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“Did you ask her about the cause?” Benson asked.
“Of course, but she merely said she had a lot on her mind. Then one day, about two months ago, she was all smiles.”
Benson leaned forward. “Any idea why?”
“Camille claimed she and her boyfriend had broken up.”
Ariel looked around. “Did I miss something. I thought she was dating that Hammer guy.”
“Now, she is. Before she was dating someone by the name of Dave,” Malia said.
Benson’s mind jumped to a conclusion that had no basis of fact. “Dave who?”
“I don’t know. I don’t ask too many questions. All I know is that once she and Dave were no longer together, she was happy again. She even took some time off to visit her sister in Utah, but when she returned, she met Hammer—or so I believe,” Malia said.
“According to Jude, who did a little reconnaissance mission at the casino for us, Dave Franklin was murdered two days before Samantha Ortiz was.”
As expected Ariel sucked in a breath. “Is Dave Franklin related to Paul Franklin?”
“They were brothers.”
“Let me get this straight,” Liam said. “There is a gambling cartel in Midvale, right?”
“They don’t take out ads in the paper, but it is believed to be true,” Benson said.
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that this cartel is run by Paul Franklin. Ariel’s brother liked to gamble at this man’s casino. Shortly before Trent was accused of murder, he lost big time to Dave Franklin.”
Benson appreciated that Liam was trying to follow the very complicated story. “Yes. To the tune of ten thousand dollars.”
“We were told that Paul Franklin’s brother was killed right before Ariel’s brother’s girlfriend died. I believe Trent admitted that he owed a lot of money to Dave—the now deceased brother.”
Alex’s face lit up. “And you think Paul believes that Trent killed Dave to avoid having to pay back his debt? If so, then maybe Paul or one of his henchmen killed Samantha Ortiz to ensure that Trent would go to jail for the rest of his life.”
"That makes sense," Ariel said. "I know Trent would never kill anyone, but this Paul guy wouldn’t know that. He'd want my brother to suffer in jail. Killing him wouldn’t be painful enough."
Benson was impressed. “I like your thinking. Let’s assume that Trent is innocent. Who would have killed Dave Franklin then?”
“It's possible someone wanted to send a warning to Paul for some other reason and killed Dave?” Preston tossed out.
“Anything is possible, but the timing seems too close to Sam’s death," Benson said.
Malia slowly brought a hand to her mouth and then stilled. “If we’re talking about timing, I have a wild theory.”
“Tell us,” Benson said.
“Camillebrokeupwith Dave right around the time he died. I don’t know the exact date, but let’s suppose it was right before Sam died. It seems to me that she was with Hammer Schmidt rather quickly.”
Benson tried to put the pieces together. “Are you thinking Camille was dating Hammer in secret, and the two of them decided to do away with Dave? If they knew about Trent’s debt, they could make him look guilty.”
“Benson, does your brother have video in his bar?” Ariel asked.
“Yes, though I doubt patrons are aware of it. Why?”
“Again, I’m grasping at straws, but what if Hammer was at the bar the night Trent and Sam had their argument? He might have drugged Trent’s drink in order to make sure Trent would be passed out when he killed Sam. The argument would give credence to the idea that he killed Sam.”
The pieces fit together. “What do you all think?”
Everyone gave their opinion, but bottom line was that they agreed it was plausible.
