He picked up my bourbon decanter and poured a drink. “It’s nine, and still too early for your smiling face.” I wondered where the man spent his night but was afraid to ask. If he wanted to talk, he would, and I’d probably wish he’d never started once he did. Mason’s personal life had always been a mystery I wanted left unsolved.
“I found our man.” I clasped my hands behind my head and stared up at my friend, who wore a grumpy frown.
He tossed back the drink and poured another. “What’s his name and have you put him at the Serendipity at the time of the murder?”
“His name is Kyle Johnson, but I’m still working on the rest.” I had gone through all of the files from the night before, but came up short when it came to connecting him to the hotel.
Mason carried his glass to the chair with him and sat across from me. “So who is this piece of shit? What have you learned?”
“When you told me your inside source mentioned a Mustang had been seen speeding away from the LA body dump location, it jogged a memory. I vaguely remembered an incident from a while ago. There had been a man who worked for me who had that type of car.”
I got up and crossed the room to pour my own drink. My coffee had been gone for hours.
Mason stayed silent, so I continued, “He was a strange type. Not much on personal
hygiene, but had a hell of a hot car from what his supervisor once told me. He also loved doing donuts in the parking lot at work, which wasn’t acceptable.” I sipped my drink and headed back to my desk.
“So did you fire him?” Mason pressed his hand against his shirt, and I wondered if he thought he was hot enough to iron his own wrinkles.
“No, I only heard about it because his supervisor claimed the guy was super smart and wanted to meet me to discuss some type of technology he wanted to pitch to me. I’d seen that type before and had more than a hundred people trying to sell me the latest thing. What none of them understood was I employed an entire team of the best developers and most of these ideas were nothing new.”
“People get obsessed when they have an idea. I could tell you about several lunatics I’ve dealt with who spent their life savings and ruined marriages over inventions.” I bet he had seen some things as a lawyer that he wished he could forget.
I leaned back in my chair and peered across my desk as Mason tossed back the rest of his drink and wondered if we should bring the decanter to my desk. “I’d turned the man down for months, but after his persistence continued, I threw him a bone and gave him a meeting so I could turn him down face to face once and for all. I was so eager to be done with him, I called him in at the end of the day.
“He came into my office and did a small presentation, and while his idea was impressive, it wasn’t anything new. I’d talked to my team who were already working on something similar.”
Mason belted a laugh. “I bet he didn’t like that – nothing like being told your big idea was not original.”
I nodded. “So, when I told him that, he copped an attitude and warned me that I better not steal his idea. He was angry, shouting and cursing, so I called Joe to take him out of my office.”
“How long ago was that?”
I couldn’t remember an exact date. “That’s been two years ago, at least. And the only reason he’d stuck out was his hat had the Mustang logo, which was my first car.”
“So did you fire him? That would lead to motive.” Mason fingered the damned wrinkles until I thought he’d have a breakdown.
I tried to stay focused despite Mr. Fidget. “Joe suggested I fire him when he returned, but you know me, I hate to put a man out of work.”
His eyes widened. “Is that why you keep getting in trouble? To keep me employed?” He went back to the bar and brought the decanter to the desk with him.
I shook my head and smiled. “If I’m not mistaken, he was part of the layoffs.”
“Still a motive.” Mason raised his glass.
“I’ve got to find his employment record, but that’s what I’m waiting on now. It should come through any minute now.” I glanced at the computer and realized I’d gotten a notification while playing catch up with Mason. “It’s here.”
I opened the file and hoped the first look at his face would spark a memory from the Serendipity, but it didn’t. Mason came around the desk to stand behind me as I read the reason for termination.
I glanced back to see his reaction. He nodded. “You laid him off and now he’s trying to frame you for revenge.”
“Could be? It’s something to give the police to look into, anyway.” I’d give anything to make this nightmare go away and to have one normal day with Luna where I wasn’t worried for her safety.
Mason returned to his chair. “I think you’re really on to something. I’d ask Joe or Luna if either one of them saw him anywhere. Maybe you could pinpoint a timeline.”
I stared at his picture. He seemed so familiar. “You know, he kind of looks like that hotel staffer we saw before.”
Mason shrugged. “They interviewed that guy. It wasn’t him.”