The 6:20 Man

Chapter 61

The 6:20. Right on time. Devine was really starting to hate this commute.

Actually, there’s no starting about it.

He looked, but there was no Michelle Montgomery at the pool. He didn’t imagine she would be told to wear the green bikini for a while, if ever.

Later, he walked into the lobby at Cowl and Comely, waved at Sam the guard, and took the elevator up to his floor.

Turning a corner, he nearly tripped over the custodian, Jerry Myers, who was kneeling in front of a door fixing the lock.

“Sorry,” said Devine.

The man looked up, and recognition sprang into his features.

“You were the one asking questions that day.”

“I was.”

Myers stood and put his tools back in the box on the floor. “And now there’s another one, they say. Only she wasn’t killed here, thank God. Couldn’t take finding another body.”

“I’m sure.”

“The police got any leads?” Myers asked.

“Not that I know of, but they’re not keeping me in their confidences.”

Myers hefted his toolbox. “You guys slaving away in this place. I mean, you ask me, it’s not worth it. No sir.”

“Maybe it’s not.”

“So why do it?”

“When I figure it out I’ll let you know. Got a question. I understand that contractors and other service people come in through the rear entrance.”

“That’s right. There’s a phone they have to use. Goes to the security desk. Then they go let the person in, if they’re authorized.”

“Or if they have a security card, they can get in that way.”

“Sure, but contractors don’t have security cards. That’d be a problem. Can’t just let folks waltz in the back door like that.”

“Right. Thanks.”

Later, around two in the afternoon, Devine was working away in his cubicle when the door opened.

“Mr. Devine?”

He looked up and saw the same woman who had previously come to retrieve him motioning to him. He rose, looked around at the Burners watching him suspiciously, and made his way out.

Detectives Ekman and Shoemaker were waiting for him.

“Now what?” he said.

“This way,” barked Shoemaker.

They led him to the same room as before.

Sitting across from him, Shoemaker said, “We talked to the guard on duty at night. He said that you and Stamos came into the building late on the day Ewes’s body was found, and then left at the same time.”

“That’s not true.”

“You saying the guard’s lying?” Ekman said sharply.

“No, he just misinterpreted what he saw. I didn’t know Stamos was in the building that night. I came back for my phone and did some work. Then I left. Alone. Did the guard say Stamos and I were together?”

The detectives exchanged glances. “Did you meet up with her in the building?” asked Shoemaker.

“No, and I’ll take a polygraph on that if you want.”

“Did you meet up with her later?”

Now they were getting into dangerous territory. But since he had asked the question, Devine suspected the man already knew the answer.

“It wasn’t a meeting. I went to a bar in Greenwich Village. She was there. We talked.”

“And you never mentioned this before because...?”

“I saw her in a bar, so did a lot of other people.”

“You seem to use that excuse a lot,” said Ekman.

“Because it’s true.”

“We understand that you two argued in that bar. And then you kicked the shit out of three guys in the alley next to the bar. And that she saw the whole thing.”

“I did have a fight with three guys, yes.”

“Over Stamos?”

“It could be construed that way.”

“And again you never mentioned that to us because...”

“What relevance would it have?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding, right?” said Ekman.

“That all happened before she was killed, in case you forgot. And by the way, I found out that Sara’s pregnancy was from artificial insemination. Thanks for telling me that. You knew I wasn’t the father all along.”

“Just to get this straight, we don’t have to tell you jack shit,” barked Ekman.

“And how did you find out about that?” asked Shoemaker, leaning forward and drilling Devine with a hard stare.

“I got the name of the doctor from Mrs. Ewes. I called him. He told me.”

“And why would he do that?”

“Because he thought you guys were trying to pin the murder on me.”

Shoemaker sat back and said, “And we understand Stamos came to visit you at your place in Mount Kisco. You two had another argument.”

Shit, how could they have found that out? Helen Speers?

“She did come out to my place, but we didn’t have an argument. We just talked.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Sara.”

“What about Ewes?”

“Just chitchat.”

“Devine, you are one inch from being arrested for obstruction,” exclaimed Shoemaker. “So you better consider your next answer really carefully. What did you discuss about Ewes?”

“Stamos said that she also knew I wasn’t the father of Ewes’s baby. She didn’t come out and say it, but reading between the lines she knew that Ewes had gone the artificial insemination route.”

Ekman shot his partner a look. “Wait a minute, from all we learned those ladies were rivals at the firm. Why would they be talking about babies and such?”

Devine decided to just tell the truth. He could tell he was close to being put in jail, and he couldn’t very well do much from there.

“Stamos told me that she and Ewes... that they were in love.”

Devine expected both detectives to blow up at him.

Instead, Shoemaker cracked a smile. “Finally, we get some truth out of you.”

“What do you mean by that?” said Devine curiously. “Did you find something to back up what I just told you?”

“Stamos’s place has been searched. Electronics all gone. Phone and computer are probably at the bottom of the Hudson by now.”

“Did you find something online then? Instagram, Facebook?”

“No, we checked all that. There was nothing.”

“Not surprising,” said Devine. “There’re rules against employees seeing each other.”

He thought for a moment about Stamos and Cowl, but he really wasn’t an employee.

Shoemaker said, “But we talked to one of Stamos’s sisters. Apparently she’d confided in her.”

“So you know I’m telling the truth, then?”

“Just about that, Devine. But there’s a lot about you that neither one of us likes.”

“Well, when that becomes a crime, be sure to let me know.”