Page 35 of Wild Idol

“Somebody tried to kill her the other night,” I said.

Eddie’s face tightened. He didn’t like where this was going. “Look, I didn’t have anything to do with that. Why would I try to kill somebody who owes me money? Doesn’t make sense.”

“Sends a message.”

“I don’t need to send a message. People know not to mess with me.”

“Why? Because you kill deadbeats?”

He glared at me. “No. Deadbeats don’t get off that easy.”

I suspected Eddie had a crew of guys with hammers, crow bars, and blow torches that were pretty effective at getting deadbeats to pay up.

“Just for giggles, how about you tell me where you were the night in question?” I knew what his answer would be, but I thought I’d ask anyway.

“I was here at the club. Ask any one of my employees.”

I pulled out my phone and displayed the picture of Haley with Sable. “You recognize that girl?”

19

“Yeah, that’s Sable,” Eddie said.

I sneered at him. “No. The other girl.”

He studied the image again. “Never seen her before.”

“That picture was taken in this club, wasn’t it?”

“A lot of people come in here.”

I told him about Haley’s ultimate fate.

He frowned. “That’s terrible. She looked so young.”

Eddie didn’t care.

“That was just a couple days ago. Do you remember who else was in here that night?”

He gave me a look like it was a silly question. “Come on. I’m a busy guy. One day blurs into the next around here. You can’t possibly expect me to remember patrons from night to night.”

“I tried to talk to your waitstaff, but they told me you told them not to talk to me.”

“I tell all my people not to talk to cops. Nothing good ever comes from it.”

Eddie wasn’t stupid.

I fished a card from my pocket. “Get in touch if you can remember anything helpful.”

He took the card and smiled. “Don’t wait by the phone.”

I forced a smile, and we walked away.

JD and I stopped and talked to the basketball player, but he claimed never to have seen Haley. He wouldn’t have admitted it even if he did. Nobody wanted to get caught up in this drama.

We didn’t have anything better to do, so we ambled to the bar and ordered a drink. Jack told the bartender, “Eddie said drinks were on the house.”

The bartender had seen us have a conversation with Eddie and didn’t question it.