Birthdays Can Be Deadly (9 page)

Eddy leaned against the top of the car, his eyes locked on Jo's. He let her words hang in the air for a moment before he spoke.

“I'm not the police,” he said calmly. “Even if I was, I thought you were ready to turn your life around, Joanne? Why would you care what a criminal thinks of you?”

Jo glared at him and jerked open the passenger side door. She ignored him as she settled into the seat. Eddy afforded her silence, and she did the same, and started the engine. He knew he had ruffled her feathers. As he drove back towards Sage Gardens she continued to fume. After a few minutes the tension seemed to subside.

“Who do you think it was that stole the watch?” she asked.

He didn't look in her direction. “That's not really your concern, is it?”

“I helped you find out who it was, didn't I?” she shot a look of animosity towards him. Eddy continued to stare out through the windshield.

“You did your part,” he said evenly as he pulled into Sage Gardens. “Now, I'll do mine.”

“What are you going to do?” Jo asked as she stepped out of the car.

“Never mind that,” Eddy shrugged off her attention and began walking away from the car.

“Wait, maybe I can help,” Jo offered as she quickened her pace to catch up with him.

“Oh, you're feeling particularly charitable today?” he asked and glanced over at her with distaste. “You've done enough.”

“Apparently not,” Jo shot back with obvious frustration. “You don't seem to be giving me any credit for it.”

“Credit?” he retorted. “You're lucky I don't turn you into the police.”

“I didn't do anything wrong,” Jo growled.

“You associated with a known criminal,” Eddy pointed out with a mild shrug. “With my say so, you could end up back in jail for quite a bit longer than you have left to live.”

“You really are a jerk, you know that?” Jo snapped. “Forget it. I knew that I was making a mistake when I offered to help. None of your kind will ever see me as anything but a criminal no matter what I do.”

“What do you care?” he questioned roughly.

“I don't,” she shook her head and stomped away.

Eddy turned and walked across the main square towards the main office. When he reached the door he was relieved to find it unlocked. He pushed the door open.

“Where's Dale?” he asked the woman who was sitting behind the desk. He didn't recognize her, but that didn't surprise him, as the owners had been using temporary workers lately.

“I think he's cleaning 32,” the woman replied slowly as if she wasn't sure if she should be giving him the information.

Eddy didn't wait to hear another word from her. He turned and walked out of the office. He walked straight towards the villa where Dale should have been working. He spotted the small, white golf cart parked outside the villa stocked with an assortment of cleaning products. Eddy walked quietly up to the door of the villa which was propped open. He paused just outside the door and looked inside. He could hear Dale moving around inside.

“I need to speak to you,” he said sternly.

He heard something hit the ground. “Dale,” Eddy said again sharply. “I need to speak with you.”

Dale reluctantly walked up to the door.

“What?” he asked with defiance.

“I know what you did,” Eddy growled.

“What are you talking about?” Dale demanded and started to back up further into the house.

“I know you stole his watch, did you poison him, too?” Eddy barked out.

“Poison? Are you crazy?” Dale’s voice rose. “You have no idea what you're saying.”

“I know exactly what I'm saying,” Eddy shot back and grabbed Dale by the wrist. He jerked his wrist until his arm was straight, revealing the snake tattoo that was hiding beneath the sleeve of his shirt.

“The fence identified you, Dale,” Eddy explained as Dale yanked his wrist out of Eddy's grasp.

“All right, all right,” Dale grimaced. “Really, it was a victimless crime. You know the pay here is nothing,” Dale said dismissively. “I can't survive on it. I knew how loaded James was. He would always brag to me about it while I was cleaning his villa. He liked to talk about how he could buy and sell the entire Sage Gardens if he wanted to.”

“And?” Eddy asked as he stared at the young man incredulously.

“And, when he died, I just,” he frowned and shook his head. “I mean it wasn't like he was going to miss it. Right?”

“Dale,” Eddy sighed. His lips drew into a thin line of disappointment as he studied the young man. “You stole it?”

