by Cindy Bell
“A free man, eh?” Maury looked more intently at Samantha. “I'm all about freedom. Too many people getting locked up for no reason.”
“Exactly.” Samantha nodded. “All we need to know is why you were meeting with Lily.”
Maury looked past the two as if searching for any backup they might have called in. Then he looked over at Eddy. “She owed me money, that's all.”
“From a gambling debt?” Samantha suggested.
“Gambling is illegal outside of a casino, ma'am.” Maury wagged his finger at her. “I don't ask what the loans are for, I just try to help out my friends anytime I can. But you know, they have to pay me back eventually.”
“Or your friends start losing appendages?” Eddy muttered.
“My business is my business, Eddy. It's all between friends.” He crossed his arms.
“All right, fine. So, you loaned her a large sum of money?” Eddy asked.
“It was quite a bit, yes.” He nodded.
“Did she ever mention a man named Vince?” Samantha asked.
“No, we didn't really discuss anything beyond the cash. She was having a hard time paying it back. But we're all settled up now, no worries.”
“Even if the money she paid you with came from committing a murder?” Samantha challenged.
“Samantha,” Eddy spoke sternly.
“Look hon, I don't care where the money comes from as long as it ends up in my pocket. All right? Now, if you two are going to start slinging around the big M word, this conversation is over. I'm not getting any murder pinned on me.” Maury turned and walked away. Samantha started to go after him.
“Don't you even think about it,” Eddy warned. “He won’t tell you anything else. When he decides a conversation is over, it is over.”
“But I'm sure that there is more that he could tell us,” Samantha stated firmly as she watched Maury disappear into the crowd.
“I'm sure you're right. He might have told us a lot more, if you hadn't interrupted us.” He turned towards the door and glanced back. He expected her to follow. Samantha felt terrible as she trailed after him. She thought she was helping, but she was also trying to take over. She wanted the chance to question Maury as much as Eddy did.
Outside, Eddy opened the passenger door for Samantha. “Let's get out of here before Maury comes back with his friends.”
Samantha slid into the seat silently. She didn't even bother to look in his direction. After Eddy started the car and got on the road, Samantha's mind shifted back to the encounter between Eddy and Maury.
“You didn't tell me that you knew Maury.”
“Did I need to?” Eddy's response was short.
“No, I was just surprised that you two seemed to know each other quite well.” She sighed. “Are you going to stay angry with me?”
“I'm not angry. I just wish that you would trust me to do my job. Yes, Maury and I knew each other in the past. I didn't recognize him until I saw him properly face to face. I didn't think he would remember me. We worked on a small potatoes sting together years ago. He got paid for it, and we went our separate ways. It was nothing really. When he recognized me, I just went with it.” He shook his head. “You may know how to get information out of people, Samantha, but when it comes to a loan shark like Maury you have to be very careful about what words you use. The moment that you mentioned murder, he wasn't going to say another word.”
“I'm sorry,” Samantha apologized and looked out the window. “I guess I got a little ahead of myself.”
“Don't feel too badly. I don't think he had much more to tell us. He loaned Lily a large amount of money, probably to pay off her gambling debt to someone else. I'm just not sure how Vince is involved in any of this.”
“Remember, Vince gave Lily money. Maybe he had a loan from Maury, too.” She clucked her tongue lightly. “I don't know if we're going to figure out how this all connects.”
“We will,” Eddy spoke with confidence. “There's one person who knows the truth about everything. It's time we speak to her again. I want you to meet me at the office first thing tomorrow morning. We're not going to let Lily slip away this time.”
Chapter 9
Samantha had trouble sleeping. Her mind kept returning to the look in Lily's eyes. Her thoughts were a muddle of suspicion. She had no idea who to suspect anymore. The thought of Simon still being in jail weighed on her mind as well. She tossed and turned most of the night.
When the sun began to rise she remembered that she needed to get up and meet Eddy. She decided to close her eyes for just a moment. That moment passed very quickly. When she opened her eyes again it had been almost an hour. She jumped out of bed. Half-asleep she rummaged through her closet for something to put on. Then she rushed out the door. Her fingers stumbled over the menus on her phone in an attempt to see if she had missed a call from Eddy. When she reached the office, she didn't see him waiting for her outside. She hurried towards the door. At the same time she typed out a text to Eddy.
Where are you?
She looked up in time to see two figures through the front office window. It only took her a second to recognize one as Lily and the other as Eddy. Her stomach lurched as she realized that Eddy was already inside. Samantha jerked the door open and stepped inside.
“Samantha, do you want to call off your dog?” Lily asked. Her eyes were shining with fury as she glared at Eddy.
“Dog?” Eddy shot back. “I don't think that you have a right to be insulting me when Vince is laying dead in a morgue somewhere. Do you think you had nothing to do with that?”
Samantha cringed as the tension between the two increased. “Lily, we all just want to figure out what happened to Vince. That's all,” Samantha kept her voice soft in an attempt to soothe the nerves of both of them.
“Really? Like either of you care about Vince?” Lily snapped. “I've never even seen either of you speak to him. But all of a sudden you're best friends?”
