Levesque
He awoke to the familiar feeling of his hands pinched behind his back. Instead of the biting plastic of the zip ties, he felt a cool metal. His head ached, and his mouth was dry. His vision was blurry. He was leaning against a wall, staring at an empty case.
As his vision came into focus, he saw a body piled in the center of the store. A dark stain spread out from where the head had once been. He recognized the suit, Davis. He remembered what had happened, and leaned to his right to vomit.
When he snapped his head back around, the room was in clear. He saw numerous police officers milling around the cases. A female officer was standing in a corner with a man in a navy blue suit talking to Julie. He was the tallest man Levesque had ever seen.
A man with a camera and latex gloves was photographing Davis’ body and the display cases. A second man with gloves was using powder to search for fingerprints.
A fat man with a bushy salt and pepper beard, dressed in a wrinkled gray suit was making his way over towards Levesque. Something about him was familiar.
The man in the gray suit spoke first, “Morning, Mr. Levesque.”
“Why am I in handcuffs?”
“Well, we walked in this morning and you had a gun in your hands and there was a dead body lying on the floor next to you. We didn’t want to take any chances.”
“Take any chances? What do you mean?”
“What he means,” said a second voice, “is we think you shot this guy, and we didn’t want you to jump up and start shooting at us.”
“Now wait –“ Levesque
“Reilly,” interrupted the gray suit, “that’s enough. Now, there’s no need to get worked up, son, we’re just looking for a little help as to what happened here.”
“But if you would prefer, we could go have this conversation at the station,” said the man in the blue suit, Reilly.
“First, who are you guys?” asked Levesque. He motioned to the man in gray, saying, “you look familiar.”
“I’m Detective Chamberlain,” said the gray suit, “and this is Detective Reilly. You might have seen my picture in the paper from time to time over the years.”
“That’s right, the guy who broke the Thompson case and was involved in the shootout.”
“Yessir, that is me. Since we’ve answered your question, do you think you could help us out and answer a few of ours?”
“Sure. The store was robbed this morning. Two guys. One short, built like a fire hydrant with mean eyes. The second guy was a monster. Tall as you,” he said, nodding towards Reilly.
“What the hell are you insinuating!”
“Nothing, I’m just telling you what happened. The big guy had my employee, Davis in his hands when I went to the front door to open it. The shorter guy came out of nowhere and had a knife to my neck. He said he’d snuck in through the window downstairs.”
“He did?” asked Chamberlain.
“You guys had a real heart to heart,” said Reilly.
“I’m just telling you what the guy said.”
“Shut the fuck up and tell us the truth.”
“Reilly, that’s enough. Calm down. Why don’t you go talk to the woman again, see if there’s anything we missed,” suggested Chamberlain.
Reilly, his face red, stormed off in the direction of Julie.
“He’s not that bad a guy, just young,” said Chamberlain.
“Listen, I’ve told you the truth. I was in the back working on a couple of invoices and heard a knock a the door around 9:00am. I ignored it for a while, but it kept up, so I assumed it was my assistant, Davis. The heap on the floor. I walked up to the door, and saw it was his shape –“
“Wait, you recognized his shape?”
“Davis wasn’t what you would call a stellar employee. He did the job well enough, but he had a history of being late and more often than not, forgetting his keys.”
“Sounds like you should have fired him.”
“Most likely, but he was the best gemologist in the state. He also was one of two employees, and we weren’t going to be able to handle the business without him. I hate hiring.”
“Alright, it’s your business. I should stick to what I know, detecting. So you approached the door…?”
“Yeah, so I recognized his shape. As I got closer, I realized his nose was gushing blood. It also looked like the side of his face had been caved in. Then I noticed the shadow of the giant. He was off to the side, holding David up with one hand. I got closer, and saw a sawed off shotgun in his hand. He motioned for me to open the door. I was just about to when I felt the knife at my throat, and the shorter guy was behind me, telling me he’d open me up if I didn’t do as he said. That’s when he told me he’d come in through the back window. He had a hard, mean voice.”
“Alright, I’m with you so far. Now, how’d we end up with the heap in the middle of the sales floor?”
“Well, once they got inside, they tied me up, legs and hands. They dumped me in the middle of the floor next to Davis. He wasn’t breathing very well. It was coming through kind of raspy. They went through all the cases. They were moving fast, throwing the stuff into toolboxes that said SLP Security Systems. When they finished, the giant cut me loose, then he got behind me and put me in some kind of chokehold. As I began to go out, I saw this arm reach out and Davis’ head was blown all over the store. That’s all I know.”
“Alright, now. You’re sure you’re not forgetting anything.”
“No sir, that’s how it happened. You don’t think I could get a water from my office? I have an awful headache.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea. It’d be nice to take a load off. I have a couple more questions. Are you going to be alright walking over there?”
Levesque raised himself up from the floor. Keeping one hand against the wall, he tested his equilibrium.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Alright, let’s head that way.”