“I took it,” Dale corrected him. “I mean, James liked me. If he had known he was going to die, he might have given me the watch.”

“But he didn't,” Eddy said sharply. “He didn't give anything to you. You stole it.”

“Have you ever been in my shoes?” Dale demanded. “I have rent to pay. How am I supposed to do that with this dead-end job? I needed something to just get me by until next month. I don't think that's such a terrible thing.”

“It is a terrible thing,” Eddy snapped back. “I've been in your shoes, pal. I've worked my whole life, and I have never stolen from anyone. I always paid my bills on time, even if it meant I had to pull extra shifts or miss out on the things I wanted to do.”

“Oh right, of course you did, back when rent was about a dollar a day,” he waved his hand dismissively.

“A dollar a day?” Eddy growled in return. “Just how old do you think I am?”

“I don't care,” Dale said and glared at Eddy. “The point is that you are never going to understand where I'm coming from.”

“No, I'm not,” Eddy replied gruffly. “Because I am not a thief.”

“Are you sure about that?” Dale chuckled. “So high and mighty like you've never made a mistake in your life. I wasn't even the only one casing the room. Someone got there before me. He was leaving when I was walking up. So, it's not like I was the only one. Go ahead, call the cops on me, get me fired. What's the difference? My life isn't going anywhere.”

“Maybe it would if you made an effort,” Eddy challenged him. “I've made more mistakes than I care to recount, but I can tell you none of those mistakes ever led to me breaking the law. Instead, every time I messed up, I searched for a way to fix it. I learned, I grew, but I didn't steal.”

“Whatever, spare me the lecture. Just do what you have to do and get me locked up,” Dale shook his head. Eddy pulled out his phone. He was just about to call the police, when he remembered what Jo had said to him. Keep your enemies close. Dale had admitted to stealing the watch. But that didn't make him a murderer. Slowly he slid his phone back into his pocket.

“All right, Dale, I'm going to give you a chance to make up for what you've done,” Eddy said grimly.

“What?” Dale stared at him in shock. “What do I have to do?”

“All I want you to do is pay attention. Listen in on conversations. Notice who is coming and who is going. I don’t think James died of a heart attack, I think someone poisoned him, and now to make up for you stealing his watch, you're going to help figure out who did it,” Eddy said with confidence.

“I don't know,” Dale hesitated. “I don't want to make a murderer angry.”

“Well, the way I see it, Dale, you have two choices. You can either make a murderer angry, or you can make me angry,” Eddy raised his eyebrows. “Lock up is one phone call away.”

“Fine,” Dale sighed. “I'll do it. I'll find out what I can,” he paused a moment and studied Eddy intently. “You're really not going to turn me in?”

“Not just yet,” Eddy replied darkly. Then he walked away.

When Eddy got back to his villa he had a decision to make. He could tell Samantha and Walt what he had learned about Dale, or he could keep it to himself. He was more than a little concerned that if he told them about Dale, they would want to have him arrested. Eddy knew that he should have him arrested. But he was hoping that Dale's desperation would prove to be valuable in the search for the murderer.

Eddy was just about to settle into bed to try to get some rest when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the ID on the screen and found that it was Owen.

“Hey, Owen,” Eddy said as he answered the phone.

“Eddy, what's going on?” Owen asked with some urgency.

“Is something wrong, Owen?” Eddy asked and sat up in his bed.

“I heard from some of the staff that you've been tearing through the place, making demands,” Owen said quickly. “The office girl was so upset that she asked me if I thought she should call the police.”

“I may have been a little extra passionate,” Eddy admitted. “I needed to find Dale. He's the one that stole James' watch.”

“Did he kill James, too?” Owen asked with shock.

“I don't think so. But I'm hoping that he can help us find out who did,” Eddy explained. “Anyway, I promise I won't scare the office lady anymore.”

“Just be careful, Eddy,” Owen said. “I know that you're used to this kind of thing, but the last time you investigated a crime it was with a badge and a gun. This is a different kind of situation.”

“I'm realizing that,” Eddy agreed. “Don't worry about me, Owen. I'll be just fine.”

