John Genoa wasn't able to get the painting out of the apartment, but he did manage to get another type of picture out of there. It was a photograph of Kalista Kalzone next to an overweight, clean-shaven Mexican man.
"Do you recognize this person?" Genoa asked me.
I didn't have to look at it for more than two seconds before I knew who it was. "That's Juan Rodriguez," I told him.
Juan Rodriguez was my Uncle Merton's attorney. I knew he knew about the painting, but I didn't know he was dating Kalista Kalzone. What I also didn't know was that Genoa planned on going to see him.
We got into the car and headed to his office. We were fortunate to beat the police there.
Mister Rodriguez felt we were ganging up on him and in a way we were.
I couldn't help but laugh when Mister Genoa said, "Better us than the police."
Mister Rodriguez felt I was being rude, but you managed to get him to relax after you told him I was just being a teenager.
Genoa asked a few questions. Some of them were the same ones he had asked Miss Hansen, but one question did trip him up. It was the one where Genoa asked him where he had been the past two hours.
"I went out to see a client," was his response.
"Will the GPS in your car confirm that?" Genoa asked.
Rodriguez started to sweat. He had forgotten about the GPS in his car.
"What about your phone?" Genoa asked him. "Will your cell phone be able to tell us you were with a client?"
He got up from his desk and started arguing with Mister Genoa.
"You're going to need a better alibi than the one you have," Genoa finally shot back at him.
Rodriguez didn't stop yelling at Genoa until the police had come in.
The inspector wasn't surprised at all by us being there. In fact, I almost want to say that he completely ignored our presence there when he announced Rodriguez was under arrest for the murder of his girlfriend.
Juan Rodriguez went to his desk and pulled out a gun and for the first time since this whole thing started, I was freaked out.
Mister Genoa, Miss Cross, and every police officer in the room pulled out their guns and pointed them at the attorney.
The inspector tried to talk some sense into him, but it didn't work.
Rodriguez put the gun under his chin and fired a bullet into the bottom of his face.
YOU ARE READING
The Case of The Perplexed Painting
Misterio / Suspenso17-year-old Simon Blink hires a private eye to help him find who murdered his uncle. It is soon discovered that his death was linked to a mysterious painting.
