21
Ava was giving Logan that look that he knew so well. The one that said I can’t believe I’m here and doing this. You’re going to owe me a back rub for this.
And he’d give her one, too. She was saving his ass.
“You take me to the nicest places,” she said in a mocking tone as they entered the nondescript building. From the outside it looked like any other gray building on a quiet, out-of-the-way street in downtown Tremont, but in actuality it was a swinger’s club. As in wife swapping. “What’s next? An illegal cock fight?”
“I know that I’m going to be doing dishes for a month because of this so let’s not pretend about that. And thank you for doing it. Only couples are allowed in here. They wouldn’t talk to me over the phone, but they don’t let single people in. I had no choice but to recruit you.”
The club looked more like a bar than anything, with people hanging out in the center which was strewn with comfy chairs and pillows. Logan hadn’t known what to expect but this looked pretty tame. More like a social club than anything. He might have seen the same crowd down at the Elk’s Lodge.
“I trust you, Logan Wright, but there is no way in hell that I’m letting you go to a swinger’s club without me. But I’ll take you doing dishes for awhile. You know I hate that.”
Ava hated dishes, but she didn’t mind laundry.
“I’m still grateful. They wouldn’t meet with me at their house. They’d only talk to me here.”
He didn’t have a clue as to why they wanted to meet him here. He had an inkling that it might be to knock him off his game a bit. Some people wouldn’t be comfortable in a swinger’s club, but they were going to be disappointed. He didn’t care what other people did with other consenting adults. And he’d long ago stopped trying to understand half of the shit that people did. It was like teaching calculus to a goldfish.
An exercise in futility.
They stepped farther into the room and a couple stood from one of the round tables and waved at them, beckoning them over. Logan was supposed to talk to Leo and Sandy Carter. He’d already checked into their background and had seen a photo, so he knew it was them.
Leo was sixty-four and Sandy sixty-two. Leo’s hair was almost completely white and Sandy’s was shot with gray. They were both tanned and smiling, resembling friendly grandparents at the zoo with their grandchildren.
“You must be Logan Wright,” Leo said. “And is this your lovely wife?”
His arm went around Ava, pulling her close to his side. He was inordinately proud of her because she was simply amazing. He’d won the marital lottery and then some.
“This is my wife Ava. She agreed to accompany me today.”
The older man’s eyes twinkled.
“Sorry, but rules are rules. No single people are allowed inside the club. They’re very strict about it, and to be honest, it’s a rule that has served us well.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Ava said, settling into a chair at the table. “I like meeting new people.”
Logan sat beside her, giving himself a chance to study the couple across from them. They didn’t look like people who went to wild parties, hit trees with their car, and generally made a nuisance of themselves, but one just never knows.
Does one?
“We know why you’re here,” Sandy said. “Marty’s death has hit everyone in the club hard. He was a long-standing member and extremely well-liked. He was a good man.”
“You’re going to ask us who might have wanted Marty dead,” Leo said without letting Logan get a word in. “I can tell you that Marty’s son was a real piece of work. Marty was beside himself wondering what to do with Drew. They were constantly at each other’s throats, and Drew always seemed to want something from Marty. Money, cars, trips. It never ended. I told Marty he needed to cut Drew off, but he had too soft of a heart. He just couldn’t do it.”
Logan had just talked to Tanner, and it looked like more than one person was willing to point the finger at the son. Drew had claimed that he and his father were close and there weren’t any issues, but no one else was backing up that claim.
“You saw them arguing?”
“We heard them,” Sandy replied. “Marty would be on the phone with Drew and be almost purple because they were yelling and screaming so much. It was awful. Just awful.”
“Did you ever hear Drew threaten his father?”
“Not in so many words,” Leo said. “But about a month ago Marty was on the phone with Drew, and of course we could hear every word they both said because they were so loud. Anyway, Marty said that he wasn’t going to give him the money. It was something about starting a business, I think, although we came in toward the end of the conversation. Marty said no, and Drew said that Marty would regret it if he didn’t give him the money.”
“That sounds like a threat to me,” Ava said. “Did you hear anything else?”
“No,” Sandy said with a shake of her head. “Once Marty saw that he was attracting a lot of attention he quickly ended the call.”