Trust Can Be Deadly (Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Book 3)
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“I got a haircut,” he muttered and ran his hand lightly over his closely cropped hair.
Tommy was known around Sage Gardens for his long, stringy hair. Many of the older folk addressed him as Hippie rather than Tommy, while some just complained about the way it made the neighborhood look. Tommy had always been determined not to cut his hair. Samantha was a little surprised that he had, and how much it changed how he looked. Tommy was a fairly large man with a little weight covering up his muscular frame. With his long hair he had seemed harmless, but now with his short haircut it was as if Samantha could now see his broad frame clearly.
“Tommy.” Eddy nodded to the man as he stepped up beside Samantha. “Did you hear about what happened?”
“Yes.” Tommy nodded. “How could I not?” he grumbled. “I was trying to sleep when all of these sirens started blaring.”
Samantha raised an eyebrow. She was surprised that Tommy, who was Joel and Anna's neighbor would be less concerned about their wellbeing and more concerned about his sleep being interrupted.
“Well, Joel's dead, Tommy,” Eddy spoke flatly. Samantha knew this trick. He wanted to see how Tommy would react when he first actually heard the news.
“And?” Tommy shrugged. “I already know that. I'd have to be blind not to see the coroner's van. But if the man is dead already what's with all the sirens? It's not like getting here any faster is going to save him. Is it?” He sneered. “I think there should be a rule about coming through here with sirens on. We all know what an ambulance showing up means. Someone is dead. If it's not an emergency, then why all of the noise?”
“Have you spoken to the police yet, Tommy?” Samantha asked. She did her best not to comment on what she thought about his view of things. It seemed rather cold to her for him to be so put off by the noise.
“I have,” he said with exasperation. “Not that they are going to do anything about it. What do they care? It's just another dead guy. He's not important enough for anyone to cause a fuss over.”
Samantha couldn't hold back any longer. The way he was speaking about Joel made her sick to her stomach. “I'm sure his grieving wife would argue that point,” she spoke through gritted teeth. In the next moment she felt Eddy's hand rest lightly on her shoulder. She knew it was more about restraining her than comforting her. Eddy had seen her temper flare before.
“Oh Anna?” Tommy snorted. “I'm sure she's not too broken up about the whole thing.”
“How can you say that?” Eddy asked incredulously. “She found her husband dead in a pool of his own blood.”
“Well sure, there are prettier ways to go, but she's probably just glad that he's gone. From the amount of fighting those two do, you'd think that they were enemies, not husband and wife.” He brushed his hand back over his hair yet again. “Glad I dodged that bullet. Never been married, never had kids, never had a problem in my life.”
Samantha pursed her lips. She reminded herself that she would get more information with honey than with venom. “Were they fighting last night, Tommy?”
“I wouldn't know. I wasn't here.” He shrugged.
“Where were you?” Eddy pressed.
“I don't see how that is any of your business.” Tommy crossed his arms and settled his gaze on Eddy. “Playing detective again, Eddy?”
“I was just curious,” Eddy commented. “So, you didn't hear any kind of commotion when the murder took place?”
“Like I said, I wasn't here,” Tommy growled. “I don't need to be grilled by the likes of you, Eddy. If you harass me in any way I'll get you arrested faster than you can even think of a question.”
Eddy narrowed his eyes. “You know it's only people who have something to hide that don't cooperate.”
“No, it's people that know the difference between a real cop, and an old man who misses his badge,” Tommy said angrily. “You've got no right to even be on my property right now, Eddy. So, why don't you and your nosy little girlfriend shove off?”
Samantha was so furious by the end of his tirade that Eddy's squeezing hand on her shoulder did nothing to calm her. “Listen to me, Tommy Radner, if you're going to speak to Eddy or me that way you're going to face some serious consequences. This is not how you behave when your neighbor has been murdered.”
