LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 9

Sharon went to meet Allen Gray in his Maury County's "Allen's Grocery Shop" at about ten-thirty am in the morning. They had made eye contact the moment she pushed open the heavy glass door. He gave a small wave, completed a transaction, and dropped a handful of change into the shallow silver well. He called for a young woman who was stocking shelves in the food aisle. She looked up, nodded, smiled at Sharon, and headed behind the counter. 

"Mr. Allen Gray?" Sharon asked.

"Mrs. Stone?" His eyes brightened with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

"Yes, hello. Sharon stone," she said, holding out her hand and received a firm handshake in return from Allen Gray.

"Mrs. Stone. nice to meet you. We can talk in the storage room," Allen said, unlocking the cage that separated the cash register from the store.

Allen was close to six feet tall, but he walked with a stoop, which caused him to look slightly slumped over. His face was encased in a thick black beard that was neatly cropped two or three inches from his chin.

"Thanks for taking the time to meet with me," Sharon said.

"No problem," Allen said in a soft tone.

She followed him down a tiny hallway that emptied into a room full of flattened boxes and random stock. He motioned for Sharon to sit on a rusty, gray, folding chair.

"So, you had only been open a short time before you found the body, right?" She asked. The shaky folding chair shuffled a bit. Sharon said a silent prayer that the chair would last the length of the interview.

"Yes. We had opened the store, only, a few weeks before that murder," Allen said with a heavy accent.

"Now you have been open for about two years, right?" Sharon asked him.

"Correct, close to two years," he replied.

"Did you know that this was gang territory and a very bad neighborhood when you opened the store?" Sharon asked him.

"I grew up in Potsdam Street, Tenessee. I am not afraid of bad areas," Allen said.

"Would you say that you have the same customers over and over again?" She asked him, though she knew he did, she wanted to prime him for the next question. 

Allen shook his head, yes. He was starting to look bored.

"I know it will be hard to remember, but did anything out of the ordinary happen the day before you found Adriana's body? Was it a busy day?" Sharon asked.

"My fourth son was born," Allen said. A smile spread across his face.

"Congratulations," Sharon said. If Allen's son had been born the day before Adriana's body was dumped, he would remember the day better than any other important event happening in his life. This interview might net good information, Sharon was sure.

"I was in the store, behind the counter when my wife called. I started hurrying up, and told the customers that I had an emergency and needed to close early, and left at around eight-thirty that night," Allen said to Detective Sharon.

"Were there people in the store when you found out?" Sharon asked.

"Yes, but I do not remember them. I was too excited about my son," he said.

Some customers would have known that the store closed early that night. They could have spread the word, Sharon thought.

"Is there anything else you remember about that night?" Sarah asked him.

"I was leaving around eight but ended up staying an extra few minutes because a customer showed up. She was mad because I was closing early. I questioned her whether it was an emergency; to which she said no, and after I gave her the reason why I had been closing up early, she understood," Allen said to Sharon. 

"Do you know the woman's name?" Sharon asked him.

"Ah, yes. She is a regular. Very nice. Lives around the corner. Nice house. A very nice husband," Allen said.

"May I have her name?" Sharon asked.

"Lorna. Lorna Smith, I think is her name. She has a very nice house. Nice husband. You cannot miss it," Allen said.

"Thanks. That will be very helpful. Do you remember posting a sign, or anything like that, to let people know that the store was closing early?" she asked him.

"No. I did not want everyone to know, just those who came into the store. Letting the entire neighborhood know would not be smart. If someone stopped by and saw that the store was closed, it would be better for them to think that it was out of business than for me to tell everybody I was closing early," he said.

He had a good point. Broadcasting that he was closing early would have been an invitation for robbery.

"So, the only people who knew, were customers who came into the store that day?" Sharon asked him.   

Allen nodded. That meant that the killer had probably been in the store.

"Do you have CCTV tapes?" Sharon asked him.

"Of course. The police took them," Allen replied.

Sharon made a mental note that she would have to check with the detectives who would have worked on the case to see if any evidence had been garnered from the tapes.

"Mr. Allen, is there anything else you remember?" 

"The police did not seem interested, but you might care."

"I do care. What were they not interested in?" Sharon asked.

"The first few weeks the store was open, gangs bothered us. That is why we have a gun. After that lady was found dead in the alley, no more gangs bothered us," Allen told her.

That was interesting. Perhaps Adriana had been frequenting people with low social status, after all, Sharon thought.

"What were the gangs doing?" she asked Allen.

"They were breaking windows, scribbling, and scratching on walls, and were harassing my daughter," Allen said.

"And that stopped after the body was found?" Sharon asked him.

"Yes, It did," he said.

Strange, Sharon thought. "May I see the alley?" She asked him.

"Sure," he said.

She followed Allen to the back of the storeroom, dodging cardboard.

"I will wait at the door. I do not want to leave a woman in the alley by herself," Allen said to Detective Sharon.

She nodded and headed out into the alley. A pale brown rusted-out dumpster sat in the midst of trash and overgrown grass. The alley was lined with abandoned buildings. It was a great place to dump a body. Sharon tried to imagine a scenario that would end with Adriana's body behind the dumpster. Why would she have been in this alley? Sharon kept on thinking.

"Mrs. Stone," Allen called from the doorway. "Will you be much longer?"  

Sharon thought she would come back later if she needed to. So she said to Allen, "No. In fact, I am all done. Thanks for your time."

They headed back inside the store. Sharon bought a pack of gum from Allen, waved goodbye, and left the store.