nodded and turned to Donny. “This guy’s good,” he said.
Dan got the message: saying things for Charles meant he did not have to make any potentially incriminating statements himself.
“Which is why Lionel is reluctant to talk to anyone,” Dan went on, half guessing. “But surely the police have already questioned him about the murder?”
Charles’s expression turned grave. “They did. Lionel is afraid because of what he knows. When Yuri didn’t show up at their last meeting —”
“Sorry, when was this?” Dan interrupted.
“Two months ago. Right after we got back from Mexico. Lionel and Yuri were scheduled to meet the day after we returned. It was a Saturday. February twelfth, to be exact. Yuri called on Tuesday and left a message while we were away on a jungle tour. Lionel didn’t get it till Thursday. When he called back, the mailbox was full, so he left a message on Yuri’s home phone.”
“And Yuri was a no-show on Saturday. What happened?”
“Lionel called Yuri’s cell a couple of times in the morning, but there was no answer. He showed up at the bar for their meeting, but no one had seen Yuri. So Lionel tried his home. Still nothing. Nor had there been any further communication from Yuri saying he wanted to postpone the meeting. It was a monthly affair, so Yuri always knew in advance when he needed to change the date. Anyway, when Yuri didn’t show up, Lionel started to worry that something had happened to him.”
“Why?”
Charles shrugged. “He knew Yuri’s lifestyle: sketchy friends, drug users, and rent boys. You name it — if it was dirty, Yuri was into it.”
Dan nodded. “What did Lionel do next?”
“He called a few friends and business associates, including one of the bar managers who was off duty that day. Turns out no one had heard from Yuri for several days, in fact. They went over to the house and found the front door was double-locked and that he’d changed the entry code. That was odd, too, since Yuri always told Lionel when he changed the code. But this time he hadn’t.”
“Who found him?” Dan interjected.
“The bar manager called the police, who called the security company and got them to let them in. They found Yuri murdered in his bed. They’ve questioned a lot of people, but they haven’t named any suspects yet.”
Dan took this in. “So who do you think did it?”
Charles looked uncomfortable and turned to Donny again.
“Tell him,” Donny urged.
Charles clasped his hands. Dan resisted the urge to tell him to stop using over-obvious court tactics and get on with the story.
Charles nodded, as though trying to convince himself. “Lionel thinks the police did it and will try to cover things up.”
“Why?”
Donny leaned forward like a spectator at a hanging waiting for the trap door to open.
“Blackmail,” Charles said.
Dan blinked. “Blackmail?”
“Payoff money. Call it what you want.”
“Payoff for what? To whom?”
Charles looked to Donny. For the first time there was a glimmer of doubt in his eyes. He turned back to Dan. “Surely you’ve heard of bar payoffs? The owners pay the police for overlooking certain violations. Overcrowding and whatnot. A regular payoff ensures your bar is not visited on certain nights of the week, that sort of thing.”
Dan looked sceptically at him over the table. “And Lionel thinks that’s why Yuri was killed? For bar payoffs?”
Charles looked deflated. “Yes.”
“Did Yuri pay them?”
“Lionel said he paid them for a while, but then he stopped paying them. That’s what the problem was.”
Dan studied the two faces watching him as though he could see clearly beneath the surface of what seemed to him a very slight mystery.
“Then why not bust him or fine the bar? Why kill him? They’re police, not hired assassins.”
Charles seemed at a loss for words.
“Maybe to send a message?” Donny suggested.
Dan gave him a jaundiced look. “That’s all very colourful. You back on Netflix again?”
Charles studied him. “You don’t think it likely?”
Dan shrugged. “All I’m saying is it sounds too much like shoddy TV. Who would they kill next? Every bar owner who put a stop payment on their blackmail cheques?” Dan let Charles squirm a bit before he continued. “Who else might have wanted Yuri dead? Did he have a quarrel with anyone? As you said, he was into questionable things. Maybe he pissed off the wrong person.”
Charles leaned back. “You’re right. There was an ex-boyfriend. He gets a checkmark in both boxes: drugs and immigration. He also knew about the payments to the police.”
“An ex-boyfriend? What’s his name?”
“Santiago Suárez. They had a big messy break-up not long before Yuri was killed. If I were a cop, he’d be my first choice in a suspects line-up.”
“Then you should have a chat with him,” Dan suggested. “Or better yet, let the police do it.”
Charles shrugged. “We would, but we don’t think he’d talk to us.”
Donny was staring at him. Dan felt that sense of futility again that said he wasn’t going to be able to avoid whatever Donny was about to ask.
He turned to face him. “What?”
“You could ask him,” Donny said at last.
“That would be interfering in police business. Why would he have any reason to talk to me?”
“Because he’s an illegal. He won’t go to the police, because they’ll throw him out of the country. You could threaten him with exposure if he won’t talk to you.”
Dan shook his head. “You want me to threaten him? What TV series is this coming from? Since when do you encourage me to be a hard-ass and go around interfering in things that are not my province and threatening illegal aliens?”
Donny shrugged. “It was just a thought.”
“I’ll say,” Dan said.
“There’s another problem,” Charles said. “We can’t find him.”
“You don’t know where he is?”
Charles shook his head. “Nobody’s seen him since we got back from Mexico. What if I paid you to look for him and then let me decide if I want
