Birthdays Can Be Deadly

by Cindy Bell

  “Uh,” Dale frowned and glanced sideways to make sure that no one was close enough to hear him. “I'm not really sure what his name was. I think he's new around here. I know he's a resident, but I'm not sure where he lives.”

  “Lying to me again?” Eddy demanded as he moved closer to Dale.

  “No way,” Dale said swiftly. “You said you weren't going to turn me in, I'm not going to jerk you around.”

  “I said I wouldn't turn you in, as long as you mended your ways,” Eddy corrected him. “So have you?”

  “I'm working on it,” Dale replied with some honesty. “I'm not lying to you. I don't know who the guy was.”

  “Did he have anything in his hands?” Eddy pressed. “You said it looked like he was stealing something, the last time I spoke to you. Did you see what it was?”

  Dale closed his eyes for a moment as if he was trying to remember exactly what he had seen. When he opened them again, he nodded.

  “Yes, I remember now,” he frowned. “It was a bottle. Maybe a wine bottle.”

  “A wine bottle,” Eddy repeated with disbelief. If the bottle of wine was poisoned then Dale had to be describing James' killer. “What did the guy look like?” Eddy asked eagerly.

  “I don't know,” Dale sighed. “I don't want to get in the middle of anything.”

  “Can't you remember anything about him?” Eddy demanded impatiently. Dale seemed to notice the shift in Eddy's demeanor and cleared his throat.

  “All I know for sure was that I've seen him around since. I just don't know where he lives. I know where just about everyone around here lives. So, I'm guessing he's a fairly new resident,” he lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “That's the best that I can do.”

  “I'm sure it is,” Eddy replied with vague annoyance. “Just do me a favor, and no more stealing, okay?”

  “Okay,” Dale nodded. “If it keeps me out of jail, I'll stay on the straight and narrow.”

  “You do that,” Eddy insisted.

  As he walked away from Dale he dialed Samantha's number for the second time that morning. This time when she answered she sounded much more alert.

  “Samantha, don't bother questioning any more of the guests,” Eddy said in a rush as he walked quickly towards her villa. “I think I know who the killer is.”

  “You do?” Samantha asked with elation. “Who is it?”

  “It's the new resident Frank,” Eddy said sternly.

  “Frank?” Samantha asked and then shook her head slightly. “I don't think that could be true. I spoke with Frank while we were at the party and after James died I checked to see he was okay.”

  “And?” Eddy asked. “Does that make him innocent?”

  “Well no,” Samantha said. She opened her door to find Eddy standing on her front porch. Eddy hung up his phone. Samantha hung up hers. “All I'm saying is that he didn't seem like a killer. Whatever was between Frank and James, James apologized for.”

  “Saying sorry doesn't always make it better,” Eddy said grimly. “I think we need to figure out what exactly James was apologizing for, and whether it was worth murdering James over,” Eddy said. “Dale, the guy who actually stole the watch said he saw Frank leaving James' room with a bottle of wine after he died.”

  “Then they wouldn't have found the wine in James' room,” Samantha said with concern. “How do you know that your thief didn't also murder James? Maybe he thought he could get some good items from James' room if he was dead. Or maybe Mike even paid him to do it.”

  “I'm not saying that it's impossible,” Eddy said and shook his head. “But we already know that there was some difficulty between James and Frank. I think getting to the bottom of that might give us a clearer idea of what happened.”

  “I can do that,” Samantha offered. “Research is my specialty.”

  “Good,” Eddy nodded and then glanced over at her. “Did you say you and Frank spoke a lot?”

  “Not really,” she replied with a mild shrug. “Like I said, he seemed nice enough.”

  “Murderers sometimes do,” Eddy frowned. “Let me know what you find out. I'm going to see if Walt found out anything more from digging into the financials.”

  “Okay,” Samantha nodded. “I'll update you.”

  “Good,” Eddy started to turn towards the door and then stopped. He turned back to face Samantha.