“We know that you're stealing,” Eddy growled. “It doesn't take much to go from a thief to a murderer, now does it?”
“What?” Lily shrieked. “You keep quiet! You have no idea what you're talking about! I would never hurt Vince!” Lily's eyes brimmed with tears. Her hands balled into fists at her sides as if she might decide to haul off and punch Eddy right in the nose. Instead, her tears began to fall. Her body trembled with the force of her grief. Samantha recognized her genuine sorrow.
“Oh Lily,” she said gently. “You two were in love, weren't you?”
“You're falling for this?” Eddy asked incredulously.
Samantha shot him a look of impatience. Then she looked back at Lily. “I'm sorry that he's gone, Lily,” she spoke gently.
Lily began to cry. Samantha grabbed a tissue from the desk and offered it to her. Lily took it and dabbed lightly at her eyes.
“I still can't believe it,” she whispered. “I can't believe that he's gone, after all that we've been through.”
Eddy shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. It was clear that he was still trying to adjust to the change of mood in the room.
“Just tell me what happened, Lily. I want to get justice for Vince, just like you do,” Samantha said as soothingly as she could.
“Vince and I were together a while ago. We were going to get married. But things didn't work out. Even though we weren't engaged anymore, we still remained best friends. When I started having problems, I turned to Vince to help me.” She wiped at her eyes and shook her head. “I didn't ever think that it would come to this. I don't know what happened to Vince, I only hope it wasn't my fault.”
“What trouble did you get into?” Eddy asked. “Is that why you were stealing?”
“I'm not admitting to anything about that. The truth is I got into gambling. I thought if I could win enough money then I could change my life. But all I did was lose, over and over.” She wiped her eyes again and then looked up at the ceiling. “Vince warned me not to get in too deep, but I just kept getting i
n deeper.”
“That's when Maury got involved?” Samantha frowned.
“Yes, I went to him for a loan to cover my debt. I was really struggling. I knew that I had a problem. Maury gave me the loan, but then he started acting like he owned me. I was scared of what he might try to make me do. I was under scrutiny here, and I had no money, so I turned to Vince. He understood. He helped me,” she said with despair. “He told me that it was my chance to get things right, and that I should pay everything off and start with a clean slate.” Her chin trembled with grief. “He wanted me to have the chance he never did.”
“Sounds like he was looking out for you.” Samantha smiled sympathetically.
“He was.” Lily nodded. “The funny thing is, I broke up with him because I didn't like what he was involved in. Then I ended up getting into illegal things, too.”
“What do you mean, what he was involved in?” Eddy asked. His eyes narrowed as he sensed she was about to provide information that they needed to hear.
Lily pursed her lips. She looked thoughtful for a moment. “It doesn't matter now, does it?” She looked from Eddy to Samantha. “He's gone, so why does it matter?”
“It matters because right now there is a man in jail, Simon, who did not kill Vince,” Samantha spoke in a firm tone and locked eyes with Lily. “You know that he did not do it.”
“Simon wouldn't hurt anyone.” Lily cast her eyes towards the desk and sighed. “But I don't know who killed Vince. Dragging his name through the mud isn't going to change that.”
“Who are you scared of, Lily?” Eddy abruptly asked. His tone was stern but almost paternal. “Who has you frightened enough that you would let someone who cared about you go to the grave without justice?”
Lily met Eddy's eyes with tears shadowing her own. “People like us don't care about justice, Eddy. We know that it doesn't exist. Vince was involved with some very dangerous people. He wouldn't want anyone else to pay for his mistakes. So no, I'm not going to name any names, and you're damn right, I'm scared. You two have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into. I suggest you stop looking into this before you both end up just like Vince.”
Eddy narrowed his eyes. He looked over at Samantha. Samantha nodded a little.
“I'm sorry for your loss, Lily,” Samantha murmured. “If you think of anything else that you might want to tell us, just let us know.”
As soon as they were out of the office Eddy turned to look at Samantha. “Do you think she's telling the truth? A gambling addict will do almost anything to get their next fix.”
“I do think that she's telling the truth. I don't think that grief like that can be faked.” She sighed. “But I'm not always the best judge. Why didn't you wait for me?”
“I thought you weren't coming.” He shrugged. “I didn't want her getting away without talking to her.”
“I understand,” Samantha acknowledged. “I just couldn't sleep last night. I was worried about so many things. Then when the sun came up I fell asleep for a little while.”
“It's not good that you're not sleeping, Samantha,” he spoke quietly as he turned to look at her. “Maybe this is all too much for you? Why don't you let Walt and me handle it for a while?”
“I don't think so.” Samantha laughed. “I'm not going to wait for someone to tell me that everything is fine. I want to be involved. I just don't know where to start now. Do you?”
“I think we need to take a short break from the case. We need to come back at it with a fresh mind. There is something in all of this mess that makes sense, that makes a connection. We just have to be able to see clearly to find it.” He glanced towards the parking lot. “I'm going to go for a drive. Why don't you get some sleep? Then we can meet at Walt's to discuss things. He is another set of eyes that can help sort through everything.”
