Madeleine nodded at my suggestion and tossed several cardboard boxes into the corner. “We’ll finish in the morning.”
Both of us agreed we were too tired and hungry to shower first, and if we didn’t, no restaurant would serve us. We sat on either end of my couch. We were so exhausted from the day’s work and all the emotional upheavals of the past few days that we each ate only one slice of the pie, but finished off the half gallon of iced tea I had in my fridge.
“Want to watch the evening news?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ll just pick up our plates and put them in the dishwasher first.” She got up from the couch.
“Leave them.”
We both slid back onto the couch pillows and put our feet up on my coffee table. I hit the TV remote.
The next thing I knew my phone awakened me. It was Alex.
“Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner.”
As I suspected, he’d been out late and had slept in this morning before he again took up surveilling a target.
After explaining that David had been denied bail, I asked if he’d be free to handle some PI work for our poor friend.
“Glad to do it. I’ll be out of here by this weekend. I’ll visit David then, and we’ll see if we can come up with any leads.”
“I can think of one.” I couldn’t keep the smug tone out of my voice.
“Could it be the same one I’m thinking of? Maybe he’s been set up by the parents of the kid he shot?” he asked.
Dang, the guy was good.
“I was just testing you to see if you were listening to the story Madeleine told us.”
“No you weren’t. You were trying to one up me. I didn’t get my PI’s license out of a cereal box, you know.”
A name on the television news diverted my attention away from Alex.
“The missing man’s car has been found on the county road leading to the casino outside of Sabal Bay. There is no sign of the man, but authorities suspect foul play.”
“I’ve got to run, Alex. Bye.” I made a kissing sound and ended the call.
Wide awake, Madeleine was sitting forward on the couch, intent on the newscaster’s report. “Poor Sammy.”
I punched in Sammy’s cell, but it went to voicemail.
“I’m going out there to see if there’s anything I can do.”
Madeleine jumped up off the coach and grabbed her jacket. “I’m coming with you.”
When we arrived at Grandfather Egret’s house next to the airboat business, the place was surrounded by trucks, cars, and police vehicles. I recognized the SUV that Frida usually drove, so I wasn’t surprised to see her when I entered the house. Madeleine and I each gave Grandfather Egret a quick hug. I approached Sammy, who stood among a group of Indians surrounding Frida and Linc, her partner. If these two were on the case, the news couldn’t be good.
Frida was speaking with a man who looked like he could be Sammy’s older brother, but when she saw me, she left the group and came over.
“Is he …?” I asked.
“We haven’t located him yet, but there was blood on the seat of his car.”
Sammy joined us. “You think he’s dead, don’t you?” He sounded more agitated than distressed.
“I don’t know yet, Mr. Egret. We don’t know what happened. The blood may not even be his.” Frida didn’t react to Sammy’s anger. From the expression on Sammy’s face it was clear he was looking for someone to strike out at, and Frida was right in front of him, an easy target for his feelings of impotence and worry.
“We all need to remain calm while we try to put the pieces together. Bernard was supposed to be at college in Orlando. Can you think of any reason why his car would be out near the casino?” Frida was so smart. She’d solicited Sammy’s help, making him feel useful rather than confrontational.
“According to his roommate, he got a bad grade on a math test. It’s possible he wanted to come home to talk with his family about it.”
“The casino is hardly on his way home,” Frida said.
One of the young Miccosukee men moved over to us. “Detective? I’m Edward Smith. Bernard was my cousin and best friend. He wasn’t coming home to talk to his family about a test score. He told me on the phone he was heading home, but not to talk about a bad grade. He was going to tell them he had quit college.”
Chapter 9
“Bernard was such a good student, and we all thought he loved college. Why would he just up and quit?” Sammy looked shocked at the news.
The man I thought resembled Sammy, only older, turned out to be Bernard’s father, Bill, and Sammy’s half-brother. He had overheard what Edward said to us.
“That can’t be true, Eddie,” Bill said. “We talked to him last week and he said he intended to change his major from computer science to sociology. He wanted a course of study more people-oriented.”
The woman at his side introduced herself to me as Bernard’s mother, Angela. “I’m so confused by all of this. I felt like there was something he wasn’t telling us, but I thought maybe it was about a girl.”
The young man who introduced himself as Bernard’s best friend Eddie shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His glance moved across the room to the people on the other side then back again to us. He did not look happy, more like he’d prefer a sinkhole to swallow him up rather than remain here.
Frida caught the fight-or-flight look in his eyes and put out her hand to restrain him. “You have something else you want to tell us?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? You’re not hiding anything that might help us find him? He could be in danger. It looked to me as if someone hijacked his car and attacked him too. You could help him. Maybe save his life,” she said.
Eddie’s eyes widened, then filled with tears.
Sammy put his hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “We’re not blaming you. Tell us what you know.”
Eddie drew in a breath deep enough to suck the oxygen out of the room; then he let the air out of his lungs, and with it, an avalanche of words.