  “Have you heard anything from Jo?”

  “Not since yesterday,” Samantha said. “How did you leave things with her?”

  “Does it matter?” he asked. “She's a criminal.”

  “She was a criminal,” Samantha corrected him.

  “Really, Samantha?” Eddy asked and shook his head. “You know as well as I do that people don't just change like that.”

  “I know as well as you do that until you know someone's entire story, you don't know that person. Maybe there is more to Jo than you think,” Samantha frowned. “She did help us out after all.”

  “Not without a price I'm sure,” he said gravely.

  “One of these days, Eddy, you're going to have to take a chance on someone,” Samantha said knowingly. “I just hope that when you do, it's the right person.”

  “Is that another one of your riddles?” Eddy asked and raised an eyebrow.

  “You'll see,” Samantha said with confidence. “I'm going to go to the library to look into things.”

  “All right, just be careful,” Eddy said. “Right now Frank could be anywhere. If he's the killer, he might not like us sniffing into his past.”

  “I'll be careful,” Samantha promised. Eddy nodded and then walked out of her villa. Samantha grabbed her purse and headed out as well.

  Chapter Twelve

  The library had once been Samantha's favorite place. When she was a girl she would spend hours reading there. When she got older she would study there. When she started her career as a journalist she would often write at the library. It was a safe place to her, quiet and insulated, a place where she had never heard anyone raise their voice. As she settled into a seat in front of one of the computers, she knew that she could have done the research she needed to at home. But she preferred to be surrounded by the scent of books and the insulation of the library.

  Samantha began looking into James' past. She wanted to find out how James and Frank’s lives had converged in their past. As she was sorting through the information she could find on James year by year, she began to get to know the man even more. He had lived a mild but lonely life. She saw a marriage on record from when he was much younger and had ended after only five years. He had one son, Michael, with his wife. Samantha frowned as she sat back in her chair. She studied the information on the screen. She had heard of marriages breaking up quickly, but something about the timing of this marriage felt off. Why had James and his wife ended things when their child was only a few years old? Samantha managed to gain access to some information regarding the divorce. It was a contentious one, in which James was accused of infidelity.

  “That was probably why Mike had a problem with him,” Samantha said quietly and made a note in her notebook. “But it still doesn't explain where Frank comes in.”

  She decided to do some research on Frank during the same year that James divorced his wife. What she discovered was surprising. Frank had a record. He had been arrested on a domestic disturbance. However, the charges were later dropped.

  “Interesting,” Samantha said to herself with a smirk.

  Samantha placed a phone call to a friend in records at the police department.

  “Martha, hi,” she said when her friend answered. “I was wondering if you could give me some information about a domestic incident.”

  “Sure, but make it quick, I'm in the middle of a sea of paperwork,” Martha replied dismally.

  “I appreciate it, Martha,” Samantha said.

  “No problem, I'm sure it's for a groundbreaking article of yours,” Martha said with warmth in her voice.

  “I don't know how groundbreaking it will be
, but it might just put a killer behind bars,” Samantha offered in return.

  “Hmm, well give me the case file number and the date, I will look it up right now,” Martha said.

  Samantha rattled off the information that Martha needed. Then she waited as Martha searched the records for the file.

  “Oh wow, this is ancient,” Martha said. “Okay, the report states that it was a domestic incident. Apparently, Frank came home early from work and found his best friend James in bed with his wife. Frank was accused of physically assaulting James, and hurling furniture at his wife.”

  “Does it say why the charges were dropped?” Samantha asked curiously.

  “It looks like both victims refused to press charges, and the prosecutor's office decided it wasn't worth pursuing,” Martha replied. “You do realize that this happened over thirty years ago?”

  “Yes,” Samantha replied. “Sometimes old wounds still hurt.”

  “If there was ever a wound that would keep on hurting, this would be it,” Martha sighed. “From the details of Frank's statement he was heartbroken and just lost his mind.”