“All right.” Samantha nodded. She was tempted to ask to join him for the drive, but she knew that he needed some quiet time to think. As she turned to walk back towards her villa she yawned. She really did need some sleep. She thought about Simon as she walked past a beautiful garden that he tended. It was still as bright and cheerful as ever, but Samantha knew that wouldn't last long. Without Simon's touch, the flowers would begin to fade. She unlocked the door of her villa, but before she could open her door, she heard someone calling her name. Samantha turned to see Jo walking up to her.
“How are you?” Jo asked.
“Not too great.” Samantha yawned again. “I didn't get much sleep last night.”
“I just wanted to check on you. How is the case progressing?” Jo pretended to just be asking casual questions, but Samantha could tell that she was genuinely curious which surprised Samantha because Jo seemed so adamant that she stay out of the case.
“We've hit some roadblocks,” Samantha acknowledged. “It's more complicated than we expected.”
“Well, I'll poke around a bit, and see if there's anything I can turn up,” Jo offered. Samantha thought about what Lily had said about the danger they were all in.
“If you do, Jo, be careful. We're not entirely sure what we're dealing with.” Samantha shuddered. “Whoever did this was pretty ruthless.”
“I'll be careful,” Jo said. “I'll let you know if I find anything. Try to get some rest.”
“Thanks Jo.” Samantha let herself into her villa and then closed the door. It meant a lot that Jo had come to check on her. She just hoped that she wasn't pulling Jo into something too dangerous.
Chapter 10
After a short nap, Samantha woke to the sun setting. She blinked a few times as she tried to figure out why she was waking up at twilight. Then everything came rushing back to her. She sat up and yawned. She was still pretty tired, but she was curious about what Walt and Eddy might have found.
Samantha was lost in thought as she walked along the path towards Walt's villa. In the past she would have been on full alert while walking alone in the dark. Since she had become accustomed to the security of Sage Gardens she had begun to let her guard down. Now and then she felt an urge to protect herself, but most of the time she felt as if she was walking through her own backyard.
When Samantha noticed something out of the corner of her eye, she dismissed it at first as palm fronds brushing across the side of a villa. A moment later it registered that the shadows she had seen had a distinctively human shape. She felt uneasy as she thought of the possibilities. Despite the fact that Sage Gardens was a gated community there was always the risk of someone breaking in. There hadn't been any recent break-ins, but with the laid back nature of most of the residents, they might be viewed as easy targets.
Samantha decided to double back and check. Her mind filled with images of what might happen to her if she was in her villa alone and someone broke in. She would hope that someone walking by would notice. She knew that the villa belonged to a much older gentleman by the name of Bill. He was getting weaker in his old age and required a bit more attention than most of the residents. Samantha reasoned that perhaps one of his nurses was responsible for the shadows that she had seen. But there was always the possibility that was not the case.
As she walked up towards the villa, she heard a scuffling sound from inside. Her heart froze. It felt as if it refused to beat. Fear coursed through her as the door burst open and two men rushed out past her. She could only tell that they were men, and nothing else about them, as they wore long, dark clothing and thick, black masks. Samantha jumped back as they blazed past her. Her heart began pounding again, hard. The door to the villa was still hanging slightly open. She fumbled for her phone. As she pulled it out of her purse she poked her head inside the villa. It was very dark.
“Hello?” Her voice carried through the shadows. “Is anyone home?”
She received no answer. She dialed Eddy's number. He answered on the first ring.
“Samantha?”
“Eddy, I think Bill Green's villa just got broken into.”
“What? Are the police there?” Eddy asked.
> “No, I called you first. The men who broke in are gone.”
“What's going on here?” The voice drifted from behind Samantha. She turned to find Bill standing a few feet away.
“Bill! I'm so glad that you're okay.” She sighed with relief.
“I'll be right there.” Eddy hung up the phone. Samantha tucked her phone back into her purse.
“Of course I'm okay. I just went to the late buffet. What are you doing here, Samantha? Why is my door open?” He moved past her to look more closely at the door.
“I was walking by and I saw some movement around your villa. I came to check it out and two men ran out! We need to call the police.” Samantha started to reach for her phone again. She was feeling so flustered that she couldn't figure out what she should do next.
“No, no police,” Bill said sternly.
“Why no police?” Eddy asked. He walked up to the pair at a brisk pace.
“Look, I just don't want the trouble. There's nothing in my villa that anyone would want. I have an old television, a broken DVD player and an assortment of coffee mugs. Nothing worth any money. I'll take a look around, but I'm sure they realized there was nothing of value inside.”
“Let me go in with you.” Eddy walked up to the door with him.
“Be careful,” Samantha spoke with concern.
As the two men disappeared into the villa, Samantha looked around the outside. She was searching for some sign of how the two men had broken in. She knew that she had seen their shadows on the outside of the villa when she was walking up. That meant they must have gotten inside rather quickly. She did not find any open windows or other signs of a break-in. When she walked back around the other side of the house Eddy and Bill were stepping back outside.
“It doesn't look like anything was taken.” Eddy frowned.
“Why would someone break in and not take anything?” Samantha asked.
“Maybe you scared them off,” Eddy replied. He glanced over his shoulder at the villa. “They probably saw you coming and decided to get out before you could catch them.”