Read Online The Immorality Clause by Brian Parker - Free Book Online Page B

non-convicted criminal in the city owned it.
    “You don’t have any idea who committed these murders, do you?” she asked.
    I stared blankly at her until she felt the urge to continue. “With fifteen pleasure clubs along The Lane—most lined up next to each other—it’s a small community. We talk.”
    “The only thing I can say is that the murders are under investigation. Thanks for the info on Mr. Ladeaux.” I paused to ascertain her level of anxiety about the murder. She seemed fine, so I went ahead with my planned line of questioning. “Okay, Paxton. I need to ask you about the event. Are you prepared to talk about it?”
    She hugged the pillow a little tighter. “Yeah, that’s why you’re here, right?”
    “Were you present at The Digital Diva the entire time that Charles Wolfe was with Kelly?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did you leave the lobby to go to the restroom or take out trash, maybe to get dinner?”
    Paxton thought about it for a moment. “No. I’m taking classes at Xavier to complete my Masters, so I was reading the whole time.”
    “Good school.”
    “Yes, it is,” she mumbled.
    “Did anyone besides the clients who were in the locked rooms after the incident come into the club or leave during that time?”
    “Yes, of course. We have people coming in and going out all night long. I have twenty-nine girls and twenty-four rooms. There’s usually a wait in the lobby.”
    “Are the extra pleasure droids to keep them entertained?”
    “Well, for that reason—and some of our clients like to buy two or three girls at a time. We like to keep all the rooms filled.”
    I grunted again. “Sergeant Drake reviewed the hallway footage and says nobody came into Wolfe’s room or left until Kelly went to get sanitized—and no one entered again until you discovered the body. He’s having our tech experts compare the footage between the hallway cameras and Kelly’s eye camera.”
    “Okay. Do you think they’re going to find anything?”
    “No idea. He said that the two seem to be consistent, but something happened in that room between the time the two of them went inside and when you found the body. Can you go over your timeline for me again, please?”
    She reiterated what she’d told me at the club earlier. Wolfe entered the Diva around eleven—I’d need to check the timestamp on the footage to be sure—and that he was in the lobby for about ten or fifteen minutes waiting on Kelly. During that time, he purchased the Amplify and talked to Carly, the same droid that was in the lobby when I came in last night. Kelly returned from sanitation and took him through the secured door to the hallway beyond. Then it was another three hours before the flood sensors went off and Paxton left her desk to check on the damage. When she saw the body, she immediately locked down the facility and called the police.
    “I believe that’s all the questions I had for now,’ I said, looking over my notes to see if I’d forgotten anything. “Do you have any questions of me?”
    “What’s next?”
    “From here, we’ll continue to analyze the video evidence and cross-check the statements of the other patrons at the club… But, to be honest with you, there’s not a lot of evidence in the case. Something clearly happened in that room in between the time the pleasure droid left and when you discovered the body. He sure as hell didn’t do that to himself. There aren’t any windows in the room. All the walls are solid—”
    Paxton looked at me strangely.
    “I checked the walls for hidden tunnels,” I explained. “It’s standard practice down in Easytown for murders and robberies.”
    She nodded. “You just said he didn’t do it to himself. How do you know? I mean, this whole thing is odd— is there a possibility that he did it?”
    I hadn’t told her about the missing organs. “No, there is definitive proof that he didn’t do this to himself, but I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you.”
    “Uh… Okay.