“Oh, what are you going to do, Samantha?” he spat out her name. “Are you going to write an article in the Sage Gardens' weekly gazette? Oh no, that's right. You can't even get a job writing for the neighborhood gossip rag, can you?” He stared at her with open hostility. “Get off my property.”
“Technically, it's not your property.” Samantha looked over towards the voice and saw Walt standing a few feet from them. “No one owns their homes here. They all belong to Sage Gardens. So, you can't really claim it as your property.”
“Oh, stay out of it, Walt.” Tommy waved his hand in Walt's direction and then stalked off into his villa.
Samantha shrugged Eddy's hand off her shoulder. “Why did you let him talk to you that way?” she asked more out of confusion than anger.
“Listen, Samantha it's not going to do anybody any good if Tommy and I come to blows, now is it?” Eddy shook his head. He looked towards the window of Tommy's villa just in time to see him snap the shade shut. “He certainly is acting suspicious. He seems so angry with us, he’s never spoken to me that way before. Maybe he is just upset by the murder, but I think our first step should be to look into where he was last night.”
“First step?” Walt looked interested. “What have I missed? Are you looking into Joel's death?”
“I think we should.” Samantha glared in the direction of Tommy's villa. “If only to make sure Tommy doesn't get away with it.”
“So, you think Tommy is good for it?” Walt asked. “That's a pretty big accusation.”
Samantha crossed her arms. “The last time I played cards with the Westons they had a problem with Tommy. He didn't like the way they had parked their car, and claimed it was blocking his view of the water. So, he pounded on the door until Joel came out. They squabbled a bit and then Joel just did what he asked. Apparently, that wasn't the first issue that they've had with him. It appears that Tommy is not the nicest neighbor around.”
“Maybe not, but that doesn't make him a murderer.” Eddy frowned. “Still, he does seem very unaffected by the whole thing.”
“We should check and see if his alibi holds water,” Walt suggested. “Can you get any information out of the officers, Eddy?”
“I can try,” Eddy said. Samantha and Walt lingered near the street as Eddy walked back towards the crime scene.
“What can you tell me about the neighbor?” Eddy asked. The young officer continued to roll up the yellow tape.
“Nothing.”
“Oh really? Not even his alibi?” Eddy's tone became harder. “Do you think you could just let me know where he was claiming to be last night?”
“You could ask him.” The officer finished rolling up the tape. “I'm not going to get in trouble over this.”
“You don't have to worry about that. I'm just asking a question.” Eddy met his eyes. “It's not going to do any harm to let me know where he was.”
The officer frowned. He looked as if he really didn't want to share the information. Eddy raised an eyebrow.
“At the movies, okay? That's all I can tell you.” He turned and walked away from Eddy with swift strides. Eddy watched him for a moment. He was a little sketchy in Eddy's opinion. It was one thing to willingly share information, and another to flat out refuse to give it. The officer that Eddy had just spoken to did neither of those things. Instead, he allowed his mind to be swayed by Eddy. That could be dangerous when wearing a uniform. As Eddy walked back towards Walt and Samantha his mind pushed and pulled at Tommy's alibi.
Samantha watched Eddy interact with the young officer. She could see that he was trying to intimidate the officer with the way he straightened his shoulders and leaned close. She had seen him do this a few times before. Walt's voice
drew her from her observations.
“What do you think, Samantha?” Walt asked.
“I'm not sure. Joel always seemed like a nice guy to me. He and his wife certainly never had trouble with money.” She looked over at Anna again. “Poor Anna. I don't know how she's going to handle all of this.”
“It must be difficult when you prefer to be part of a couple. My wife and I always had our own space during our marriage. I've never really enjoyed living with other people.” He straightened the lapel of his suit jacket.
Samantha glanced over at him quizzically. “That's not surprising.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Walt asked.
“I just mean that you seem very particular so it would be difficult for you to tolerate someone always moving things around and getting things dirty.” She shook her head. “I can't see you enjoying that.”
