The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

XI

━━━━━━⊱༻ ༺⊰━━━━━━

Rossi called me awhile later, "My gut hasn't gotten any more reliable since my third divorce."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Ezra has a history of violent behavior. Frank took his Jaguar to a body shop to fix a shoe-sized dent in it."

"I still don't understand what this has to do with your many divorces, Dave."

"Right, sorry. I had a gut feeling that Ezra hasn't been telling the truth."

"His story is a little bit suspicious. He claims he was drunk, high, and slept through the murders of four people? It doesn't add up."

"Exactly. I'm going to go talk to him again. Tell Aaron I said hello."

"Wait, what? Dave? Rossi? Rossi?!" I stared at my phone, sitting it back on the arm of the chair.

"What'd he say?"

"Well, Ezra has a history of violent behavior, and hello."

"Hi?"

"No, that's what he said. Dave said to tell you 'hello'." He rolled his eyes before going back to work on his computer. He tried to hide it, but I could see a hint of a smile.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
It didn't take us long to hit a brick wall. Without being at the office, there was only so much we could do. We decided it was time for a lunch break, and since neither of us felt like cooking, we made sandwiches. As we were walking out to the table, we passed Roy.

"Roy!" I smiled, trying to be friendly, "I made you sandwich if you're hungry."

He ignored me as he held up his hand, the pamphlet from earlier grasped tightly, "This is what you and Jessica have been doing behind my back."

"You went through my desk?"

"I'm an old man with Alzheimer's, I'm not responsible for my actions."

"I didn't even know about the situation until today." I took the plate from his hand so I could set them on the table, trying to minimize the risk of anything being thrown or dropped.

"Ohh.. Happy Hoofers Club. That's where they take you to the mall that you walk around. Big deal, huh? You know, bingo tournaments. Movie nights with popcorn."

"What's wrong with movie nights?" Aaron crossed his arms and leveled his voice.

"It's a damn nursing home, that's what's wrong with it! I can go to the movies and chew popcorn by myself. I've been to these places before. They take you there to shrivel up and die!"

"Roy, the doctors have said that you're going to need more help."

"Doctors. I could write a book of what doctors don't know. I'm fine."