Gathering himself, Levesque pushed off from the wall in the direction of his office. He made certain to avoid what was left of Davis. As he passed by Julie, he put a reassuring hand on her arm.
He managed a soft landing in his chair and waved Chamberlain into one of the ones opposite his desk. It creaked under the older man’s girth.
“You’ll have to excuse the mess,” he said waving his hand at the boxes stacked along the walls and the papers scattered across his desk.
“It’s your office.”
Levesque reached for the Poland Spring bottle on his desk. He took a long drink, allowing the vodka to burn on its way down and rattle loose the fog in his brain.
“Can I get you one?” he asked Chamberlain.
“I’m all set, thank you.”
“Your questions?”
“Yes sir, just a couple. First, do you own a gun.”
“I own many. I have a 9mm I wear for work, that’s the one these guys used to shoot Davis. I also wear a Walther on my ankle. I keep another pistol in my truck and a shotgun and hunting rifle at home. I’ve never fired them before. There supposed to be a deterrent for things like today.”
“So you own five guns?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you draw your gun when you saw Davis bleeding outside the door?”
“First of all, I froze up. Second there was the giant and he had a shotgun. I wasn’t going to shoot through the door, and I sure wasn’t going to try to outdraw a man with a shotgun aimed at me.”
“Did you fire your gun?”
“I just told you, I didn’t draw my gun.”
“Right, you did. My age is getting to me,” said Chamberlain, shaking his head, “we took the Walther from your ankle already. Any idea where the 9mm is?”
“I assume the two guys took it with them. I told you, they took it from me.”
“Right,” Chamberlain pulled a plastic bag from the pocket of his suit jacket, tossing it on the table he asked, “is this your gun?”
“Yeah,” replied Levesque wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and taking a swig from the Poland Spring bottle.
“Would it surprise you to know that when we got here, we found it in your hand?”
“Yeah, it would. It hasn’t been in my hand since I put it in my holster this morning.”
“That’s interesting. We’re going to take it in for prints and to run ballistics and whatnot. With all this new technology, we should be able to tell the height of the shooter from the angle at which the bullet entered Davis’ face. This technology really is something. I tell ya, I was against it at first, but it sure does help.”
“That’s a good thing. Hey, do you need the video footage from my cameras? I’ve got them all throughout the store and around the outside.”
“That would be very helpful Mr. Levesque. Let me ask you one other question?”
“Sure thing,” said Levesque, as he entered commands into his computer, “how much footage do you want?”
“We’ll take all we can get. How’s business?”
“What?”
“How’s business? Sales up, sales down?”
“I can’t see how that matters?”
“I’m just covering all our bases?”
“What the hell does that mean? Do you think I had something to do with this? I didn’t fucking kill anyone!”
“No one’s saying you did. It’s just a might odd that we show up and find a dead body, a gun in your hand and all your jewelry containing diamonds missing. I’m just trying to get a full picture, to see if there’s a motive, or some sort of lead that will help us find these killers.
“I don’t believe you pulled the trigger. I truly don’t, but I can’t just ignore the facts as they sit before me.”
“Alright,” Levesque pulled on the Poland Spring bottle, “business isn’t bad It isn’t good. It just is. Six months ago, that big national chain opened up across the river. A little closer to the center of town. You know the one?”
Chamberlain nodded.
“Well, they’ve been taking away some of our business. I’m the third generation here. My grandfather sold engagement rings to half the town, then my father sold them to their kids, and now I’m here with the grandkids, and they just aren’t coming in. They don’t have the money for a ring, or they’re not getting married, or they’re afraid of commitment.
“Those that want a ring or necklace or whatnot are going for the cheapest game in town, and that’s the store across the river.
“The few new customers we get, they want a deal. We don’t make as much as everyone thinks on this shit. Doesn’t matter, the young people who come in here want a deal because their parents and their grandparents shopped here. They want legacy pricing. When we tell them we can’t do it, they head over to the new place. What can you do?
“Their parents and grandparents still come in on occasion, but money is tight these days, and those that have any, well, the gift-giving holidays are the colder months, so the older folks tend to be down in Florida living the snowbird existence.
“So no, business isn’t booming, but it’s enough to get by.”
“Sounds frustrating.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Alright, thank you Mr. Levesque. I think we’re done here. The crime scene crew is going to need the space for the rest of the day and the weekend as well. I’m afraid you’re going to be able to be open during that time.
“I’m also going to request that you not leave town for the next few days. Before you get a bee in your bonnet, it’s just a precaution, in case we have any more questions for you. The alternative is you come spend the next 72 hours in jail, and I’d rather that not happen.”
“That sounds fair, Detective.”
“Very good then,” Chamberlain pushed himself up from the chair, his thighs straining to get past the arms. As he waddled out the door, Levesque breathed a sigh of relief.
He was about to finish the contents of the Poland Spring bottle when Chamberlain ducked his head back in.
“Sorry, one last thing. Do you have any idea why your name, this date, and a murder would be stuck in my memory?”