“Call me if you need anything,” Owen insisted.

“Thanks, Owen,” Eddy said before hanging up the phone. It was nice for Eddy that Owen appeared to care about him. It seemed like a long time since someone had.

Eddy closed his eyes and began running through the case in his mind. When he finally fell asleep, his thoughts were still racing. Even in his sleep his mind was filled with thoughts about James. James at his party. James enjoying a toast with his son and the rest of the guests at the party. James raising a full glass of wine while everyone cheered. James drinking the entire glass in one swift gulp.

Eddy suddenly opened his eyes. He began to put two and two together. He remembered that there was a bottle of wine that James was drinking from that he did not share with anyone else at the party. All of the others who had something alcoholic to drink had champagne, or white wine, while James' drink was a dark, red wine that he kept with the rest of his gifts. With his heart pounding he picked up his phone. He dialed Samantha's number. She picked up after the third ring.

“Hello?” she asked with a yawn.

“Samantha, it's Eddy,” he said.

“How early is it?” Samantha asked and groaned.

“Sorry, I just woke up and remembered something from the party. I wanted to see if you remembered it, too,” he explained.

“Okay,” she sighed and yawned again. “What was it?”

“James was drinking his own red wine,” Eddy said.

“Yes,” Samantha replied after thinking about it for a moment. “I do remember that.”

“So, the wine could have been poisoned,” Eddy rushed forward. “It might not have ever been the cupcake that was the murder weapon. It could have been the wine.”

“The wine,” Samantha repeated. “Where did the wine come from?”

“That's what I don't know,” Eddy replied. “I remember noticing the way that James hid it under the table his gifts were on, as if he didn't want to share. You would think he would offer someone a glass, at least his son.”

“If he was being that greedy with it, then it was probably a favorite wine of his,” Samantha pointed out. “Maybe it was a gift from someone who knew him quite well.”

“Maybe,” Eddy agreed. “But who?”

“I think we should go through the guest list. See if we can work out who gave him a gift and then talk to them,” Samantha suggested.

“That will take quite some time,” Eddy said as he shook his head. “Just about everyone at Sage Gardens was at that party.”

“Then maybe we should start with those that were not from Sage Gardens,” Samantha said thoughtfully. “Maybe even guests that showed up unexpectedly.”

“Good idea,” Eddy nodded.

“We'll get to the bottom of this,” Samantha said.

“I think I might already have a lead,” Eddy said with a small smile of realization.

“What lead?” Samantha asked curiously.

“I'll let you know if it pans out,” Eddy replied. He hurried to dress and headed out of his villa. He thought about the promise he had made to Owen the night before, about being nicer to the staff. It was too late for that now. He hoped that Dale had seen and knew the man who walked out of James' room after he died. He wanted to know exactly who it was. With many of the staff just arriving for the day, it was easy to guess where Dale might be.

Eddy headed straight for the office. He carefully avoided being spotted by the office worker, as he knew that she might just call the police if she saw him. He saw a few staff members walking out from behind the office and guessed it was a gathering place for them before they started work for the day. He walked around the corner of the office to see if he could spot Dale. Eddy didn't have to look far to find Dale. All he had to do was follow the curl of smoke. It led him behind the dumpster. Dale was crouched down with a cigarette dangling from his lips. He appeared to be searching for something on the ground.

“Dale,” Eddy said. Dale jumped at the sound of Eddy's authoritative voice.

“Oh no, not you again,” Dale said with a sigh as he caught sight of Eddy. “Look, I've got nothing else to say to you. I haven't heard anything yet. No one is talking about anything other than the heart attack. You seem to be the only one with the crazy notion that James was poisoned.”

“Never mind that,” Eddy said. “That's not why I'm here.”

“I've got nothing else to tell you,” Dale insisted and stood up.

“That doesn't mean that I don't have some things to ask you,” Eddy replied and narrowed his eyes. “You told me that when you slipped back into James' room, someone else was coming out right before you did. Who was it?”

“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.