E
ric stood at the counter, waiting for me to arrive before ordering. He seemed anxious about something.
“What do you want?”
“Grande cappuccino,” I said. I didn’t need anything, but since this was his meeting, I decided to let him play the good host.
He ordered the same for himself.
“What’s up?” I asked while we walked to a nearby table.
“Bob and I want you to talk to Streelman. Bob said he mentioned to you about Doug having an affair.”
“Something that happened down in Brazil, right?”
“Yes. Rumor has it that it is not uncommon for the AirExpress guys to carry on a relationship there. The place is overflowing with available women that could use a little extra money. The women even have a network to hook up their friends with interested AirExpress crews. A single school teacher, sales clerk, especially if they have children, need the extra cash and the AirExpress guys have it.”
“Why in the world would someone, other than his wife, want to kill Doug over an affair?”
“I don’t know,” Eric said, “but there might be more to it. Streelman flies to South America, too. He may know something.”
“Did you mention it to the police?”
“I didn’t think of it. They were focused on me.”
“Is Streelman also the guy who Doug allegedly swapped wives with?”
“What? Where’d you hear that? Oh, you’re thinking of Vince and his wife and Doug and his wife. Ha! Streelman’s wife isn’t one that anyone would want to trade for.”
“Kind of harsh,” I said, but Eric was still grinning.
“You’ve got to see her. Nice woman, may be a good cook, but no thanks.”
“Can you think of anything in Doug’s past relationship with Vince or his wife that might have caused Vince to attack Doug?”
“No, besides Vince was the winner in that relationship. Doug’s wife is a knockout. Plus, none of us really know if anything ever happened between the four. It’s all just gossip. If they were into swapping, none of us ever really knew anything.”
“So, no one ever admitted to it.”
“No, but they would joke about it and lead us all on.”
“They still seemed to be friends,” I said.
“Yes, I think they are. Never had a real falling out, as far as I know. It’s just the geographic separation kind of killed the tight relationship.”
I understood that. My wife and I had close friends at all our assignments, but after moving to a new assignment in some other state or country, the friendship remained but the relationship slowly eroded.
“I have a hard time thinking anyone in our group is guilty of all this, but it almost has to be one of us,” I said.
“Why?”
“I was lured to the parking garage by someone claiming to be Detective Nichols. That person knew me, knew Nichols was interviewing us, and knew where my car was parked. That person had to be one of us. That was his big mistake. Before that it could have been anyone. Could have been a nut without even a real motive. After the attack on me, though, the list of suspects shrank to fourteen.”
“That’s a good point. The guy went after you to stop you from investigating Doug’s murder.”
“Which was a mistake, because I was doing my best to stay out of the investigation. Now I’m right in the middle of it.”
“Well, it wasn’t me so you’re down to thirteen, and I can’t see Bob doing it, so that’s twelve. Can you exclude Tom?” Eric asked.
“I think so.”
“Well, that brings it down to eleven.”
“You hang around with Pete, Frank, and Mike. Can you exclude them?”
“They’re on my list of highly unlikely, but I can’t exclude them yet. What do you think of Dick?” I figured what the hell, as long as he wanted to talk about people, I might as well let him.
“Leyes, no way. The guy wouldn’t cheat in solitaire. Can’t see him doing any killing. Now, Edward, Bill, Larry, and both Jims have tempers. I’ve seen them explode. Back in the days when everyone could drink until they could barely walk in the O’Clubs, tempers would flare, and while I don’t know any specifics, I wouldn’t be surprised if every one of them got into fights.”
Times had changed. When I was a young officer in the air force, heavy drinking was viewed by many as expected. Especially on Friday nights at the Officer Clubs, or O’Clubs as Eric referred to them. Squadron and unit functions frequently turned into wild parties. By the time I retired, however, we referred to that period as the good old days. They weren’t, of course.
“The trouble is I don’t see a premeditated attack like the one on Doug or myself as an anger issue. Although it’s possible someone could let it simmer for a long time. By the way, you said both Jim’s. You mean James and Jim?” I asked.
“Yes, you can call Streelman either, but with Jim M here, we usually call Streelman James, since that is what he goes by anyway. Plus, with you here, it would get really confusing. I don’t know, this whole this is strange. I should go. Don’t tell anyone I’ve been talking to you. We good, Jim?”
“Yes, Eric, we’re good.”
He got up and hurried out of Starbucks. I sat there, thinking about the situation and wishing I hadn’t come on this trip.
“How’d that happen?” the young barista asked. She had walked up behind me.
“This?” I asked. A stupid response, of course, as I saw her staring at my bandage when I turned around. She had been in the Starbucks every time I had. She was short and slender with jet black hair accentuated with a few dark blue streaks. I didn’t think she was out of her teen years yet.
“Yes. You were the guy attacked in the garage, right?”
“That’s me.”
“It was one of the guys in your group who was killed, too. I saw the news. Scary. That happened right here.”
By right here, I knew she meant the adjacent parking garage, referring to the attack on me, not the murder.
“You don’t happen to know who did it?”
“No. No one does. Are you going to be okay? You have a black eye.”
“Luckily it didn’t crack my skull.”
“Good thing it didn’t hit your eye either.”
“That’s true. I should have a nice scar, though. Might make me look handsome.”
“Distinguished, that’s the look you want. Old men don’t look handsome.” She blushed and her hand went to her mouth. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“I’ll settle for distinguished.”
She turned around and returned to her spot behind the counter. I headed back to the hotel room.
“How’d it go? I saw Eric leave,” Tom said.
“Went fine, but I didn’t learn anything new.”
“To be expected.”
“Hey, you think you and I are still handsome?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Just something somebody said.”