"Evie, where the hell is it?" Jackson and I stood huddled together in the alley on the side of Yi's market. The last smatterings of sunlight were ready to be smothered under yet another chilly night's sky and a swarm of mosquitoes began to rise up from the runoff of an afternoon sprinkle.

             "Where the hell is what?" I said though I knew exactly what he meant.

             "You know what I'm talking about," he looked around, lowering his voice as if he thought someone could hear us over the choir of crickets that sprung up almost out of nowhere. "Where's my gun?"

             "I--uh.."

             "Evie, I'm not playing with you. You're the only one who could have taken it. I want my shit back."

               "You're not even supposed to have it!" I was defensive for sure, but not wrong.

              "Shhhh!" 

              "Don't 'shhh' me. Do you know what could have happened if you would have been caught? You're a felon!"

              His face softened for the smallest moment before he doubled down. "You can't have it either. You don't have a license."

             "I didn't keep it." My heart skipped so hard I thought for sure that he would catch the lie. "I took it to one of those police buyback thingys. Told 'em my grandma died and I found it in her lockbox."

            "Grandma Sophie would whoop your ass if she found out you were telling people she was dead. You know how superstitious she is about that shit."

            "So you're not mad?"

            "Hell yeah I'm mad! Guns are expensive as fuck! You owe me money."

             "I'll pay you back," I said with no intention of paying him back.

             "You better." He sighed but otherwise dropped the subject. "Why didn't you ask Henry to do this?"

              I didn't really feel like talking about the fight we'd had...or how much it was killing me not to be able to talk to him. "He was busy. You're better at this sort of stuff than him anyway."

             "Okay. Why am I beating this guy's ass?"

             "You're not beating his ass, per se. I just need you to put the fear of God in him."

             "And why am I putting the fear of God in him?"

             "Because according to Manny a dozen roses were found with Abbey's body. Harley said he didn't buy 'em--he didn't even know about them, but Mr. Yi said he saw her stalker walking around in this very store the night she died with an arm full of roses. That can't be a coincidence."

              If Larry really had left the roses in Abbey's hotel room the night she died, then I was one step closer to figuring this all out. The problem was that Larry had displayed violent tendencies before when he'd caught me following him around. That's why I brought my favorite bruiser with me this time.

             "Why--wait a minute," He said. "Your boyfriend is the detective over the case?"

            "He's not my boyfriend, I mean you know--we're not steady or anything, but yeah."

            He got indignant. "What in the hell is the city doing with our tax dollars if they only have enough money to hire a single cop?"

            I snorted. "Jackson, don't make me laugh right now I'm trying to get in character. I need to look intimidating."

           "You're wearing a sundress to a shakedown."

            I looked down at the soft cotton dress that hugged my chest and flared delicately at my waist. "Yeah, but it looks so cute and feminine on me. Blue's my color don't you think?" I did a little twirl for him.

           He was so frustrated his eyes almost popped out of his head. "This is why you should've stayed in the car."

          "I would've but a lady this fine should be seen. Can't do that from the car."

         He laughed. "You're a mess, you know that?"

         "But a cute mess." I shrugged one shoulder. "I need to be here to see how he answers the questions. I need to ask the questions too."

          He sucked his teeth. "I could do that shit. 'Hey, motherfucker. Did you murder the bitch?' Easy."

          "Questioning takes more finesse than that. Think of it as good cop-bad cop."

         "It's more like non-threatening lady-terrifying cop."

         "Same difference."

         "So you want me hurt him?"

         "What? No. Just throw your weight around. Get in his face, yell, repeat yourself fifty times, you know gangbanger nonsense like that."

         "You have no appreciation for what I do. There's an art to intimidation."

         "That's why I brought you." From the smile that spread across his face I could tell his ego was stroked. "There he is."

          Larry walked out of Yi's Market with a paper bag hugged to his chest. He maneuvered the bag in his arms, preoccupied as his hands rifled through the pockets of his clean, pressed khakis. Just as he gripped his keys Jackson made his move.

          He ran up behind Larry and grabbed him around the shoulders, pulling him back into the alley with us. Larry's groceries fell to the ground and spilled across the pavement. Larry let out a yelp before Jackson pinned him up against the brick on the side of Yi's Market.

          Jackson clasped a hand over his mouth before he could yell louder. "Shut up! Shut the fuck up."

            Larry thrashed against Jackson but he couldn't loosen Jackson iron grip. From behind Jackson's hand Larry's voice came out in scared muffled moans.

             "Here's what's gonna happen," Jackson said. "I'm gonna take my hand off your mouth, and you're gonna answer our questions. Got it?"

               Larry shook his head and when it swung back he was aware of me for the first time. When our eyes met his brow furrowed in concentration. Almost immediately recognition hit, and his eyes grew wide with fear. As Jackson slowly eased his hand off of Larry's mouth. Larry let out a sharp scream.

               Jackson's hand muffled the rest and they struggled for a moment before Larry's body physically gave up and he relinquished control. "What did I just say?" Jackson's voice grew colder. "Do you want to die? Is that it? Did I pick up the suicidal motherfucker who wants to get shot? Lucky you, I'm feeling generous today."

              Larry began to thrash again, sweat pooling at his brow and washing over his face. He said something but it was unclear. Jackson removed his hand. "Please, take whatever you want. Just don't hurt me." He stumbled over his words and I admit some part of me was getting a rush from his obvious terror. Especially since he'd made me feel so afraid before.

