Page 84 of Night Prey
“Londyn,” he said. “Interesting name.”
“Our parents named all of us girls after cities in England in honor of our family heritage.” She smiled back at Flagg, and he preened, likely what she was hoping to accomplish. “I’m working with Detective Blair on winding down Junior’s investigation. Mind if we come in and ask a few more questions?”
“My house is your house.” He swept his arm out gallantly.
Ian could easily see how he might be charming to women who didn’t know him.
Londyn went past, and the older man’s gaze tracked her every move. He didn’t seem to be grieving his son or lamenting his wife’s situation. But then, people dealt with grief in different ways. Maybe enjoying watching a beautiful woman walk down his hallway was Flagg’s way. Ian found that kind of smarmy. He should look into any affairs Flagg might have been having. Maybe he’d been seeing someone back when he sold the house to the Rices, and this potential woman might know something important.
Ian followed Londyn and was glad Malone wasn’t with him. He’d deck Flagg for looking at her the way he looked at Londyn. Londyn was likely used to it from working in a predominantly male field, but that didn’t mean she liked it.
She sat on the sofa in the same seating area where Ian had talked to Flagg and Karen a few days earlier. Ian made sure to sit next to Londyn so Flagg wasn’t within touching distance.
He perched on the arm of a modern leather chair, his focus pinned to Londyn, though his gaze was professional now. “What can I answer for you?”
“Why didn’t you tell us Junior called you the night before he died and talked to you for ten minutes?” Ian asked.
The man seemed disappointed to have to tear his gaze away from Londyn. “Oh, that.” He waved a hand. “It wasn’t important enough to mention. The kid wanted his mama and settled for me. Dumping all kinds of feelings over the phone. I’m surprised I lasted ten minutes.”
Ian figured it was something like that, but he had to confirm. “I wanted to ask again if you knew Joanna and Lewis Rice. Maybe you remembered them since we last met.”
Flagg tilted his head. “Can’t say as I can place them.”
“The house my classmate bought, the one we talked about before? You sold the house to her parents.” Ian shared the address.
“That place?” He tilted his head. “We did an extensive remodel on the house and made a nice chunk of change, but I don’t remember the details.”
“But you would’ve had to sign the sales paperwork,” Ian said.
“Yeah, sure. I’m positive I did, but we’ve bought and sold nine houses since then. I can’t remember every buyer’s name.” He shifted his attention to Londyn. “When you reach a certain level of success, as I’ve done, you have people to handle the details. All they do is bring a summary of the terms to me, and I accept or decline. Then they shove the final documents under my hand to sign. It’s wonderful having minions.” He chuckled.
If he was trying to impress Londyn, her blank expression told Ian that he’d failed.
“If she’s interested in sprucing the place up, let her know about my company,” Flagg said.
“She’s already begun remodeling.”
He shook his head. “DIYers who think they can do the same work as professionals are the bane of my existence. Can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to rescue them.”
“Would you still have copies of the paperwork from that sale?” Londyn asked.
“Somewhere, sure. The minions probably stored it in one of our warehouses.” He grinned again, but when Londyn didn’t respond, a quizzical look crossed his face. Perhaps he wasn’t used to women not reacting to his charm.
“Warehouses?” she asked. “How many do you have?”
“Four. Two for building materials. Another for tools and a workshop. One for miscellaneous company things. That’s probably where the records are stored.”
Ian couldn’t believe how out of touch this man was from his business. “Can you get one of your staff to locate the file for us?”
He narrowed his eyebrows. “Don’t see what you hope to find. What does this have to do with Junior?”
“Probably nothing,” Ian said as casually as he could manage. “It’s just that he’s the person who alerted us to the Rices’ crash not being an accident. Maybe we can find information like addresses, phone numbers, et cetera, on such documents, which might help us locate other people who remember the Rice family.”
“Oh, okay. Sure. We can get the records for you.” Flagg pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll call my assistant right now and get her moving on it.”
He was surprisingly courteous to the person he was talking to, even thanking them. He might call them minions, but at least he seemed to respect this minion.
Flagg balanced his phone on his knee and looked at Londyn again. “I’ll let you know when my team locates them.”
