Sam clenched his jaw, and then rolled his shoulders. The man had just lost his sister. “He’s right, Jolene. Nobody is to blame for Melody’s drinking except Melody.”
“You’re both accusing me of something I didn’t even say.” Jolene folded her arms. “I’m not blaming you. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. If we had gotten to the Sundowner faster, we could’ve given Melody a ride home. Sam would’ve seen her safely inside.”
“Look, I’m sorry. Sorry, Sam.” Wade wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “I’m upset, lashing out.”
Wade smoothed his hand along his ponytail, and his chest heaved as he took a deep breath. The smooth politician emerged. “Do the police think it was a robbery or an accident? All they told me was that she died from a head injury. Did she fall, or did someone hit her? They didn’t tell me her purse was missing.”
The medical examiner’s white van pulled into the parking lot, and Sam touched Wade’s arm. “Let’s go downstairs, and let them finish their work here.”
Wade gestured to the neighbors poking their heads out their doors. “Did anyone hear anything? See anything?”
Jolene answered, “We don’t know, but the officers questioned them. They wouldn’t tell us anything. The apartment next to Melody’s is vacant. I remember when her neighbor moved out of there a few months ago. The management company hasn’t rented it out yet.”
They reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped aside for two people from the medical examiner’s van carrying a stretcher.
Jolene averted her face as Wade swallowed, a struggle to maintain control twisting his features for a minute.
“The officers said they might be able to get something from the cameras over there.” Sam pointed across the street.
“This damned building didn’t even have a security system or cameras.” Wade squeezed his eyes closed. “I told her. I told her.”
Jolene took her cousin’s hand. “Was Melody seeing anyone? Would someone else have picked her up from the bar?”
Wade’s lids flew open. “What are you saying? Don’t the police think this is either an accident or a robbery? You’re not suggesting someone murdered Melody, are you?”
“I don’t know.” Jolene shrugged. “I’m just asking a question, and it’s still murder if it was committed during a robbery.”
“You would probably know more about Melody’s dating life than I would. She didn’t tell me anything like that, not after...”
“Not after you chased off the last guy.” Jolene held up her hands. “I’m just saying.”
“He was bad news, and you know it, Jolene. He’s probably the one who got her drinking again.”
“Is that true, Jolene?” Sam’s hands curled into fists. “If so, Wade’s right—bad news.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Melody and that guy split up almost six months ago. I don’t think she’d been drinking that long.” Jolene ran a hand through her hair. “Or maybe I’m just clueless.”
“I don’t know.” Wade stared over Sam’s shoulder, his eyes blinking. “I have to go up and see Melody’s...body. I want to see her.”
“Of course you do.” Jolene squeezed his hand. “Let me know if we can do anything.”
They both watched Wade’s stiff back as he walked to the apartment’s staircase, still swarming with cops.
Melody rubbed the back of her hand across her nose. “He seemed upset—or Wade-upset, which is a little different from everyone else’s upset.”
“I don’t think Wade would murder his own sister—pay her off, threaten her, coerce her—but not murder.” Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have a headache, and I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling. I’m sorry about Melody, Jolene. Like the bartender said, I always had a soft spot for Melody, too. She’s the one who introduced me to you.”
He hit the remote for his car, and Jolene glanced at him from beneath her lashes before following him to the passenger side.
As he opened her door, a hissing sound came from the bushes bordering the parking lot. Sam pivoted and peered into the foliage, as Jolene tucked her fingers in the waistband of his jeans.
As he stepped in front of Jolene, Sam barked, “Who’s there?”
A pair of eyes gleamed from a face that appeared between two bushes. “Hey, you ain’t the po-po, are you?”
Sam knew how to answer that question under these circumstances. “No, I’m not a cop. Why? Who are you?”
The man shuffled from his hiding place, twigs and leaves clinging to his bushy hair and beard. “I’m Tucker. Tucker the trucker.”
Jolene moved closer to Sam, pressing her body against his.
Reaching back, Sam opened the car door for her, but she didn’t move. “What are you doing out here, Tucker the trucker, and where’s your truck?”
The man laughed, displaying a set of teeth with a few gaps. “I don’t have it no more, man. No more truck.”
Tucker was missing more than his teeth. “What do you want, Tucker?”
He raised a grubby unsteady finger, pointing over Sam’s head. “I live there.”
Sam’s heart rate ticked up. “You live in that apartment building behind me?”
Tucker nodded, putting the finger to his lips. “I’m not supposed to, but the place is empty. I got in there once, so sometimes I squat there.”
“Really?” He must mean the empty apartment right next to Melody’s.
“Nobody’s there. What’s it to you?” Tucker puffed out his scrawny chest.
“Easy, man. I don’t care.” Sam twisted his head over his shoulder and whispered to Jolene, “Get in the car.”
“And miss this? No way.” She grabbed the top of the car door, peering over it at Tucker. “Did you know the woman who lived in that apartment? The one where all the cops are?”
“Pinky?” He grinned. “Yeah, I know her. She promised not to tell no one about me living there. She gave me beer sometimes.”
“Did you see Pinky tonight, Tucker?” Sam shoved a hand in his pocket. “Did you see what happened?”
Tucker scuffed the toe of his filthy sneaker in the dirt. “Do you have beer?”
“I don’t have any beer, but I have some money. If I give you some money, will