              "Hurt you?" Jackson sighed with an exaggerated annoyance. "I don't want to have to hurt you, man. Give me a reason not to."

               "Whatever you want!"

              "Why were you in Abbey's hotel room the night she died?" I said trying to match Jackson's intimidating voice but sounding way too soft.

                Larry looked at me, the fear in his eyes growing more fervent. He ignored me and talked to Jackson. "I didn't see anything! Please don't kill me. I won't tell anyone what I saw."

                "What did you see?" I said.

               "Nothing, right? That's what you people want me to say, isn't it?" He seemed jittery as his eyes dashed between us. I almost would have felt bad if he hadn't pushed me around in a parking lot last week. "I didn't see you or your boss there that night."

                Our boss? Did he mean Delgatto? Did he think we were members of the Brotherhood? I looked over at Jackson. Though his eyes met mine he kept his expression neutral. "So...our boss. He was there that night...as you know."

                 "I did what he wanted!" Larry was almost in tears. "He told me to leave so I did."

                 "What were you even doing there that night?"

                 When Larry hesitated Jackson pressed him harder into the wall. "Answer the lady."

               "I just--I just wanted to talk to her."

               "Why?"

                "I'm not proud of what I did," he said. "Visiting that...place. I only went for her." His eyes got dreamy for a moment but he snapped out of it quickly. "She was special. She didn't belong in a place like that. She was pure."

               "So you stalked her?"

               "I wasn't stalking her!"

                Jackson looked him dead in his eyes and said, "Hey, calm the fuck down."

                Larry got calmer, though his eyes were still fixated on Jackson. "I wasn't stalking. She didn't have anyone. I was just looking out for her."

                I shook my head. "That's not how I heard it. Word around the neighborhood was that she was afraid of you."

               "Afraid of me? She spent all her time around a bunch of no-account hoods who tricked that sweet girl into selling herself so they could have bling or whatever. I only got to talk to her twice."

               "Twice?"

              "The first time I saw her dance. I waited for her after, you know, outside of their club. But your boss was with her. He told me if I ever bothered her again he'd kill me."

               "And the last time?"

              "That night," he closed his eyes as if he were reliving the memory. "I wanted to tell her how I felt about her. She hadn't been back at the club in weeks so I thought, 'here's my chance'. But that Chinese guy was with her all the time."

              "So what did you do?"

              "I went through with it anyway. I followed them to that hotel and got a room right down the hall and waited. I'd planned to wait until her Asian pimp was gone and then make my move, but when I went into the hall he was there."

              "Harley?"

              "Who?"

              "Uh, the Asian guy."

              "No. He left. I saw him. He left her in the room, went to the parking lot, and drove off somewhere. I meant your boss."

             "Delgatto? Delgatto was there?"

             "Yeah, whatever his name is. He pushed me around. Told me he would kill me if he ever saw my face again. I ran back to my room but I could just see the two of them talking in front of her door. She was standing there in nothing but a robe and he was whispering about something or other."

             "Could you make anything out?"

             "Not much. He was trying to talk her into going back with him. Eventually he convinced her to let him in so they could talk. I didn't want any trouble so I went back in my room."

             "What about your roses?"

              "They were for her."

             "I got that. Why were they in her room? They couldn't have got there unless you were in there at some point."

             "When I was in my room I was thinking. He could be hurting her or something. What kind of man could I call myself if I let that happen? So I decided to go after all. Even if it meant a fight. Even if I died."

            "How long were you in your room before you decided to confront Delgatto?"

            "I don't know. Maybe ten or twenty minutes. And I never confronted Delgatto. When I went to her room the door was open. I walked in. It was dark and quiet. I thought she'd actually left with that thug." He scoffed at the idea. "But then I saw her, laying there on the bed. Naked. He killed her."

            "You didn't see anything else?"

            "No, I got the hell out of there! He killed her! She's dead because of that violent psychopath. You think I would stick around so he could come back and make good on his promise to kill me?"

           "Alright, let him go."

          Jackson let him go but still held him in a death grip, "You tell anyone about this and you're fucking dead." Jackson gave him one last forceful shove and we watched as Larry stumbled before gathering his things from the ground and scuttling off to his car.

        "You believe that?" Jackson asked as Larry tore his way out of the parking lot.

        "I think he's telling the truth."

        "How do you know he won't call the police?"

        "Did you see how scared he was? He ain't gon' do shit. Even if he did there's no cameras in this alley, no witnesses, and you didn't hit him so there's no marks on him. Technically you didn't break probation, you just uh...pushed it a little."

        "You're a devious little shit, you know that?"

        "Yeah well, Mama always said I'd either lead a criminal enterprise or go to business school."

         That made him laugh. "So what now?"

        "We get back to work. I had a lovely lunch didn't you?"

       He laughed again. "I sure did."

        If Delgatto had shown up that night, it was almost a guarantee that he had been the one to kill Abbey. All accounts considered him a man with a temper. Tia had said he was always this way, even when they were little. Everyone who knew him was afraid of him, and I'd witnessed him strike a woman that night at that club he owns so violence against even women was definitely his M.O.

       Delgatto's a violent, jealous, possessive man who runs through multiple women a month. He dates Abbey for a while, but she leaves. This makes him angry. He follows her back to the hotel, waits for Harley to leave, and then strangles her in a fit of possessive rage. Or at least that's how it seemed.

        But what about the money on the dresser?

         I wasn't sure where the money fit in yet. The only thing I was sure of was that all roads led to Angelo Delgatto.