Page 85 of Lost Hours
“How about we go inside and discuss this?” Mina asked.
“I don’t know.” He bit his lip. “It sounds maybe like I need a lawyer.”
Nolan had had enough of this punk putting them off. He shoved the door fully open. “How about you let the sheriff in? If not, I’ll be glad to press charges against you.”
“Fine.” Tate stood back.
Nolan waited for Mina to enter, then followed, eyeing Tate all the way. “You answer every question we ask truthfully, or like I said, I can arrange for you to be put behind bars. And it won’t be just one kidnapping charge, it’ll be six. You’ll never see the light of day again.”
Tate swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his scrawny neck. “What do you want from me?”
The small living room smelled like a combination of pizza and old socks. The space held only a cheap vinyl sofa, small television on a stand, and a table lamp sitting on the floor in the corner, casting deep shadows on the walls.
Mina turned to face Tate. “Who hired you to play the part of Smythe the butler?”
“I don’t know. I never met him, and he never told me his name.”
Nolan eyed him. “You expect us to believe you did this for someone you’ve never met?”
“Hey, when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you take pretty much any job. This was a high-paying gig, and it didn’t seem like there was anything illegal about it.” Tate dropped onto the sofa, and the cushions squeaked. “Trust me, if I’d known locking you in the room was illegal, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“If you didn’t meet the person who hired you, how did you arrange the gig?” Mina asked.
“It was all done on a site where local actors can be hired for various jobs. Things like birthday parties, singing telegrams. Stuff like that. We started out emailing through the site, and then I signed the agreement with him.”
“How did he pay you?” Nolan asked.
“I got half up front and half after I finished the gig. Payment is arranged outside of the site, and you just notify the site that you received payment as promised or the person hiring you is blackballed to keep them from stiffing other actors.”
“What form of payment did he use?” Mina asked.
“I asked for cash because then none of it would…you know…go to Uncle Sam.”
“Something else we could report you for.” Nolan stared at him.
“But what we’re more interested in,” Mina said, “is finding out how you received payment.”
“We were scheduled to meet in person one day. Before we could, he dropped the money off in my mailbox with a note saying he had to go out of town at the last minute. He also emailed me the details of what I needed to do for a successful performance.”
“Details like what?” Mina asked.
“He thought of everything and didn’t cheap out on the things. I had to buy a custom tuxedo from a specific shop in Portland so he could be sure I looked like a professional butler. I got the feeling that the shop owner was going to report back to tell him I’d ordered it.”
“Did the shop owner give you the name of the person who paid for it?” Mina asked.
“Nah, but I asked him a couple of times. He just clammed up, and I finally gave up.”
“What’s the name of that shop?” Nolan asked.
“Suited Elegance.” Tate pinched his nose. “Kind of snooty sounding, am I right?”
Nolan ignored him. “What else did the man who hired you require of you?”
“He described how he wanted me to wear my hair slicked back and made a special point of saying that I had to wear white gloves all the stinking time, even before the performance began.”
“He say why?” Mina asked.
“Yeah, get this. He wanted the night to be perfect and didn’t want me to leave prints on anything, marring their pristine nature.” Tate shook his head. “It made sense for the crystal and dishes, but not the food containers. Still, he was paying me a lot, so I did what he said.”