“Well, I do have my ways.” Walt frowned. “Maybe I'm a little too set in them. Once in a while I wonder what it would be like to shake things up a bit.”
“Really?” Samantha looked at him with genuine surprise. Before she could ask him more about that, Eddy interrupted their conversation.
“So, it turns out that Tommy's alibi is that he was at the movies. That's a pretty thin alibi. Even if he actually went to the movies, he could have slipped out once it started.”
“Hmm, I don't know.” Walt tapped his chin lightly. “The movie theater is at least thirty minutes away. By the time he slipped out of the theater, and drove back here, committed the murder, and then drove back, the movie would have likely been over. That would be a tight schedule to keep.”
“That doesn't even take traffic into account.” Samantha seemed to be doing calculations in her mind. “It would add at least ten minutes on to travel time if there was traffic. Maybe we could question someone at the theater to see if they can confirm Tommy's presence there last night.”
“We could,” Eddy agreed. “But I'm not sure they would remember. Hundreds of people go in and out of that movie theater every day.”
“It's worth a shot.” Samantha glanced over her shoulder at Tommy's house. “I doubt he's going to be willing to tell us whether he has a ticket stub or not.”
“I can check,” Walt offered with a slight smile. “I'd like to get a glimpse of the inside of his villa anyway.”
“Good idea.” Eddy nodded. “He's going to bristle at Samantha or me asking questions.”
Samantha looked over at Anna. She clutched the blanket tightly around her shoulders. She certainly looked traumatized to Samantha, but what struck her was the lack of tears. She knew that sometimes the sight of something tragic could be so shocking that a person was rendered emotionless, but she still wondered.
“I'm going to go speak to Anna.”
“Are you sure?” Eddy asked. “She might be a little too raw right now.”
“Let her go,” Walt advised. “If anyone can handle a delicate situation, it's Sam.”
“Thanks, Walt.” Samantha smiled briefly at him. Eddy scowled as if he might have more to say, but he kept it to himself. Samantha walked towards Anna who was still near the ambulance. It appeared that the medics had cleared her, however she still seemed shaken.
“Anna.” Samantha reached a hand out to her. “I'm so sorry for your loss.” Anna stared at her for a moment, as if she didn't quite recognize her, then slowly it registered in her expression.
“Thank you, Samantha,” she spoke quietly, but her voice did not tremble. Samantha took Anna's hand in her own. She noticed that the woman's hands were not shaking, but they were a little sweaty. In her years of trying to gather as much information as possible she had learned a trick or two to know whether someone was telling the truth or not. Sweaty hands almost always indicated deceit. However, in this situation they didn't really reveal much. With the stress of what Anna had seen, and the sudden loss of her husband there could have been numerous reasons for her sweaty palms.
“Is there anything you need? Anyone I can call for you?” Samantha offered.
“No, I don't need anything.” Anna pressed a balled up tissue against her nose.
“I'm sorry again, Anna. I hope you know that I'm here to help if you need it.” Samantha gave her hand a slight squeeze, then let go of it.
“Thank you, Samantha. I don't even know what to think right now. I went to bed last night happy, and woke up this morning a widow. It's such a hard thing to wrap my head around.” She sighed. “Joel is gone.”
Her words sounded mournful, but her expression was still rather indifferent. Samantha noticed that Anna didn't even cringe when she spoke of her husband being dead, or her being a widow.
“Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Samantha asked. Anna looked over at her with narrowed eyes.
“Of course not. How would I know? Joel barely spoke to me anymore. I didn't know what he was doing when I wasn't home, and I didn't care to. We had let things get pretty distant between us.” She tightened the blanket around her shoulders. “I guess that makes this easier.”
Samantha nodded. She wasn't sure how it could make anything easier, but she wasn't going to argue with Anna. “Are you sure there isn't someone I could call? One of your children maybe?”
“We didn't have any. I had a son with my first husband, but he has nothing to do with me. Joel and I never wanted to have kids.” She pressed her lips together briefly as if trying to suppress a rising emotion. “I guess that was for the best.”
