Strong Alibi by K.C. Turner (story reading txt) 📗

girl! Grab me that Phillips-head, will ya? It fell over there in the corner somewhere.”

Looking in the corner of the porch under a table holding a potted plant, she found the screwdriver and handed it to him. “Honestly, Bill, what the hell are you doing?” Squeezing past him, she tossed her bag on the dining room table.

Grunting while he tightened the screws he said, “What I should have done before you ever moved back into this house.” He moved away from the small white box secured to the wall. “Making sure you don’t have any intruders. I’m a little too old to make it here as quickly as I need to if you have any trouble. This system here is gonna help both of us out.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a cloth from his back pocket. “You got any cold beer in the fridge?”

Walking towards the kitchen she said, “You know, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but I don’t think it’s necessary.” She pulled a couple beers out of the fridge and popped the tops off, handing one of the bottles to him.

Bill looked at it sideways. “What the hell is this? Corona?” He uttered a profanity under his breath before hesitantly taking a swig. “And I don’t wanna hear no bullshit. I got a call from Martinez. Said we got a little problem on our hands with Robinson being released this week. I’m not taking any chances with that bastard.” He handed her a piece of paper. “This is the code you enter to turn the alarm on and shut it off. It’s your parent’s anniversary. Figured it was the easiest number for you to remember. Better than your birthday, which I’m sure that asshole has branded into his sick head.”

The sound of popping gravel stopped Elizabeth from arguing with him. She sighed deeply grabbing the piece of paper from him. Hearing footsteps come onto the porch they both walked out to meet Martinez.

Sticking out his right hand, Martinez said, “Good to see you again, Red.”

He wiped his hand off on his beat up jeans before gripping Martinez’s hand tightly. “How you doing, Son? Just finishing up with getting that security system in.”

“Nice! Did it give you any trouble?”

Bill shook his head. “No trouble at all. Piece of cake.”

Elizabeth studied Martinez intently and a shadow of flirtatious annoyance crossed her face. “So, I hear you had something to do with this?”

Bill guzzled down his beer and set the empty bottle on the wicker table. “Well, on that note, I think it’s time for me to head home. Martinez, I’m sure you can show Liz how to use it?”

Nodding his head he said, “Of course.” He looked at her and gave her a crooked smile.

“All right then,” said Bill. Let’s do dinner again real soon.” He kissed Elizabeth on the cheek and whispered, “Go easy on ‘im, kid. And get some real beer will ya?”

Bill walked out and shut the screen door behind him. Elizabeth curled her first finger and motioned for Martinez to follow her into the dining room. Hanging his head, he complied. He shut the door behind him and set his folder on the table. “Look, Liz...”

She put up her hand. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Thinking he was being let off easy, he sat down and pulled out the phone records. Elizabeth went to the living room and pulled out a couple albums, placing them strategically on the turntable in the order she wanted to hear them. Phil Collins began ringing through the room. She walked back into the dining room and sat at the head of the table. “So, what do we got?”

Sighing he said, “Alright, well, I got the phone records for Brandon and Pam for the previous few weeks prior to her death. I’m guessing they have something to tell us.”

Grabbing her shoulder bag from the middle of the table, she pulled out a legal pad and a pen. Pushing her hair behind her left ear she said, “Okay, so, lets start from the beginning.”

He sat back in the chair for a moment. “Just so you know, I’m sorry Peggy was brought into this.

She stopped herself from looking at the first page of records. “Actually, now that you bring it up, I wonder if I should even be helping you with this.”

“Holden didn’t really have a problem with us being there today. But he did say he was under an obligation to tell Peggy due to whoever made that call.”

“Yeah, well, I’m already on her shit list. She seems to think I’m over stepping my boundaries.” She pursed her lips and jerked her head a bit, her eyes rolling in the same direction.

“I’m sorry, Liz.”

“It’s not your fault. Honestly,” she began lip-syncing to the song playing in the background, ‘I Don’t Care Anymore.’

His lips curled into a devious smile. “For the record, I told Holden it was no different than if I took someone on a ride-along. He was cool about it. Said he was going to explain it to Marilyn the same way. I doubt she would have as big a problem with it as Peggy. I just told him what was up. I value your opinion, Liz, and sometimes you see things that the average person wouldn’t see.”

She scratched her head and smiled at his flattery. “Okay, so, as China would say, screw Peggy. Let’s get on with it shall we?”

After thumbing through the pages for over an hour, studying the phone numbers and text messages, they managed to nail down five numbers that were regularly used. Two of the numbers consisted of Brandon and Pamela DeFranco. A third number was linked back to Jim West. Until further confirmation, one number that continuously called and texted Pam was assumed to belong to Damian Burk. The remaining number, linked to Brandon’s phone, was set to the side for future reference.

Elizabeth rubbed her forehead to relieve the headache that was starting to form from the