Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Good. I want to see who comes and goes for the next couple of days,” Boomer said.
“Eve took a look at the ex-employee’s socials.” Alex McKay was sitting in on this meeting. He’d shown up at roughly the same time Boomer had, driving a big SUV that managed to hold his whole, large family. Alex and Eve’s son Cooper was taller than his mom now, and Hunter and Vivi had seen Boomer and run over for hugs and high-fives and to tell him all sorts of new things they’d learned.
He’d hated the fact that he’d been alone. He’d wanted Daphne and Lou in the car with him. He’d woken up alone and realized it had been weeks since he’d had to eat breakfast by himself, and then he’d moped around the condo until it was time to come to the impromptu pool party Charlotte had thrown together. Likely to make Lou and Daphne feel comfortable and to give Boomer a reason to spend the afternoon with them.
Even the dogs seemed to feel the loss of the new women in their lives. Sprinkles had barely barked at the delivery guy, and Puddles hadn’t bothered to pee.
It had only been when the door had been thrown open and Lou had run out while Daphne waved at him from the big porch that the sun seemed to come out again.
“Daphne is convinced it was him.” Boomer was not. He thought the situation was more complex than a guy who was angry about losing a job. He didn’t doubt that the asshole had scared Daphne, and he wasn’t going to not look into him, but he was keeping an open mind when it came to a suspect list. “From what I could find out, he’s already working somewhere else. It didn’t take him long to get a new job.”
He’d done a little digging. He had found a lot of information on Brandon Johnston. He knew where the guy worked, his cell number, where he’d gone to high school, and what community college classes he was taking this semester.
Boomer had also talked to the neighbor across the hall, an elderly man Boomer often spent time with. Hank Rollins had a big German shepherd he sometimes couldn’t walk, so Boomer took Princess along with him a couple of days a week. She was sweet on Puddles, who was terrified of her. Mostly. He seemed to be coming around.
“Yes, Johnston’s working at a restaurant,” Alex explained. “It’s fairly close to Top, and you know servers and hostesses have their own networks. I was able to confirm that he was at his place of employment from eleven a.m. to seven p.m., when he clocked out. He was shadowing another server for training, and he didn’t leave the premises.”
“Then he couldn’t have personally done it.” Boomer had done his own investigation. “Hutch and I found two different contractor teams working the building that day. Both legit. Both in and out between the hours of noon and six. My neighbor, Hank, says he heard my dogs barking around two p.m. I have to think that whoever trashed Daphne’s place was on one of those crews. Both had paint, though neither claims to have been using red. But a can of paint would be easy to sneak in.”
“Were they working on the same floor?” Ian asked.
“No. Two floors up and three floors down, but the elevator isn’t controlled by a key card. Once you’re in, you can move around pretty freely.” Boomer held up a hand. “I know. I know. I argued at the last condo board meeting, but they don’t want to deal with the amount of kids who would have to keep up with key cards or codes. And they don’t want to spend the money to put in the cameras we would need to cover the halls.”
“It’s time to move.” Ian shifted in his chair, a frown coming over his face.
“Yeah, it might be time to think about buying an actual house.” Boomer wasn’t going to put money down on one today, but maybe in a couple of months. “You okay? You look like you’re in pain.”
Big Tag took a hefty gulp of the Scotch he’d been drinking when Boomer came in. Alex had been handing him one when Boomer came up after spending some time with Lou showing him all the sights. He’d been here many times so he hadn’t needed a tour, but it was fun to see it through Lou’s eyes. Boomer had been offered a glass, but Scotch was not his jam. He was a beer and sometimes wine guy.
“I’m fine,” Big Tag said with a growl. That was when Boomer noticed Tag’s manspread was a little wider than usual.
“Did one of the kids try to take out your balls again?” It had been known to happen. Big Tag loudly announced it to anyone who would listen when his kids tried to make sure he couldn’t have other kids. It hadn’t worked when they were younger, and now the boss had done the deed himself. Well, not himself. He was pretty sure there was a doc involved.