I’m Watching You (Richmond Novels #1)

Chapter Fourteen

Tuesday, July 8, 10:00 A.M.

Vega and Ayden pulled up in front of Ruby Dillon’s small brick house, located just a couple of miles east of Richmond International Airport. Crabgrass covered the front lawn, but there was a stack of neatly piled bricks, as if someone was planning to fix the place up. There were three cars parked out front. By the looks of the property, several people lived there.

This was Vega’s neck of the woods. He’d grown up in the east end of the county. His old man had worked for one of the airlines and his mom had taught math at Highland Springs High School. His little brother, Michael, was a cornerback on the same school’s football team. Both his folks were active in the church.

As Vega and Ayden got out of the car, a jet engine roared over their heads. Vega glanced up at the sky. He’d never gotten used to the noise. His roots were in this part of New Kent County, but he’d chosen to live twenty miles east in a rural section.

They strode to the front porch. Rap music blared from inside the tiny house. The music was so loud that Vega could feel the bass in his chest.

Ayden rang the bell. ‘My boys like this crap. I bet they’re cranking it just as loud at my house.’

‘I thought they were going to summer school.’

‘The oldest is. The younger one works afternoons at a hardware store.’

‘They doing all right?’

Ayden frowned. ‘We’re all still stumbling through the motions. Carol has been gone a year and a half and we still can’t get our shit together.’ He pounded on the door. This time a dog started to bark.

‘At least the dog knows we’re here,’ Vega said.

The sound of locks unlatching followed. Ruby Dillon opened the door. She wore a brown and orange uniform. Vega and Ayden knew that she worked as a nurse’s aid at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. They pulled out their shields as she faced them.

Ruby frowned and then turned to shout, ‘Brianna, turn that music down!’ After a second’s pause, the music stopped. She didn’t open the screen door. ‘You come about that dead man, I suppose.’

Ayden nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am. We’d like to ask you some questions.’

Her jaw set. ‘I spoke to two other detectives yesterday. I’ve told them all that I know.’

‘We’ve got a few more questions, if you don’t mind,’ Vega said.

Ruby pursed her lips. ‘I do mind, as a matter of fact. I’ve got to get to work.’

The woman looked familiar to Vega. He’d bet money she knew his mother through the church. His mother knew everyone in this part of the county. ‘Excuse me for asking, but do you know Rita Vega?’

Ruby eyed him. ‘Maybe I do.’

Vega smiled. He was good at shooting the shit and getting people to warm up. ‘You go to Third Baptist?’

‘I do.’

‘Thought so. My parents attend. Mom’s been a fixture there for twenty years.’

Ruby’s frown softened. ‘You’re one of Rita’s boys?’

‘I am.’

Her stance relaxed. ‘I haven’t seen Rita in a few weeks. How she doing?’

‘Fine. My brother, Michael, is giving her fits. He gets his driver’s license in a week and can’t wait to drive. Dad swears his heart won’t be able to take Michael driving.’

Ruby chuckled. ‘Michael’s a good boy. Full of piss and vinegar, but he’s good. Rita and George will get a handle on him.’ She was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Your mama was one of the few that was nice to me when I got released from jail. She even took Brianna shopping for her prom dress this spring.’

Vega and Ayden had discussed Ruby on the way over. She had been hiding cocaine for her boyfriend when the cops busted her. She’d done six months in exchange for testimony against him. He was now doing ten years at Greensville Prison. But they had realized this morning that the boyfriend, as it turned out, worked for Ronnie T.

Ruby pushed open the screen door. ‘I got a couple of minutes before I got to go. Come on in.’

Vega promised himself he owed his mother a big thank-you. If not for her, Ruby Dillon would have shut the door on them now.

Ayden didn’t look rushed. He glanced at the surrounding yards before stepping over the threshold into the house. ‘We’ll do our best to hurry things along.’

Vega’s gaze scanned the living room, which reminded him so much of his parents’. The furniture was old and worn, but the room was neat and organized. Off the living room at the kitchen table sat a teenage girl. She wore shoulder-length braids and an Usher T-shirt. No doubt that was Brianna, the one who had been playing the loud music.

Ruby didn’t move from the small foyer nor did she offer them a seat.

‘Tell me about yesterday,’ Vega said. ‘How did you find the body?’

Ruby sighed her impatience. ‘I told that Detective Kier yesterday that I got the shelter women off to work and the kids off to school. It was a regular day and nothing out of the ordinary. I loaded up the trash like I do each morning I work at the shelter and took it out to the trash cans. That’s when I found him.’

‘You didn’t see anyone else in the backyard?’ Ayden said.

‘Nope. And I didn’t hear or smell nothing either.’

‘What about during the night?’ Vega said.

‘Quiet. But I did hear a dog barking around five. It woke me up. I got up and looked out the front window but didn’t see anything.’

‘How many nights a week do you stay at the shelter?’ Ayden asked.

‘Three or four, depending on the schedule. My son stays with Brianna when I’m gone overnight. I generally show up around five and leave by ten. Yesterday was the exception. I stayed late to help Lindsay.’

‘You were there when the flowers were delivered?’

‘I was.’

‘Did you see who dropped off the flowers?’

‘I didn’t. Lindsay’s office is closer to the front door than mine, so it would be simple for anyone to come in the front door and drop the box on her desk. I thought I heard somebody but figured it was a cop. After I answered all those calls, I went into Lindsay’s office, thinking she’d returned. That’s when I saw the box.’

‘Did you open it?’ Vega said.

‘Well, yeah, I peeked inside. Lindsay never, ever gets flowers and I wanted to see what she’d gotten.’ She shuddered. ‘I had no idea what was under those blossoms.’

‘Did you look at the note?’ Ayden asked.

‘No. The note was private.’

‘Did the shelter have any trouble recently? Other than yesterday?’ Vega said.

‘One of our residents, Aisha Greenland, kept getting calls from her husband, Marcus, on her cell phone. He left her all kinds of nasty messages. Finally, Lindsay had Aisha change the number. And a couple of weeks ago, we had to toss a gal out for drug possession. She was pissed.’

‘She got a name?’

‘Sally somebody. It’s in Lindsay’s records.’

‘I didn’t see surveillance cameras at the shelter,’ Ayden said.

‘We can’t afford them right now.’

Vega made a note. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’

Ruby’s first response was to shake her head no, but then she stopped. ‘Well, I’ll tell you, last week something did happen, here, at my house. It wasn’t much and I didn’t bother to tell Lindsay.’

‘What happened?’ Vega said.

‘I had a break-in. Someone came inside my home while I was at work and Brianna was at school. Nothing was taken but I knew someone was here.’

‘Any idea what they were looking for?’ Ayden said.

‘There was a time when someone might have found something, but I did my time and there is no more of that here.’

‘You report it?’ Ayden said.

‘No. Like I said, nothing was taken. But someone was in my house.’

The detectives asked a couple more follow-up questions about Ruby’s job and Lindsay’s work. Nothing out of the ordinary came up and they left.

‘So why break into a woman’s house and not take anything?’ Vega said as they walked to their car.

‘I hate coincidences,’ Ayden answered.

‘So do I.’