“Ron got him the interview. Said they were cousins. He didn’t talk about no other family, except Emma, of course.”

“Was he friends with any of the other employees?”

“Not really.” He shifted in his chair, clearly uncomfortable. “Look, I know you ain’t supposed to speak ill of the dead and all, but the truth is I didn’t like David much. He was weird—nice one minute, then he’d completely lose his shit the next. It’s hard to be around people when you don’t know what’s going to set them off.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like this one time when we was offshore, some of us were playing poker. Willie was talking smack about his own mom, saying as how she was a crazy bitch who’d ran his dad off and probably caused his heart attack. David gets all antsy and tells Willie to shut up—that he didn’t know anything and maybe his dad was just another piece of shit that abandoned his family because it was convenient.”

“Willie’s talk made David mad.”

“More like furious. I know it probably sounded bad, but in Willie’s defense, I’ve known his family my whole life and his mother is definitely a crazy bitch. I’m surprised his dad stuck around as long as he did.”

“What did David do?” she asked.

“Willie told him to shut up since he didn’t know nothing about nothing. David’s face turns dark red and before we knew it, he flips the table over and launches across it, grabbing Willie by the throat. It took four of us to pry him off of Willie. If we hadn’t been there…”

“You think David would have killed Willie?”

“I know it. If you coulda seen the look on his face. I ain’t never seen anyone look that way. Don’t ever want to again.”

“Did you report what happened to management?” she asked, even though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

“No. Willie didn’t want to be on the hook for someone losing his job. A couple of us tried to talk Willie into reporting it, but he said David was a soldier and we should all cut him some slack this once. Willie served too. His whole family did. Willie said sometimes you see things that screw with you, and hopefully, David would work it out.”

“Did Willie ever talk to David about the attack?”

“No. We left the rig the next day and David was killed a couple days after.”

“But that’s not the only time David lost his temper?”

Charlie shook his head. “It was the only time he got physical, but he yelled at people a lot. Sometimes he’d sit out on the deck and just stare across the Gulf. I could see his lips moving, but wasn’t nobody out there with him.” He gave her a sheepish look. “Don’t tell anyone I said it, but it kinda creeped me out.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Since her first conversation with Emma, Shaye had found the case chock-full of creepy. “So there’s nothing else you can tell me about David’s past, no other friends or family that he mentioned?”

“Nah. I mostly kept quiet around him. I always had this feeling he was going to blow someday, you know? That thing with Willie confirmed it.”

“I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.” She pulled out her card and handed it to Charlie. “If you think of anything that might help, please give me a call.”

He nodded and rose from the chair. He stuffed the card in his jeans pocket and headed out of the room, pausing at the door. “I hope you catch the guy,” he said. “I only met Emma once, but she seemed like a nice lady.”

“Thanks.” Shaye looked down at her notes. Time to ask Greta where to find the cousin Ron.

Chapter Eleven

Corrine knocked on the front door of the apartment, then listened for any movement inside. The call had come late in the afternoon, but the woman had sounded frantic, and the distant sound of a child screaming had Corrine as concerned as the caller. The woman refused to give her name but said she was visiting a friend at this address and the baby had been screaming like that for over an hour.

It was common for callers to request anonymity. Getting labeled a snitch could lead to harsh consequences in some of the areas Corrine worked. She knocked again, but still nothing. Maybe the mother had returned and left with the infant. Or maybe she’d suffocated him and was hiding inside. Corrine sighed. She’d seen both.

She twisted the doorknob and was surprised when it turned easily in her hand. The door popped open a bit. “Is anyone home? My name is Corrine. I need to talk to whoever lives here.”

She waited several seconds, but no one answered. Cracking the door another couple of inches, she peered inside and frowned. Something was wrong. She pushed the door open and stepped into the apartment. Most of the places she entered were sparse with belongings. The people she dealt with didn’t have much, but this apartment was completely empty except for a couple of faded food wrappers on the floor near the window.

She stepped over to the kitchen and ran a finger across the counter. The layer of dust it contained would take weeks, if not months, to accumulate. She pulled out her phone and checked the address again. This was the right place, and the number on the door matched the unit number she’d taken from the caller. But she was certain that no one had lived here in some time.

There were five other units on the third floor, so she exited the apartment and knocked on the door across the hall. Silence. A strange feeling came over her and she twisted the doorknob. The door popped open and she found herself looking into another abandoned apartment. A chill ran through her. She released the doorknob and whirled around.

At the end of the hall, the apartment door across from the stairs creaked open. Her chest constricted and she struggled to take in air. The building didn’t have a fire escape, and the third floor was too high to risk a jump. The only way out was that staircase. She pulled Mace from her purse and hurried down the hall for the stairs, her gaze fixed on the apartment across the hall. When she reached the stairs, she was almost at a run.

She was so focused on the apartment across the hall that she never heard the man come out of the apartment next to the stairs. When she took her first step down the stairs, hands slammed against her shoulders and sent her hurtling forward. She crashed midway down the stairs, her right shoulder and head smashing into the old wooden steps. She tried to grab hold of something, but couldn’t get a good grasp on anything.

She flipped over again and again and finally crumpled to a stop on the second-floor landing. Pain shot through her right arm and shoulder, and her ankle throbbed. A shadow passed over her and she looked up, her vision blurred. She blinked, trying to clear her eyes, and moved her left arm across the floor, desperately searching for the Mace she’d dropped on the way down.

When the shadow bent over her, she screamed. A boot connected with her temple and it felt as if her head exploded. Then everything went black.

###

Ron Duhon was on a seven-day on, seven-day off schedule, and as Shaye’s luck would have it, he happened to be on the off portion. He agreed to meet with her at a coffee shop, claiming his girlfriend was sick and he didn’t want to disturb her by having Shaye come to his apartment. Shaye took down the address, thanked Greta for all her help, and headed out of the oil company, her notes tucked under her arm.

She’d talked to five other employees who had worked semi-regularly with David, but none of them had been able to add anything to what she’d already learned from Charlie. None of them expressed as much dislike for David as Charlie had, but they all agreed that David had a temper and it was best to stay out of his way when he was in a foul mood. A couple said they were surprised to learn that he’d taken his anger out on Emma, as David appeared to really care about her, but then rage was an unpredictable thing. All five expressed some level of shock over the way things went down, but all of them seemed to think Emma had done the right thing and were sorry she’d been put in that position.