Free A Striking Death by David Anderson Page A

and pointed to the south. “On a good day, you can see the CN Tower from here. Too dark to make it out right now, though.” Then he turned to Levine. “I’m sorry we have to put you through this. Believe me, if it weren’t necessary, we wouldn’t do it. Sit down, relax for a bit. I’ll bring the coffee up.”
    Levine nodded and sank gratefully into one of the patio chairs.
    As Drumm left, he saw the bookstore owner lean over and put his head in his hands.
    Drumm found Lori standing in the hallway outside the interview room with a tray in her hands, looking puzzled. She raised an eyebrow when she saw him. “Garden,” he said. He took the tray from her. “We’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
    When Drumm returned carrying the refreshments, he stopped dead. Daniel Levine was right over at the edge of the roof, leaning way over, looking down. They were only three floors up but still…there was only a small railing separating him from a nasty drop to the parking lot below. Drumm put the tray down in a rush, spilling the coffee, and strode over to Levine. “Daniel!”
    Levine turned quickly and lost his balance, looking startled. Drumm, reaching him, grabbed Levine’s arm to steady him. “Careful! Don’t want to lose you!” He let go and looked at the man carefully. Reassured by Levine’s expression, he led the way back to the table. “I’m afraid I spilled the coffee.”
    “Doesn’t matter,” said Levine. “Doesn’t matter at all.” He sat down and picked up a cup, exhaustion apparent in his every movement. He said nothing for several minutes, the silence gathering along with the evening. He looked at Drumm. “We’re not done yet, are we? What else is she going to ask me? I don’t have anything else to say.”
    “We’re just trying to learn as much as we can about your friend,” said Drumm. “Every little piece of information helps. Shall we go back down?”
    Lori Singh was waiting for them back in the interview room. She stood up as she heard them approaching. Levine slumped wearily back into his chair.
    “Let’s get this over with,” he said. “I have to get out of here.”
    Lori sat down. She said, “This morning you told Detective Sergeant Drumm that Arthur Billinger had other things going on in his life, other people.” This last part she read from her notebook. She looked directly at Levine. “We need you to expand on that. Who did you mean?”
    “He had other friends, former colleagues, that kind of thing.” But Levine’s eyes slid away from Singh’s and Drumm again had the sense that the bookstore owner was being evasive.
    “Don’t you get it, Daniel?” Drumm was exasperated. “We need names. Who are these people? Your friend was brutally murdered. One of these mysterious people you keep referring to might be involved. Can’t you see? It looks like you’re protecting someone.”
    “I’m not protecting anyone! I just don’t know who they are. I didn’t want to know.” He paused and ran his hand back over his thinning hair. “He had a regular weekly date at Tim Hortons for coffee. Cameron Garmand would always go and there were other people there, but I don’t know who. I couldn’t go because of the store. Didn’t want to anyway. Who’d want to sit with a bunch of teachers reminiscing about old times?”
    “Mr. Levine, did you have a monogamy agreement with Art?” Lori asked. “I mean, some gay couples do, some don’t.”
    Levine shook his head. “No, no we didn’t. I thought about bringing it up with Art but I never did.”
    “So Art could have had a bunch of other sexual partners, and not only would you not have known, you both would have been okay with that?” Lori was skeptical.
    Levine looked miserable. “He wouldn’t have done that. And no, I wouldn’t have been okay with that.”
    Drumm asked, “What about this bar – Danny’s, I think you said – where you met Mr. Billinger? Did he still go there? By himself? Or with you, for that