White smiled. “You seem very eager to help me. I’m not complaining. But it is unusual.”
Nash punched in the number. “I didn’t like Alan Draymont. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy he’s dead, but if I can help you clear this matter up, I will.”
*
Five minutes later a man in his early thirties entered the office. He wore the uniform of a Capitol Hill police officer.
“Agent White, this is Officer Stan Daniels.”
They shook hands, and White showed him the picture of Lancer and asked about her and Draymont.
“Oh sure, Alice. Yeah, she and Alan were a thing. I mean, I think they were.”
“Why the ambivalence?” asked White.
“He told me they were sleeping together, but Alan was sleeping with every skirt that came by. So I hesitate to call them a couple. She’d sometimes be there when I’d go by Alan’s place.”
“How did they meet?” asked White.
“I’m not really sure. I know she was on the Hill a lot, and of course so was Alan. She was really pretty and dressed kind of sexy, and Alan, well, like I said.”
“Yeah, anything in a skirt. You ever hear them talking about stuff that seemed weird?”
Daniels looked confused. “How do you mean?”
“Stuff that sounded more like a business rather than only a sexual relationship?”
“Funny you should say that. They certainly were into gossip. They knew everything that was happening in DC, I can tell you that. I mean, folks in politics and so on.”
“Anything else?”
“I went over to his place one time. The door was open so I just let myself in. Nobody was around. Alan’s laptop was open on the table. I just took a peek. It was like a spreadsheet with names and, I don’t know, information on each of them.”
“What kind of information?”
“I couldn’t really say. It was about that time I heard someone coming. I went back over to the door and pretended to open it as though I were just coming in. It was Alice walking in from the other room. She saw me and then went over and closed the laptop.”
“What did you take all that to mean?”
“That they were up to something, I just didn’t know what.”
Nash looked at White. “I guess that’s your job to find out. And I don’t envy you one bit.”
Chapter 52
G?LORIA CHASE LIVED IN AN upscale part of Ocean View and only a short drive from her boyfriend, Dennis Langley. It was also about a twenty-minute drive to Cummins’s house. She was a knockout in her midthirties, with long blond hair and perceptive blue eyes. She had on a short white skirt that, by contrast, emphasized her long, tanned legs. Her home was expensive and the woman seemed the same to Decker.
His creds got him in the front door, and they sat across from each other in a small, light-filled space off the kitchen.
“Are you a lawyer as well?” he asked.
“No, I have my own business. An internet services platform to help startups in Florida. Business is booming. I’m printing money.”
“Congrats! The Aston Martin outside looks new.”
“It is. I understand you want to talk about Dennis.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m sure he told you that he spent the night with me when Julia Cummins was killed.”
“He did.”
“Dennis wouldn’t hurt a fly,” she said.
“No flies were hurt. It was his ex-girlfriend who was murdered.”
She shifted, crossed her legs, and did the same with her arms. A classic defensive posture during questioning. Decker had expected to see it at some point, just not this soon.
“When did he get to your house that night?”
“Oh, around eight.”
“And when did he leave?”
“The next morning. He was due in court.”
“He never left you that night?” asked Decker.
“To use the bathroom.”
“But he never left the house?”
She looked a little less certain and a little more defiant. “He ran to the liquor store to get some more gin.”
“How long was he gone?”
“Fifteen-twenty minutes, tops.”
“What time was this?”
“Around midnight.”
“Twenty minutes, you’re sure?” he asked.
“Yes! It’s the all-night place down on the right before you turn into my neighborhood. Ricardos.”
“He ever get physical with you? Abusive?”
“Never. If he did, it would be over in two seconds. I don’t tolerate that.”