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“What did he want?”
“He was pissing and moaning about her not bailing him out with that bookie. The fucker was actually pissed that she hadn’t agreed to sell her body in order to cover his debt. Can you believe that shit?” She sneered, and I had to admit, I could not believe that shit. “Her own brother wanted her to prostitute herself for stupid shit he’d done. Doesn’t get much lower than that…”
“No it doesn’t,” I agreed. “What did she say?”
“Sammy tried to calm him down, but he was on something, totally out of control. He ended up hanging up on her. We Ubered home that night, and that was the last time I saw her.” Jaclyn looked over my head at the wall and remembered, “She was laughing as she fell out of the car, and said she’d see me at work the next day. By the time I got in for my shift, the cops were waiting to tell us that she was gone.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said sincerely, thinking how awful it would be if something like that happened to one of my friends.
“I didn’t believe them at first. I didn’t want to…”
“So you were the last person to see her alive?”
Jaclyn’s gaze narrowed and she said, “I was already cleared by the cops.”
“I wasn’t suggesting that,” I assured her. “I’m just trying to get all of the facts straight.”
“Yeah, other than whoever killed her,” she replied, her voice sharp. “I was the last one. I told them about our night out, but I’d forgotten about Tony’s phone call until now.”
“I’ll look into it, and let the cops know,” I assured her.
“I hope you guys find the son of a bitch who did this and make him pay. Sammy was a sweet girl, she didn’t deserve to go out like that.”
“I’ll do my best,” I promised, rising from the chair and holding out my card. “Please call me if you think of anything else.”
It looked like I needed to pay another visit to Tony.
I looked on the inside and outside of the bagel shop, but didn’t see Tony’s stringy-haired ass anywhere, so I went in and asked the older gentleman behind the counter.
“Tony hasn’t been in for about a week,” the man told me. “Never called in or anything, so I gave his job to that kid.”
I followed his finger to see the teenager washing dishes in the back.
“Can you please call me if you hear from him?” I asked, handing him my business card and wondering where else I should look for Samantha’s brother.
“Sure thing, sweetheart,” he replied, taking the card from my fingers. “But I gotta say, you really shouldn’t get involved with the likes of him. That kid’s bad news.”
I nodded in agreement and shot him a small smile, then walked over to Tony’s apartment building.
Once again, my knocks on his door went unanswered, so I went to the landlady’s place again.
“He ain’t been here in about a week,” she said sourly. “He owes me two months’ rent.”
“I’ll let you know if I find him,” I promised, then got out of there and headed to Amy May’s.
It was definitely a lemon meringue cupcake kind of day.
When I walked in to Amy May’s, I was surprised to see the gang was all there.
Carmen and Amy May were sitting at a table talking. Carmen had her recorder in her hand, her notebook on the table, and all of her pens and pencils lined up in a row, which meant she was probably interviewing Amy May for the paper.
Bea and Shannon were standing at the counter, a row of different cupcakes lined up in front of them, and they were tasting the cakes and taking notes. Bea was in uniform, so I figured she must have been meeting Shannon on her break to pick their cake for the reception.
After the conversation I’d had with Jaclyn, and thinking about what it would be like to suffer the loss of one of my girlfriends, I rushed in and gave each of them a hug and a kiss.
“What’s all this?” Amy May asked when I let her go.
“I just love you guys,” I replied, then escaped into the back in search of that lemon meringue cupcake.
