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“It’s a rumor, kind of,” he said, then made a face. “I saw it happening. But the thing is, it’s a busy, noisy bar. I couldn’t hear conversations, you know?”
“I think you’ve given yourself enough coverage, now,” Laura said evenly. “You can go ahead and just tell us.”
“Well.” Shaw took another deep breath. “It was the guy who owned the bar. He wasn’t around every night, and he didn’t work any shifts – he just hired people to run it for him. But he would come in to drink. I saw him talking to women a lot of times, women who were way too far gone. After he’d leave to go to the bathroom or smoke a cigarette or whatever, I would go up to the woman and try to encourage her to go home with her friends so she’d be safe. I’m sure that’s why people thought I was being a creep. But I was trying to save them from him, that’s all.”
“That’s very noble,” Laura said. “How can we be sure you’re telling the truth and not just twisting the story to make yourself sound better?”
“Because he did it to me,” Mrs. Shaw said, finally speaking up.
Laura blinked. “Excuse me?”
“The first time we met, it was not long after Jayse had started working at the bar. This older man tried to hit on me and at first I thought it was gross, but he said he had this big mansion and a flashy car and he wanted to give me a gift. The kind of stuff that wouldn’t work if you were sober, but if you’re drunk, it sounds great.” Mrs. Shaw took a deep breath. “The next thing I know, this handsome barman comes up to me and tells me I look like I’ve had too many drinks and I should go home – and not with a strange man I don’t know. I thought he was being obnoxious, but my girlfriends took me home anyway. The next night, after I sobered up, I went back to thank him – and that’s when he said I could thank him properly by letting him take me out on a date. A sober one.”
“And that was four or five months before the first one disappeared from the bar,” Shaw pointed out. “Just in case you thought I was lying to you earlier. We really were dating the whole time during the disappearances.”
“Alright,” Laura said. She had to push aside the question of whether or not they were lying and take things at face value for the moment. It was the only way they were going to get through to an end of this conversation. She and Nate could check the facts that were on record later. “This owner – what was his name? Does he still own the place?”
“I figure he does, if it hasn’t changed the name above the door,” Shaw said. “His name was Hart. John Hart. That’s why he called the bar that.”
“Then, thank you for your time,” Laura said. “But we’d really better go. We have a lot of other avenues to check out as we review the case.”
“Can you see yourselves out?” Mrs. Shaw asked, clearly keen to stay on the phone with her husband. As if on cue, the baby wailed.
“Yes, of course,” Laura said.
She exchanged a look with Nate as they reached the door. They didn’t even need to talk about it. It was obvious what they had to do next.
John Hart had some accusations to answer, and he had better hope he had two very solid alibis.
***
Laura rubbed her hands over her face, feeling like this whole day had been some kind of cosmic joke. “I can’t believe we’re back here again,” she said.
“Yeah, well, let’s just hope that secretary was telling the truth,” Nate said. “If it turns out John Hart isn’t here, I’m liable to throw one of his chairs through one of his windows. I’m not chasing him to another location.”
“I know, I know,” Laura sighed. “Christ. Getting to his home and then his office and not having him be at either of them was bad enough. If he’s not here, I think we have to consider that she’s warning him to stay a step ahead of us so he can destroy evidence or something.”
“Come on, let’s go in,” Nate said, getting out of the car.
Laura followed him, noting his determination etched in every line of his body, starting with his fierce walk towards the bar. The Major Hart was turning out to be a real hub in this case, in more ways than one. It was the kind of wild goose chase that could make a woman think she needed a drink.
But she didn’t, of course.
Right?
The bar looked much the same inside as it had earlier. It was still early afternoon, not yet time for the place to start flooding with patrons. The manager was sitting in an armchair in the corner, not far from where they had spoken to her before, and she looked up in surprise to see them again.
“Oh!” she said, clearly speaking to the person sitting in front of her – a person with their back to the two agents. “Oh, these are the agents I was talking to you about. They must have some more questions, is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Nate said, letting his voice carry. The manager approached them as they approached her, and they ended up meeting in the middle of the bar space. “We’re looking to speak with the owner of the bar.”
“That’s lucky!” the manager exclaimed, turning around. “John’s right here.”
It’s not luck, Laura thought, if you had to spend all your energy and time chasing around after someone, to finally find them.
“John Hart,” Nate said, which actuallywaslucky, because Laura wasn’t sure how controlled her voice would have been just then. “We would love to ask you some questions about the time of the two murders that happened around here. We’re reviewing the cold case files and speaking with everyone involved again.”
“There was only one murder around here,” John grunted, getting up. “And I wasn’t involved in either of them.”
