Forgotten in Death(39)

“I do, and it’s lovely to see you again. I don’t believe you’ve met my wife.”

“I haven’t, but I’m a fan. Everyone, this is Roarke, and Lieutenant Dallas. Our youngest, Kincade, Layla on keyboards, Harmony on drums, our son-in-law, Justin, on bass guitar, and our dancer, Marvi. Bolt?”

“Sorry. Caught me off guard.” He set his guitar on a stand. “Roarke, it’s been awhile.” He offered his hand before turning to Eve. “You’ve had a long day, Lieutenant. Why don’t we take this in my office?”

“We know what happened. It’s all over the media, and we talked about it before dinner.” Layla took a step closer to her father, but studied Eve. “Did you find out who did it?”

“The investigation’s active and ongoing.”

“That’s what they always say, right, Justin? Justin’s a lawyer.”

“Almost.” The son-in-law scooped up his daughter.

“I’d say that session worked up some appetites. Let’s go have dessert. We’ll just give you the room, Bolt.” Lilith gave his arm a squeeze. “Come on, gang, that cherry pie à la mode won’t eat itself.”

The bell rang. “That’s got to be Clem.”

As Kincade dashed off, his mother called after him, “Bring him back to the kitchen. Sorry for the madness. Why don’t I send out some pie and coffee?”

“We’re fine,” Eve told her. “We’ll try not to interrupt any more of your evening than necessary.”

Lilith ran a hand down Bolton’s arm this time. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Eve caught the older daughter starting to object—but so did her mother. It only took a look, and Lilith herded the rest of the family out.

“You have a talented family, Bolton,” Roarke began.

“We have a lot of fun. Please, have a seat. You must have questions that couldn’t wait.”

“Questions and information,” Eve agreed. “Carmine Delgato.”

“Carmine? Longtime employee. Chief plumber on the Hudson Yards project, and others.”

“Were you aware of his gambling problem?”

Bolton sighed. “Yes, of course. I know he’s separated from his wife again, and it seems to be sticking this time. I’m sorry about it. The company has offered to give him time off for rehabilitation, but … It doesn’t affect his work, so we’ve kept out of his personal business.”

He lifted both hands. “Surely you don’t think Carmine killed that woman. I can tell you, without hesitation, he’d never hurt anyone.”

“That may be, but someone hurt him. He’d dead, Mr. Singer.”

“He’s … My God.”

The shock looked genuine. He lost color with it. “Carmine? Dead? Are you saying someone killed him?”

“Unless I’m mistaken, yes. The ME will determine, but I believe his death was staged as a suicide.”

“Suicide? Carmine?” Bolton had his hands in his hair like a man who didn’t know what to do with them. “That doesn’t seem possible.”

“Why?”

“He … he’s an optimist, Lieutenant. Often to his own detriment. He simply believes, absolutely, things will turn around, work out. His long-shot bet would pay off, his wife would take him back. A job that’s run into serious problems will be fine with just a little work.

“But why would someone kill Carmine?”

“It’s my job to find out. Mr. Singer, you knew Mr. Delgato for a number of years.”

“Yes, he worked for us at least twenty years. Twenty-five is closer, I think. I can check.”

“In your opinion, was he capable of stealing from the company? He may have thought of it as pilfering, or just skimming a bit here and there.”

“No, I don’t believe…” When he trailed off, Bolton stared over Eve’s shoulder.

“You’re rethinking the no.”

“I … He had an addiction, and addictions cause good people to do bad things in the need to feed it. I can say I never suspected him of doing so.”

“But you’ve had material, equipment, go missing from time to time.”

“It happens. I’m sure Roarke would tell you the same. We’re usually able to track that sort of thing down.”

“Have you had that issue on the Hudson Yards site?”

“None that’s come to my attention, no.”

“On other jobs where he was head plumber?”

“I honestly can’t tell you off the top of my head. I’d like to call Harmony in. She’s been on parental leave, but she’s our CFO. And if you don’t object, I’d like my wife here, too. She doesn’t work for the company, but she knew Angie, Carmine’s wife.”

“All right.”

“I’ll just be a minute.” He rose, rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m having some trouble taking this all in. Two people are dead.”

Eve watched him walk out. “If he’s faking this, he’s damn good at it.”

“His greatest sin might be using too light a hand with the company he runs. That may be because running it is duty, not passion or even true inclination.”