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“How well do you know this group?” Ava asked.
“Honestly, not too well. I know Henry a fair amount, and I’ve seen Ma around quite a lot.”
“What about Carter Epps?”
“I’d only gotten to know him recently,” Tony said. “Just over the last few months. I’ve been sort of going through these bands, making sure I can find talented musicians that’ll stick around, you know?”
“And what about this bouncer you said was here when it all went down?” Frank asked. “Where is he today?”
“Right now, he’s probably at home. He has a second job on top of this one. It’s pretty common that his day doesn’t end until three or four in the morning. So he might very well be sleeping.”
“Can you get in touch with him?” Ava asked. “We’d like to speak with him.”
“Yeah, I can get him on the phone. But honestly…he never saw anything. He was—”
“Fixing the toilet, yeah, I remember you said that,” Ava said. “And speaking of which, I think we need to ask you some questions, too.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” Ava said. “You were here, and it just doesn’t make much sense to me that you had no idea why a wealthy white man would come yelling at a lowly jazz player. I think you know more than you’re letting on, Tony. And I need you to start talking.”
It was clear that Tony was not accustomed to people speaking to him in such a way. He looked at Ava as if he wanted to throw a punch at her and at that same moment, Frank managed to press himself further into the office.
“Calm down, Tony,” Frank said. And then, leaning against the doorframe and adjusting his coat a bit so that his sidearm showed, he grinned. “Maybe we just all stay here in this cozy office until you can spell some things out for us.”
And then, after looking at them both with a flare of anger so intense that Ava thought the room grew a few degrees warmer, Tony began to talk.