Samantha couldn't imagine love becoming so unemotional. But then she had witnessed plenty of marriages that didn't involve love. Sometimes marriage just seemed like the right thing to do at the time, or perhaps it was a matter of settling. Her own marriage, though very brief, had been passionate and overwhelming. She still thought about her ex-husband at times, even though it had been so many years. She couldn't imagine feeling nothing at all for him.
“Anna, if you think of any way that I can help, please feel free to call me.” Samantha looked into the woman's eyes. “No one should be alone at a time like this.”
“Maybe not.” Anna looked solemnly towards the house. “But that's where I am. Thanks Samantha, but I have some things to take care of now.”
“Of course.” Samantha watched as Anna trudged slowly back towards the house.
Chapter Three
Eddy continued to observe the police officers and their processing of the crime scene as Walt walked up to Tommy's villa. He knocked on the door with three firm knocks. It was the same knock he had been using for many years. He felt it got the job done well, with getting the attention of the person inside, making it clear that it was important, and that he was not going to go away. After a moment the door jerked open. Tommy stuck his face out with a grim frown. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to ask you a quick question.” Walt studied the man intently. He immediately noticed how uneven his hair was cut. It was short, but it was not cut to one length. To Walt it looked more like someone had taken a lawnmower to the man's head.
“Why would I answer any question from you?” Tommy glowered at him.
“Oh, it's not about all of that.” Walt waved his hand dismissively in the direction of the crime scene. “I saw you last night at the movie theater. I have this deal with a friend of mine that if I have more movie ticket stubs than him, he has to pay for dinner the next time our film club gets together. Now, I know that I'll have more than him, or rather I would have if I hadn't thrown out my ticket stub accidentally with my popcorn. I was wondering if you had yours? I could even give you a dollar or two for it.” Walt began to reach into his pocket for his wallet.
“You didn't see me last night,” Tommy's voice was gruff.
“Weren't you at the movies?” Walt feigned innocence. “Maybe I had you mixed up with someone else?”
“I was at the movies. But you didn't see me.” Tommy glared at him.
“Okay, if you say so. Either way, do you happen to have your ticket stub?” Walt smiled.
“No, I am not that at all. I just asked a simple question.” Walt cleared his throat. “I'm not sure where you've learned your manners from, but you are quite rude.”
“I've had a rough morning.” Tommy forced a smile and then snapped the door closed. Walt was a little dazed by Tommy's abruptness. He didn't often attempt to socialize with others, as he preferred a book to company most of the time. As he walked back towards Eddy he felt as if he had just had that habit reinforced. Samantha was walking back towards Eddy at the same time. Eddy noticed her troubled expression.
“Are you okay?” Eddy studied her.
“I just think it's so sad.” Samantha shook her head. No matter how many stories she had worked on in the past she had never mastered the ability to be emotionally distant from the tragedies and crimes she learned about. “She doesn't even seem like she is going to miss him.”
Eddy raised an eyebrow. “Trust me, my ex-wife wouldn't have missed me.”
Samantha looked at him with some sympathy. “That must hurt.”
“Not at all. I wouldn't miss her either.” Eddy chuckled. “Some people are better off having never known each other. Don't you think? Your marriage wasn't exactly stellar either, was it?” He looked at her curiously.
Samantha narrowed her eyes. “No, I guess it wasn’t, but I would absolutely miss my ex-husband if he were to die. I would even attend his funeral if someone thought to inform me.”
“That's very tender of you, Sam.” Walt smiled warmly at her.
“Just because things didn't work out doesn't mean that I stopped loving him.” Samantha glanced wistfully away, but then pulled her thoughts back to the moment. “But that has nothing to do with any of this. We need to be focused on this crime, because I have a feeling it's not going to be very simple to solve. At this time I'm not even willing to rule out Anna as a suspect.”