“Bernard went to the casino with some friends the first week of school and won a lot of money. They all went back the next weekend. He admitted he lost that time, but he kept going back. He told me he knew it was just a matter of time before his luck turned, and he’d make back his book money—”
Bernard’s father interrupted him. “He gambled away the money we gave him to buy his books?”
Eddie nodded and continued, “Then he heard about a private game.”
“From whom?” Sammy asked.
“I don’t know,” Eddie said. “I think it was one of his gambling friends, but I don’t know. He was supposed to go there, then come home. He thought he’d be coming home with a lot of money. I told him that was crazy, but he wouldn’t listen. I think he was in too deep to pull out.”
Frida, who had been scribbling notes, interrupted him. “Maybe he did win, and someone followed him home to rob him of his money. We need to talk to these college buddies. Do you know their names?”
Eddie shook his head.
“Well, I guess we’re going to need to find out.” She sighed, and I knew she was thinking of the footwork she and Linc would have to do trying to find out who had befriended Bernard then led him astray.
After speaking a little longer with Bernard’s parents, Frida and Linc left. Sammy stopped them on their way out.
“I assume you’ll be visiting Bernard’s college tonight?”
“Not tonight, Sammy, but first thing tomorrow, when the offices are open and we can get access to records and information about Bernard’s classes and the full name of his roommate. No one is answering the phone in his residence hall right now. All we know is that the roommate’s first name is Oscar.”
Sammy nodded and followed them out the door. I followed Sammy and caught him standing on the path to the airboat business.
“You’re going up there tonight yourself, aren’t you?”
“Let me go with you, Uncle Sammy.
” Eddie had joined us on the pathway.
“No. Go home.” Sammy started to walk toward his truck, which sat near the tiki hut.
Eddie caught up and danced in front of him. “There’s something I didn’t tell the cops.”
Sammy paused and I could read his expression by the light of the rising moon. He was not happy, but willing to let Eddie speak.
“His roommate’s name is Oscar Bundy. He was the one who introduced Bernard to the guys who hooked him up with the private game. Bernard told me Oscar works the nightshift at the convenience store just a block south of the campus’ west entrance.” Eddie grinned. “So, how about it? Can I go now? I gave you the best lead, didn’t I? Better than what the cops have.”
“No.” Sammy continued to walk toward his truck.
Eddie watched him, then hung his head and walked back toward the house. But Eddie had given me an idea. I ran up to Sammy as he started to open the truck door.
“Eddie’s right. You could use some help.”
“And what use would you be?” he asked.
I could have been insulted by his question, but I decided it was better to put my ego aside and make my case.
“What college kid is going to talk to some huge Miccosukee Indian who appears out of the dead of night and wants to know about another missing Indian? You’ll scare the bejesus out of him. When you’re in a good mood and smiling, you scare the pants off most folks. Let me talk to him.”
“I might as well let Frida at him tomorrow.”
“No, no, no. She’s a cop, and if he’s in any way involved in Bernard’s disappearance, he’ll be covering his own ass.”
Sammy’s black eagle eyes pierced my sassy Eve armor, but I returned his look with one promising simple friendship. He must have seen the truth of what I was saying.
“Go back and make up some story for Madeleine. I’m leaving here in five minutes with or without you,” he said.
That would be with me.
“So what did you tell Madeleine?”
“I told her we wanted to be together.”
Sammy almost ran the truck off the road. “What? Are you out of your mind?”
I chuckled. “Naw. I told her you were upset and wanted to talk.”
“That’s almost as bad.”
I thought about it. He was right. Alone with a handsome Indian. Talking? Who would believe that? I hoped Madeleine’s naïveté would allow her to buy my excuse. And I hoped she would keep it to herself.
“Madeleine will believe it.”
“Why should she?”
I didn’t want to examine that question too closely. Did he mean Madeleine would be unlikely to believe we were only talking because she had picked up some attraction I had for Sammy or because she’d picked up on Sammy’s attraction to me? I looked over at him. We were attracted to each other, but we’d danced around that feeling, never talking about it. I decided it was better not to think about this complication too deeply. Now was not the time to have a conversation about “us.”
“Madeleine will believe me because she knows I wouldn’t get sexy with any guy tonight—not smelling the way I do. I just spent the day in ninety degree heat packing up the store. Neither Madeleine nor I had time to grab a shower. I’m not romance material right now.”
Sammy gave a barely perceptible sniff. “I wondered.”
“Do I smell that bad?” I lifted my arm and smelled myself. Kind of stale, but that might have come from Sammy’s truck.
“You smell different from the way you usually do.” He gave me a quick look, then peered ahead into the darkness of the road leading north.
Sammy was a true gentleman.
We stopped at YeeHaw Junction, where I ducked into the ladies’ room. Removing my shirt, I splashed cold water on myself and used a bit of the strong-smelling yellow soap in the dispenser to do a quick wash-up.
There. All better. Now I smelled like truck stop restroom.