  “I wonder if it's still lost,” Samantha mused softly.

  “Anything else you need?” Martha asked.

  “I'll let you know,” Samantha replied. “Thanks, Martha.”

  “Anything for you, Sam,” Martha said before hanging up the phone. Samantha hung up as well and sat back in the wooden chair. She stared at the picture on the screen of Frank as a young man. He was handsome then as well. She turned her attention back to James. She discovered that not only had James divorced his wife about the same time Frank divorced his, James had wasted no time re-marrying. Within a year he was legally married to Frank's ex-wife. Samantha cringed as she was sure that was a fairly good motive for Frank to kill James. She gathered her purse and shut down the website she had been using. She nodded to the librarian on her way out the door. When she reached the parking lot she dialed Eddy's number.

  “We all need to get together and talk,” she said. “I found some very interesting information.”

  “Walt's place?” Eddy suggested.

  “I'll be there in ten minutes,” Samantha replied before hanging up. As she started her car she wondered just how dangerous the ground was that she was treading on. If Frank was willing to kill James to get revenge, would he be willing to kill again to keep his secret?

  ***

  Walt set three mugs of steaming tea down on the small dinette table in the corner of his kitchen. He made sure to place each one on a coaster on the table.

  “Honey? Milk?” he offered as he looked between Eddy and Samantha.

  “No, thank you,” Eddy said.

  “A little honey please,” Samantha requested with a smile. Once they were settled around the table Samantha shared with Eddy and Walt the details that she had discovered.

  “With the history that James and Frank shared, it would not surprise me that Frank murdered him,” Samantha said before taking a sip of her tea.

  “Let's make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves,” Eddy said and tapped the table top sharply with his pointer finger. “It's easy to get caught up in the momentum of things and jump to the wrong conclusion.”

  “You're right, just because it adds up doesn't mean that it's correct. We know that James had an affair with Frank's wife, and then married her,” Walt said with a grave frown.

  “We also know that James apologized to Frank the moment he saw him,” Samantha added. “Which means that the wound between them had festered for over thirty years. James must have been carrying that guilt if he was so quick to apologize.”

  “And, it appears that James and Frank were best friends prior to the affair,” Eddy sighed. “So, there was obviously a lot of emotional damage. That kind of emotional damage led to Frank getting charged with domestic violence.”

  “But the charges were dropped,” Samantha reminded him. “So, it can be assumed that James and Frank's wife, feeling guilty for what they did, decided not to make it worse by pressing charges.”

  “However, within a year they added insult to injury by getting married to each other,” Walt said with mild disgust. “That doesn't sound like friendship to me.”

  “They must have really been in love,” Samantha said thoughtfully.

  “Being in love doesn't excuse betrayal,” Walt said sharply. Samantha glanced up at him with surprise. He rarely spoke to her in such a tone. Eddy noticed it too and grimaced.

  “It may not excuse it, but it happened,” Eddy said calmly, hoping to discharge the tension. “So, we now have a pretty strong motive on Frank's part.”

  “But, wait a minute,” Samantha said. “The only motive for Frank to kill James was the affair. But that took place over thirty years ago. Crimes of passion usually happen within the first twenty-four hours of the betrayal, not thirty years later.”

  “That's a good point,” Eddy nodded.

  “Betrayal can hurt the same years later,” Walt argued. “I think it's possible that Frank was still angry and decided to take his revenge.”

  “But there's still Mike,” Samantha pointed out. “Really, Frank wasn't the only person that James betrayed. He also cheated on his wife, and caused his family to be torn apart. Mike was only a young child when it happened, but it may have left a lasting impression on him. Perhaps he wanted to get revenge for the hurt his mother suffered, or maybe because James wasn't part of his life for so long.”

  “That's true,” Eddy muttered.

  “And Mike had the most to gain from killing James,” Walt reminded them. “He stood to inherit a fortune, while Frank wouldn't get a dime.”

