The Mysteries of Max: Books 31-33 by Nic Saint (interesting novels in english txt) 📕

“The luxury condos?”

He nodded. “He lived at Jackson Heights for a while, but he was kicked out by the home owner’s association. Complaints about the use of intoxicants and all-night parties and scantily clad girls in the corridors. Oh, and he didn’t pay the rent. That probably had something to do with it as well. Anyway, when I found out Melanie was seeing this Harrison guy, I asked around, and discovered he’d moved to the squat house, probably having a good time shacking up with his fellow drug addicts.” He shook his head in disgust. “Not the kind of guy Melanie should be involved with. And I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know all there was to know about him. Like the drugging and the squatting.”

“I don’t get it,” said Odelia. “He’s Herbert Harrison’s son, right? So he must be loaded. So why didn’t he pay the rent on his condo? What was he doing living in a squat house?”

“Beats me,” said Joshua. “All I know is that when you told me yesterday that he’d dumped Melanie I was relieved, but not so relieved as not to want to make sure he never got near Melanie ever again. So I decided to pay him a visit and tell him exactly that. Only when I got there I saw that the place was on fire, and Harrison’s lifeless body lying on some ratty mattress, looking very much dead.” He raised tired eyes to meet Odelia’s. “Look, I didn’t kill him, all right? I didn’t set that building on fire, whatever the police are saying. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all. My rotten luck for wanting to help Jason save his marriage.”

“But if you’re innocent, why did you run off like that? Why didn’t you stick around?”

“Because I didn’t want to get involved. I don’t want Melanie to know I was sticking my nose into her personal business, and Jason even less so. If Melanie knew I’d been talking to her boyfriend, or asking you to look into this whole messed-up business, she would probably never talk to me again, and neither would Jason.” He sighed and hung his head. “I really messed up big time, didn’t I?”

“You should have told me, Joshua. you should have told me you knew who Melanie was seeing.”

“I know, I know.” He looked up. “Can you help me? You’re the Chief’s niece. And the lead detective is your husband. You must have some pull with these people. Can’t you explain to them that I’m innocent?”

She placed a hand on his arm. “Are you sure you told me everything this time?”

“Yes, of course.”

“No more lies?”

“No more lies.”

“I’ll talk to my uncle. Find out what he knows. The fact that they’re holding you here means they must have something on you. Though it could be just like you said: being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She fixed him with a stern look. “But you’ll have to come clean, Joshua. You’re going to have to tell them everything—every last detail.”

“Also about Melanie?”

“Also about Melanie.”

“Oh, God,” he said, and rubbed his haggard features. “She’ll be so angry with me.”

“Well, that can’t be helped,” she said. “If you don’t want to be charged with triple homicide you’re going to have to come clean, and that means telling my uncle and my husband exactly what you just told me.”

“All right, if you say so. What a mess.”

“You can say that again.”

Chapter 14

“Dooley, keep your head down!” I whispered when Dooley raised his head to look through the Chief’s window.

Lately Uncle Alec had expressed his resentment with us cats spying on him. He didn’t seem to enjoy the experience as much as I’d thought he would. In my view only people who are trying to hide something resent being spied upon, so what was he hiding?

At any rate, it probably behooved us to keep our noses down.

“So all three victims had Rohypnol in their systems?” the Chief was asking.

“Yep. All three of them were knocked out with the same drug. And what’s interesting is that we found the exact glass used in the process.”

“But with only two sets of fingerprints,” said Uncle Alec. “The killer’s, and one of the victims.”

“Yeah, that’s the strange thing. Though it’s possible the killer used different glasses to accomplish his purpose. At any rate, we’ve got Joshua Curtis’s fingerprints on the glass with the remnants of the drug, and Franklin Harrison’s prints on that same glass, which proves that Joshua was the one who handed Harrison that drink, and knocked him out. We couldn’t lift Harrison’s prints from the body, as his hands were too badly burned, but we had his prints on file.”

“No doubt it’s Franklin Harrison?”

“No doubt. His relatives have already identified him.”

“So what about motive?”

“Now listen to this, Chief,” said Chase, clearly very happy with himself. “It’s a doozy. So Franklin Harrison was having an affair, okay? We found plenty of pictures of one Melanie Myers on his phone, and flirty texts back and forth. Real hot stuff, okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So get this. This guy Joshua Curtis is Melanie’s husband’s best buddy. And not just that, the guy’s been in love with Melanie for years and years and years. I mean, to the point of obsession, okay? I’m talking pictures and videos of the woman on his phone.”

“Of Melanie Myers?”

“Sure! The guy’s phone is like a private throne on which he worships the woman’s likeness. And what’s more, the two of them used to be an item, before the husband entered the picture. We know this because we found a diary at the guy’s office, hidden at the bottom of his desk drawer, where he talks about the affair, and about his feelings for her. Turns out they briefly dated in college, before she fell for his best friend.”

“Jason Myers,” the Chief supplied.

“Exactly.”

“And the guy never stopped carrying a torch for the woman.”

“Looks like he’s in love with her to this day,