Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #3: Books 9-12 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [reading in the dark TXT] 📗

It was just one of those things. She was sorry and she was moving in with him.”

I drummed my fingers on the table. “Did she tell you anything else about him?”

“Yeah. It was his dad’s company. It was called Directed Vision or something like that. They had a contract with NBC and he was going to fix her up there with a job and she was going to study TV production while she worked.”

“Did she tell you his last name?”

His gaze became abstracted. He stared at the wall. “Yeah. I remember I thought it was a stupid name for a producer, because it was like film more, get it?”

“Jimmy Fillmore?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Stupid. She didn’t see it.”

Dehan asked him, “Did she give you an address where she was going?”

“Not exactly. We parted on really bad terms, as you can imagine. She told me she wanted to stay till Saturday, because he had something going on at his house till Saturday. Then she could move in with him. I told her to take a hike, so she stayed a few days with a couple we were friends with, and I never heard from her again.”

“We’re going to need an address for your friends.”

He was beginning to frown. “Sure, Ai Hitani and Bill Walters, 1717 Yates Avenue.” He gave her Ai’s number. “Say, what is this about? What has Angela done?”

I nodded. “Mr. Shine, the second time you saw Angela with this Jimmy Fillmore, did you get a better look at him?”

He sat back and thought. “Yeah, I guess. Maybe mid twenties, dark hair. It looked black, but hard to tell for sure. He might have been Hispanic, or Italian, but not real dark. They were sitting down most of the time, but when she left he stood to give her a kiss. She was five three or four. I guess he was less than a foot taller. So maybe he was six foot. Not big, normal build.” He looked at Dehan, then looked back at me. “What is this about?”

“Mr. Shine, Angela was murdered that Saturday, not far from the bar where you saw her, by the river. Do you recall the Westchester Angel?”

“Holy shit! That was Angela?”

Dehan was frowning at him. “You weren’t struck by the similarities? The location, the crucifix…”

He was shaking his head. “I had no idea. I never have time to watch the news. I read the financial pages. I don’t know anything about a crucifix. She had one, belonged to her grandmother…”

I nodded. “That was Angela, Mr. Shine.”

He had gone very pale and his hand had started shaking. “Jesus, if I had known I would have never… She was with friends. It wasn’t as if I put her on the street. I would never have… if I’d known.”

“There was no way you could have known. You can’t blame yourself. She had made her choice. What we have to do is catch the man who did it to her.”

He stared at me with big, unseeing eyes. “Jimmy,” he said. “Jimmy Fillmore did it.”

“That is what we aim to find out,” I said, half to myself, as he and Dehan stood. She showed him to the door and he left.

ELEVEN

I pulled out my cell and started to dial. I glanced at Dehan. She was standing by the door. I said, “What’s the deal with Teddy? He’s dragging his heels. Why don’t you give him a call and lean on him a bit?”

She nodded and stepped out of the room, pulling her phone from her pocket. My number rang twice and an attractive voice said, “Hello?”

“Ms. Ai Hitani?”

“Speaking. Who is this please?”

“This is Detective John Stone of the New York Police Department. Can you spare me a couple of minutes to talk about Angela Fernandez?”

There was a moment’s silence, then her voice again with a frown in it. “Angela? Sure. Is she OK?”

“Ms. Itani, I believe Angela stayed with you for a few days a couple of years back, after she broke up with Michael.”

“Yes, she did, that’s right.”

“Do you know where she went after that?”

Another silence. “Um, yes, she moved in with her boyfriend. Well, her new boyfriend. We were all a little startled that she had switched so suddenly, but she seemed pretty swept off her feet.”

“Do you recall his name?”

“Yeah, sure, Jimmy something.”

“Did you hear from her after that?”

“No, we never did.”

“Did she give you an address?”

“No. He called, came and picked her up, and we never heard from her again. We weren’t real close. We were more Mike’s friends. Is she OK?”

I sighed. “No, I’m afraid she has been murdered.” There was a small gasp at the other end of the phone. I went on, “Ms Itani, Angela was murdered that Saturday. We have reason to believe that whoever picked her up was responsible for her death. Someone will be around later to take a statement from you and from Mr. Walters. In the meantime, please try to remember anything you can about what she said to you about her new boyfriend.”

She said she would and I hung up. Dehan was leaning on the doorjamb, watching me. “He was falling over himself with apologies. He was looking for it right there and then. I told him I didn’t want to have to charge him with withholding evidence. He swore he was on it. He knows he has it, he just can’t remember exactly where.”

“Good. Maybe we should go help him look.”

“On the other hand, we have Angela’s phone and bank records.”

I nodded. “OK. I’m going to start going through her phone records, see who she spoke to on Friday and Saturday. Meantime, you want to go and take a statement from Ai Hitani and Bill Walters?”

Her eyes flicked over