  “Of course there's always the chance that it was someone else entirely or that it wasn’t even a murder,” Samantha added with a sigh. “This is like getting stuck in a revolving door. Without any real, solid evidence we have no real direction to go in,” she shook her head. “Maybe we should just take a break from the case for a little while. Give us time to think outside the box. Whenever I get stuck on an article I walk away for an hour or two, or even the day, to give my brain a chance to process. Usually it helps my focus to loosen up enough that I can think more clearly.”

  “That's a good idea,” Eddy agreed. “We're not going to solve this today. To be honest, until we find some other clue, we're not going to be doing anything other than going around in circles.”

  “I could use a break from it,” Walt admitted and drew a deep breath. “You two are used to this kind of thing, but this is my first murder investigation.”

  “All right, then it's agreed,” Eddy said. “We'll all take a break from it this afternoon. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can get an update from the medical examiner. Maybe if we can find out what kind of poison was used we can pinpoint who recently purchased it.”

  “Okay,” Walt nodded. “Do you think they'll open an investigation if the results come back positive for poison?”

  “I know they will,” Eddy replied. “Once they do it may be completely out of our hands. Detectives have rules and guidelines that they have to follow, or the case can be thrown out.”

  “So, whatever dirt we can get on Frank, we need to get it now,” Samantha said with some urgency. “Maybe a break isn't such a good idea.”

  “Then what do you propose?” Walt asked curiously.

  “Well,” Samantha frowned. “I guess we need to find out if Frank gave James the bottle of wine.”

  “If he did, and he went to the trouble of stealing the bottle back after James was dead, then he might have kept the bottle,” Eddy said with mounting excitement. “If we find that bottle we'll be able to prove that Frank was the one who poisoned James. There will probably be trace amounts of poison left in the bottle.”

  “I didn't notice it when I was in his villa,” Samantha said thoughtfully.

  “You were in his villa?” Eddy asked with surprise.

  “Yes, when I spoke to him after the party, I just wanted to make sure he was okay,” Samantha explained. “
You know I was good friends with the man, Baki, who used to live there, so I helped with his trashcan because it always gets stuck. Oh!” Samantha's eyes suddenly widened.

  “What?” Walt asked. Eddy leaned forward to listen.

  “I kept slamming the trashcan to get it to go into the cabinet the way it should, and when I did I heard a bottle clanging. I thought it was beer bottles, because there were some missing from the six pack in his fridge. But he got upset with me for trying to help. On my way out I noticed there were empty beer bottles on the table. Maybe it was the wine bottle in the trashcan?”

  “That's quite observant of you,” Walt said with admiration.

  “I always try to pay attention to small things,” Samantha explained. “It can make the biggest difference in an article.”

  “Yes, to an investigation as well,” Eddy agreed. “Do you really think the wine bottle was in there?”

  “That might explain why it wouldn't close,” Samantha said thoughtfully. “Usually it gets stuck on the track, but this time it was like something was blocking it. The wine bottle might have been too large for the small trashcan.”

  “Maybe it got wedged,” Eddy nodded.

  “Do you think it's still there?” Walt wondered out loud.

  “Well, there's one way to know for sure,” Eddy pointed out as he sat back on the wooden chair.

  “What way is that?” Walt questioned, obviously intrigued.

  Samantha looked over at Eddy curiously.

  “We break in, and we find the bottle,” Eddy uttered gravely. “If it's there, we have our proof, if it's not, we might at least find the poison that he used to kill James.”

  “You can't be serious,” Walt said and raised a thin eyebrow. “You're talking about breaking and entering, Eddy. You of all people should have respect for the law.”

  “I have plenty of respect for the law,” Eddy replied and snapped his eyes towards Walt with an offended expression. “I have zero respect for murderers. If Frank is responsible for James' death, I'm not going to let the law be the reason why he gets away with it.”