse me?” she said cautiously.

They turned to look at her.

“I understand you were here asking questions about Edgar?”

Sean said, “Did you know him?”

“We worked in the same cubicle zone. I’m Judy, Judy Stevens.”

“We were asking questions, although answers from your boss were hard to come by.”

“Mr. Russell doesn’t like to say anything that might come back to, you know…”

“Bite him in the ass?” suggested Michelle.

A smile crept to Judy’s face and her cheeks reddened slightly. “Yes.”

“But you don’t have that issue?” Sean asked.

“I just want the truth to come out.”

“And what do you think is the truth?”

“All I know is Edgar stopped working here over seven months before this nightmare happened. Before that he was here for eight years.”

“Where did he go?”

“Nobody really knows. He just didn’t come to work one day. I asked Mr. Russell but he told me it was none of my business.”

“Okay. Did you hear from Edgar?”

Judy lowered her gaze. “Edgar and I were friends. He… he was a nice person. Just very shy.”

“So did you hear from him?” Sean asked her again.

“He called me one night. Just out of the blue. I asked him what was going on, why he was no longer coming to work. He told me that he had another job, but he couldn’t say what it was.”

“Did he say why he couldn’t tell you?”

“Just that it was very sensitive. That was the word he used. Sensitive.”

“Did you hear from him again?”

“No. And from the way he was talking it seemed to me that his calling me was… was…”

“A risk on his part?” prompted Michelle.

Judy lifted her gaze. “Yes, exactly. A risk on his part.”

Michelle said, “Then he must really think a lot of you for him to take that chance.”

Judy’s face flushed with pleasure. “I thought a lot of him.”

Sean appraised her. “So you don’t think he killed all those people?”

“No. I knew Edgar. Well, I knew him as well as anyone did, I guess. He’s not a killer. He wouldn’t know how. It just wasn’t in his psyche. Even though he was so big, he was actually a very gentle man. If he accidentally stepped on a cricket it would make him sad.”

Sean handed her his card. “You think of anything, please contact us.”