by A.W. Hartoin
Chapter Nineteen
I DROVE STRAIGHT to Roberts’s work address. He was still with UPS, but no longer delivering. I walked in and stood in line behind three people with large packages. The girl behind the counter was slow and methodical. I began to feel my hair turning gray when I saw a man step out of the back. He joined the girl at the counter and his name tag identified him as Emil. I watched him without guile as he assisted the customers ahead of me in rapid succession. He was the kind of guy who was hard to describe, not because he was unusual looking, but because he was so unremarkable. I’d have a hard time recalling what he looked like the minute I left his presence.
Roberts was small, maybe an inch or two taller than me. He had hair that was neither blond nor brown, but some in-between color that defied easy categories. My mother would’ve called it dishwater or dirty blond. Neither seemed quite right to me. His hair hung in lank waves and he hadn’t bothered to wash it in a day or so, but he didn’t seem dirty or unkempt.
His eyes lit on me when it was my turn at the counter. They were pale blue and set far apart on his thin face. His eyes should’ve been his best feature, but they made me think of tortoises and inbreeding.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“I hope so. You’re Emil Roberts?”
“Yes. How can I help you?”
“I’m Mercy Watts and I was wondering if I could interview you about the Rebecca Sample case.” I hoped her name would provoke some kind of reaction in him. It didn’t.
“Are you a policewoman?” He looked doubtful.
“No, private investigator, and I’m actually working on a case that’s related to the Sample case. Do you have a moment?”
He looked at the girl who was still helping her first customer and said, “Sure, but it’ll have to be quick.”
“No problem,” I said.
I followed him into a back office where he motioned for me to sit down. He sat on the edge of the desk that had a reading lamp and an in/out basket on it. The out basket was full and the in was empty. His name was carved into a triangular block of wood and it named him as the store manager.
“What can I do for you?” Roberts looked over my head when he asked the question and it unsettled me.
“I understand you knew Miss Sample,” I said.
“I did, but not well.”
“Did you ask her out?”
“Yes, but she said no.”
“I hear you were pretty persistent.”
“It depends on what you consider persistent,” he said, looking past my right shoulder.
“I consider persistent to be asking repeatedly beyond reason.” I tried to catch his eye as he switched to looking past my left shoulder.
“Then no. I wasn’t persistent. I asked her out two or three times, she said no and that was it.”
“Why did you stop delivering to her office?”
“I got a promotion.”
“You don’t seem surprised that I’m asking you about this.”
“I’m not. When I saw what happened to her on the news, I assumed I’d be questioned, although I thought it would be the cops doing it.”
“They’ll be around. You can count on it. Were you at the wedding?”
“No. Why would I be? We weren’t friends and I haven’t seen her since I was delivering to her work,” he said.
“Any idea who would want to hurt her?”
“No. If you don’t mind, I have to get back.”
We both stood up and his eyes shifted to the floor to the left of my feet. I should’ve shook his hand or something, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch him.
“Well, thanks for your time,” I said.
He nodded and we left the office. The girl at the counter banged on the credit card machine and Roberts went to help her. As I went out the door, I glanced over my shoulder and saw him looking at me. When he saw me his eyes went back to his work and I left.
I got in the 300 and sat for a moment. Roberts wasn’t in the clear, but I didn’t have a feeling one way or the other about him. He’d been straightforward with my questions. The eyes bugged me, but other than that he was a normal guy doing normal things. The more I thought about it, Roberts didn’t fit. The stalking started before he asked Sample out and continued after. I just didn’t see a psycho like that stopping his behavior long enough to politely ask her out and then starting it up again. Besides, I didn’t think I had to deal with Roberts. Chuck would be on him as soon as Helen called and I was happy to leave him to it. Now I had no excuse to avoid Lincoln, so I’d be getting my traveling shoes on.