Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(69)
“Meaning?”
“If someone had been forcing pills down his throat, I would expect to find some caught in the esophagus.”
Josie nodded her understanding. “It’s hard to imagine homicide at this point.”
“Any thoughts on where a person could get those pills on a Saturday night?” she asked.
“That’s your bailiwick, Chief. Can’t help you there.” He pulled out another piece of paper in his stack. “One more bit of news. I ran the Western blot test on Billy Nix. He tested negative for HIV.”
*
Josie arrived back at the department and found Otto in the office. She gave him a quick rundown of her conversation with Cowan.
“So you’re ready to concede it was suicide as cause of death?” Otto asked.
Josie nodded, her expression troubled. “It bothers me. Someone helped Billy along, but I don’t know what else you would call it. Billy’s the one that swallowed the pills.” Josie grabbed a bottle of water and sat down at her desk to cool off. The day was already heating up to be a scorcher. “What else do you have?”
Otto said he had already run half of the license-plate numbers that Marta had left for them the night before.
“Any surprises?”
“Mick Sinner’s on here. Thought that was odd, that he’d show up at the memorial service after he pitched such a fit about his band performing the night after Billy died.”
Otto handed Josie what he had compiled so far.
She scanned the list and noticed Hank’s name. “Hank drives a four-door truck too?”
“Yeah. I know his truck. It’s a beauty. Big black truck. He ordered it brand-new out of Odessa.”
“Remember what Brenda told us? She said Billy called two people the night he died.”
Otto nodded. “Just what I was thinking. Slim Jim and Hank. And she said both of them told Billy to go back to the hotel and sleep it off.”
“What if Hank learned Billy was drunk and took the pills to him?”
“I asked Hank if he thought Billy would take pills and he said he was sure of it. He talked about Billy’s nerves before a show. Said Billy could have gotten pills from any number of people.”
“What possible motive could Hank have for helping Billy commit suicide?”
“I don’t know,” Otto said. “Billy made the Hell-Bent a heap of money.”
“We should talk to both Hank and Mick, but I’d like to start with Brenda. I’d like for her to come clean on Billy and Ferris and how those two deaths may be related. She has to be a link in this somehow.”
Otto glanced at his watch. “It’s almost eleven. You talk to Brenda and I’ll finish running the license plates. Then we can grab a bite to eat and go talk with Hank.”
*
Josie walked outside and the oppressive heat made her feel like turning back around for the air-conditioned office: ten straight days of temperatures above one hundred. Blue sky stretched out in all directions, promising nothing but sun. Sweat dripped down her temples by the time Josie reached Manny’s office, just a block away. She opened the office door and found him sitting in his chair behind the counter watching TV. He pushed himself up and stepped to the counter.
“How are you, Manny?”
“Fat and happy, like my daddy used to say. A glass of iced tea in one hand, the remote in the other. All in all, a good morning.”
“You got life figured out.”
He chuckled. “I’m just a lazy old man. What can I do for you?”
“Remind me what room number Brenda Nix is in.”
He pointed off to his left. “Room Five. I just delivered fresh towels. I know she’s home.”
“No problems here?” she asked.
“It’s all good. I appreciate you checking on me.”
*
Brenda answered the door and stepped back for Josie to enter. Her face was drawn, her eyes tired and red-rimmed. With no makeup and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Brenda had lost the playmaker image that Josie associated with her. She looked like a tired, grieving widow. Josie stepped inside and a woman with Brenda’s auburn hair and wide green eyes stood up from a reading chair by the window and offered her hand.
“Hi. I’m Patty Netham. We spoke on the phone a few days ago.”
“It’s good to meet you.”
“I appreciate you calling the way you did. Brenda needed family here to support her.” She glanced at her sister and the two women smiled slightly. “I’m going to go fill the tank up and grab us some lunch. We’re going to Alpine for the day, unless you think this will take a while?”
“No, this won’t take too long. I just have some follow-up questions.”
Patty hesitated and looked at her sister again. “Do you want me to call your lawyer? To let her know you’re speaking with the police?” Patty glanced at Josie apologetically, but Josie shrugged it off.
Brenda waved a hand in the air. “I’m too tired for lawyers. I just want this over with.”
After Patty left Josie took her place in the reading chair and Brenda sat in a matching chair at the writing desk across from the bed.
“Brenda, I’ve come to ask you some tough questions today. I want you to understand, I’m not asking them because I think you’re a suspect. I’m asking because I believe that Billy’s death and Ferris’s death are connected in some way. I need to understand their relationship.”