We drove around and around a city that was mostly motels, hotels, and restaurants catering to the tourist trade. When we finally located the campus, we noticed a convenience store near one of the entrances to the college. The store was at the end of a small strip mall.
“This has to be the one.” Sammy pulled his truck into the lot and parked at the other end of the line of stores.
“You stay here. I’ll go and see if the guy is there.” I got out and started for the store. I heard the driver’s side door open. Sammy was right behind me.
“You won’t know what to ask,” he said.
“We agreed on this. I’ll call on you if I need scary muscle. Until then, stay out of sight.” I waited until he got back into the truck. Huh. Like I’d never interrogated anyone before. Like I’d never been involved in sleuthing out a killer.
There was only one guy behind the counter in the store. No customers. He was the right age for a college kid—late teens, early twenties—and he was reading what college kids might read. A comic book. Several textbooks lay on the counter to one side.
“Hi. You Oscar?” I asked.
“Who are you?” His tone was light, not suspicious, perhaps just curious at being accosted by a stranger knowing his name.
“I’m Eve.” I held out my hand. He took it, and we shook. He gave me one of those damp, limp handshakes and a slight smile.
“Maybe you can help me.” I put on my friendliest face. “You’re Bernard’s roommate, right?”
His smile disappeared, replaced now by a cautious look, but he nodded.
“Do you know where he is?”
“Went home, I guess.”
“I just talked with his parents, and they haven’t seen him. And his car was found abandoned near the casino.”
Sweat glistened on his top lip. He swallowed. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Did you know he was missing?”
“No.”
“Do you think he went off with his gambling buddies?”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“But you were the one who introduced him to those guys, right?”
He was about to open his mouth when I interrupted him. “So far I don’t think you’ve outright lied to me, but now I’d guess you’re about to. I think it would be better if you told me the truth. See that truck out there?” I pointed to Sammy’s vehicle. Oscar leaned over the counter to get a better look outside; then his gaze fastened back on me. I waved at Sammy. He got out of the truck.
“And see that big guy?”
Oscar gulped and nodded. Now sweat began to trickle down the sides of his face.
“If you don’t lie to me, we can have this chat, just the two of us. Otherwise, you’ll be talking to that guy. He’s Bernard’s uncle, and he’s kind of perturbed at white folks right now, especially those who are in any way responsible for his nephew’s disappearance. Like you, Oscar.”
“But I don’t know ….”
I waved at Sammy again, and he began walking toward the store.
“Okay, okay. Bernard and I went to the casino, and he won a lot of money, then next time he lost. Some guys I knew from back home were there. They approached me and said they could help out Bernard. They knew of a high stakes private game, and with Bernard’s skill, he could be a winner.”
Sammy continued to walk toward the store.
“And you believed them? I suppose you believe in Santa and the tooth fairy too.”
Oscar wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand. “Listen, these guys are bad dudes. I didn’t have any choice. They would have messed me up good if I didn’t say what they wanted.”
“Then what?”
Sammy now stood at the door.
“They went off together. Bernard came back to the room later, saying he’d won and was back in the game that night. I didn’t see much of him after that.”
Sammy pushed open the door. The harsh fluorescent lights of the store accentuated the frown lines around his mouth. With his dark skin and long black hair, he looked
like a warrior. I wondered if Oscar was thinking what I was. The Florida tribes have never signed a peace treaty, and Sammy looked as if he was about to take up the battle once more.
“When did Bernard’s gambling begin?” I asked.
“About a month ago. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know he’d get in so deep with these guys.”
“Oscar set him up with some guys,” I said to Sammy.
Sammy approached the counter and leaned over, his face inches from Oscar’s. “I’d like to meet these guys.”
Oscar shook his head. “No you wouldn’t. They’re bad dudes, into stuff I don’t want to know about.”
Sammy didn’t break his gaze with Oscar. “I’m a bad dude, too. And you don’t want to know what I can do if you piss me off. And you’re pissing me off.”
Oscar’s hands began to tremble. He stuffed them in his pockets, but that only drew attention to the shaking of his arms and legs. “Okay, okay. Meet me at the casino tomorrow about nine, and I’ll point them out to you. But keep low, would you? I don’t want them to know we’re together. They’d be suspicious.”
Sammy didn’t move a muscle, but seemed to be considering Oscar’s offer. “The police will be here tomorrow questioning you, and you won’t want to tell them you talked to me.”
Oscar shook his head. “No sir.”
“But you will want to tell them the truth, won’t you?”
Oscar nodded.
“And you might want to arrange for them to meet your pals at some time later than nine tomorrow. When I’m through with them.”
“Right.” Oscar’s voice came out thin and squeaky.
Sammy straightened up and gave the store a casual once-over. “Thirsty, Eve? I am. Oscar, how about two of those Slurpees there for me and my lady?”
Sammy broke into laughter when we got back into the truck. “I can play a pretty good bad guy, can’t I?”
“You had me fooled. I told him you were an Indian with a grudge against white folks, but I’ve never seen you so fierce.”
A Sporting Murder Page 7
