"Rain, Anthony Vincent - Three Palms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rain Anthony Vincent)

"Well, we met here at the complex and decided to go into business together. We were both looking for jobs at the time. It seemed like a good idea. There's more than enough work."

"When did you start the business?"

"Year and a half ago, I guess."

"So you just, what? Worked together, but weren't friends?"

"We hung a little."

"How did you feel about his being arrested last year?"

Louis dipped his head down and looked at me over his sunglasses again. "He made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes."

"That's generous of you."

"You had to know Donny. He was ambitious, but in his own way. He didn't care about being rich, exactly, but he was always looking for something big enough to get him out of living in cheap apartments and driving used cars. That desire fueled him, man. You know, money at any cost. Sometimes how he got that money crossed the line."

"That didn't bother you?"

He shrugged. "I overlooked it."

"Can you give me any facts about the arrest?"

"Not specifics. I know that they let him off with a lighter sentence because they already got too many people in jail. They gave him an ankle monitor to wear for six months. He couldn't even go to work. Things got tight. I had to loan him money."

"What about the assault at the race track a few weeks ago?"

Louis shook his head. "I don't know nothing about that. Donny got distant lately. He missed a lot of work. Didn't really communicate with me."

"Any idea why?"

Louis closed his eyes and angled his face at the sun. "Not really."

"Do you know why anyone would want to kill him?"

"No, I don't."

I gave him my business card, with my motel number written on the back. "If you think of anything else," I said.

Then I left the complex. Donny's apartment could wait until later.

The Melbourne Public Library sat in a shady square on Pineapple Avenue. It was a neat, cream colored building on the mainland side of the Indian and Banana River, just before the Causeway.

Inside, it was quiet and smelled like Pine Sol. There were three people within, two librarians and yours truly. To the left were book stacks, to the right were periodicals and computer terminals.

I told the librarian that I wanted to access the local paper archives going back one year.

"For just the Space Coast area, sugar?"