Page 63 of Pure Silence

The thought made him chuckle, and he took a sip of beer.

Damn.

He saw his phone on the coffee table where Day had slammed it down earlier, and he remembered he’d been in the middle of texting Florence back.

“Shit.”

Goldie rolled his eyes at the slew of messages from a very frantic Florence, but there was also a missed call, a voicemail, and a text message from a number he didn’t recognize. He ignored the voicemail and read the text:

Mr. Nash, Detective Alvarez. Please call me at your earliest convenience.

Goldie made a face.

Alvarez was definitely the last person he wanted to call right now, but maybe it would be better to go ahead and get it over with. He swallowed a big swig of beer for luck and then dialed.

“Detective Alvarez,” Alvarez answered briskly.

“Hello, Detective,” Goldie said. “Cassidy Nash here. I got your text.”

“Thank you for calling me back, Mr. Nash. I was hoping I could talk to you a bit more about when Mr. Parker visited your residence last night.”

“All right.” Goldie cleared his throat. “How can I help?”

“When Mr. Parker was in your apartment, he didn’t happen to leave anything behind, did he? A small package or an envelope?”

“What?” Goldie frowned. “No. Nothing.”

“Are you absolutely certain?”

“Yes, Detective. He wasn’t here very long. He busted in, screamed, waved a gun at us—”

“He had a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.”

“What?” Goldie didn’t know why, but it felt like he’d just fucked up.

“No weapon was recovered with Mr. Parker’s body,” Alvarez replied. “Forensics checked every inch of that dumpster today. He had his wallet, his phone, but no weapon, no envelope.”

“And the envelope is what now?” Goldie tried to keep up, nervous that Alvarez was trying to corner him somehow.

“We have it on good authority that Mr. Parker was expected to make a delivery that night. Could have been drugs, could have been money, we’re not sure, but we do know he didn’t make it to the drop-off.”

“I saw something about that on the news earlier,” Goldie said quickly. “His gang was angry with him over a deal gone bad or something like that?”

Alvarez sighed. “Yes. Something like that.”

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t be more help. I knew Michael was a piece of shit, but I didn’t know what all he was into.”

“Just keep an eye out. Maybe look around your place one more time.”

“Okay?” Goldie didn’t like the tone of Alvarez’s voice. “Why?”

“Mr. Parker’s criminal affiliates are angry because the item he was supposed to drop off, whatever it was, is unaccounted for,” Alvarez replied grimly. “I believe that’s why Mr. Lass—”

“Who?”