Too Many Secrets

SIXTEEN

"So what's your theory?" Kurt asked her.

She snapped her attention away from the couple and walked to the bench near the cash register, and sat. "I think Hillary met one of the men on her list, to try and bribe them into going with her new call girl business. And, just like what happened with Austin, I think this guy rudely refused her and then stormed out of the restaurant."

"What about the poison?" Kurt lifted a leg, resting his foot against the bench, as he met her gaze.

"Well, that gets a little tricky. I suppose that she had tried to bribe this man—or even blackmail him—before, and he was tired of it. He could have met her here with the poison, ready to pour it into her coffee. Maybe he could have tried to stop her from doing something that she'd threatened to do, and when things didn't go his way, he could have poured the powder in her coffee when she wasn't looking."

"That's plausible." Kurt stroked his trimmed goatee, the familiar way he'd always done when he was deep in thought. "I do agree with you that Hillary was trying to blackmail him, or threaten him in some way."

"You do?" Strange how he agrees with her now, but he couldn't agree with her about Austin?

"Yes. Hillary had control of the meeting because if she hadn't, her male friend wouldn't have stormed out of here."

"That's a brilliant theory." She smiled.

"Excuse me," some guy snapped at Kurt as he came to pay for his meal.

Kurt moved away from the cash register and stood on the other side of Brittany.

The woman waiting for the man at the register had her head bent as she pretended to dig through her purse. Unless the lady was trying to find the kitchen sink in there, Brittany didn't believe the woman looked like she was searching for anything of importance.

The girl with the blue section of hair rang the man up and gave him back his change. The man and the woman rushed past Brittany with their heads turned—as if they didn't want her to see them.

Curious, Brittany stood and walked to the front door, watching as they scurried to their vehicles. Usually, people only hurried like that unless it was raining. She looked at the license plate, and quickly wrote down the number, and then jotted down the make and model of the car.

"What's up?" Kurt asked behind her.

"I don't know. These two just appeared...different. The way they acted was like they were trying to get out of here as fast as they could. And," she looked over her shoulder at Kurt, "they were desperately trying to keep us from studying their faces."

"How odd."

Brittany nodded. "Very odd."

From behind them, someone cleared his throat. She and Kurt turned to see the supervisor again. He wrung his beefy hands against is wide belly.

"The manager says I can show you the video."

As they followed him in the back, Kurt walked beside Brittany, but just far enough behind that his hand moved to her waist. She peeked at him over her shoulder, and he gave her a wink. Her heart tripped, and her legs nearly followed. What was he doing? Why was he acting so possessive now?

For the next half hour, they watched the video as many people came to the cash register to pay, starting at eight o'clock, and going nearly until ten. Brittany hadn't met all of the suspects, but pictures of these men were added to the board in the detective's room. So far, nobody looked suspicious.

She sat at the desk as Kurt stood behind her, leaning over her shoulder. The cologne that she'd always loved smelling on him, filled the air around her, creating comfort inside of her. Strange to think she'd always felt this way when he was near—as if nothing bad could ever happen to her because he was her protector.

She mentally shook off the silly fantasy she'd had since becoming his partner of them falling in love, and focused on the recording. So far, she didn't notice anyone. As they watched one man pay for his meal, behind him another man rushed by, bumping into him on his way.

"Stop it right there," Kurt snapped, pointing to the screen. The supervisor followed his instructions. "Rewind it, and play it really slow now."

As they watched it again, Brittany paid closer attention to the man in the background. She could only see the side of his face, but it was still quite blurred. The man wore a black leather jacket. By his movements, it was obvious, he was very upset.

"Play it back again," Kurt ordered.

Again, the supervisor did as asked. Kurt leaned in closer, his chest pressing against Brittany's shoulder as his hand grasped the back of her chair.

"Pause it right there." Kurt pointed to the screen and then turned to Brittany. "Does this man look like he has a mustache?"

She leaned into the monitor closer. The man was just too blurred for her to tell, but it did appear as if hair covered that area between his nose and upper lip.

"In fact," Kurt said softer, "it almost looks like he has a beard...or a goatee."

As she tried to study the recording, it hit her what Kurt was trying to do. She fisted her hands on her lap and under her breath, counted to ten. When he turned his head to look at her, she glared. "What are you implying?" she muttered between clenched teeth.

"I'm implying that our killer just might have a goatee."

Slowly, she shook her head. "What little we can see of his face is blurred. We can't be sure if it's a goatee, or if he just has a mustache and a dirty chin."

Kurt arched an eyebrow. "Seriously? A dirty chin?"

She threw him a glare. "We cannot make an accurate observation, and you know it."

"You're still trying to protect him," he whispered in an accusing tone.

"And you're trying to blame an innocent man." She motioned her head to the monitor. "He probably doesn't even own a black leather jacket. That's not his style."

Kurt's cheeks reddened, and his nostrils flared. "You know his style now?"

"I've had enough." She pushed away from Kurt and stood. Looking at the supervisor, she said, "We'll need this recording to take back with us."

Nodding, the supervisor hurried and pulled out the recording, and then wrote a name and phone number on it. With shaky hands, he gave it to her.

"Thanks for your cooperation." With the recording in hand, she hurried out of the restaurant, not caring if Kurt followed or not.