Page 61 of Sapphire Nights
“But Xavier Black was one of them,” Sam said. “I learned that much. He said he moved here about the time Geoffrey Kennedy died, but he didn’t seem particularly coherent.I thought perhaps he had some form of Asperger’s and didn’t know how tosocialize.”
“He was a friend of Geoffrey’s back then,” Cass said. “He socialized just fine. He had a law degree but chose to become a mortgage broker. He talked people into taking out loans forimprovementsthat they couldn’t afford. He sold them on easy loans that go up with the interest rates or had balloonpayments.”
“Free market,” Walker said cynically, administering another dose of the spray. Xavier began to cough again, spitting up the meager contents of his stomach. Walker moved out of the way but kept a moaning Xavier tilted on his side so he wouldn’t choke on his ownvomit.
Sam sent a little prayer of thanksgiving that he wasn’t acorpse.
“Yes, dear, the fine line between legaland moral. Geoff’s bankknewthose people wouldn’t be able to afford higher rates, but they gave the loans anyway. That was one of my allegations when I hired lawyers to sue. That brought in the federal regulators, but much too late for most of them, the store owners in particular. Carmel always hated that I’d deprived Geoffrey of half the Kennedy fortune. She’s been determined to make up forit ever since. That’s how the Kennedy’s leasing company came to own most of thetown.”
“What happened to Xavier?” Sam demanded, recognizing her aunt’sprocrastination.
“He spent the night in the cemetery.” She sounded almost proud. “The law couldn’t provide justice, so wedid.”
Sam exchanged a puzzled glance with Walker, who shrugged and steadied his waking patient. “You knockedhim out and left him in the cemetery?” she asked when Cass didn’tcontinue.
“Really, I shouldn’t say anything with the law as witness. It implicates others. Let us speak in theories. If one believes in ghosts and spends the night in a haunted house, whathappens?”
“One imagines ghost and goblins and runs screaming from the building,” Walker saiddryly.
“Yes, well, if the dooris locked, then there’s no leaving, is there?” Cass leaned her back against the concrete stair wall. “The spirits cleansed him. Xavier was a changed man. Geoffrey fired him. We didn’t have a mayor or an official town back then, but we had already signed a petition to start one. So we appointed a temporary mayor who set Xavier up in one of the empty storefronts and gave him a list of propertiesto rent out. He’s been there ever since. Of course, since the Kennedys have bought the bulk of the rental properties, he’s essentially working for themagain.”
Mariah arrived at the bottom of the stairs with a stranger. Cass and Sam moved out of theway.
“Brenda is a nurse practitioner,” Mariah said, remaining at thebottom.
“I’m retired,” Brenda protested. Small and wiry,Brenda didn’t appear old enough to beretired.
Walker explained what they’d done so far, then held up his flashlight so the nurse could check under the patient’s eyelids and take his pulse. She had Walker hold the light over Xavier’s shaking hands and on his faceagain.
“I’m not sure this is Vicodin. That’s his usual escape, but there’s blue around his mouth. There’s some alcoholon his breath, but he knows better than to have more than one drink. His temperature is elevated and so is his pulse. Bring me some cold water andtowels.”
Sam jumped up to unlock the door, fetch her meager stash of towels, and rummage for a bowl for the water. She could hear the others talking as she filled thebowl.
“Coke?” Walker asked. “There’s a dealer uphere?”
“Notanymore,” Cass insisted. “We’re all into yoga and health foods. We learned our lesson longago.”
“I’m no expert,” Brenda said. “I’m only operating on what little I know. But drug use isn’t all illegal. Hillvale has a large older population. We all have medicine cabinets full of prescriptions. It could be a prescription or a cocktail of drugs I don’t knowabout.”
Sam supplied thewater and helped apply the compresses. “Can you check on the ambulance?” she asked Walker as Xavier began toshake.
Walker took his radio inside the house, out of the way. She was pretty certain she heard him mentionsuspicious circumstances. Her heart sank to herfeet.
She glanced at Daisy’s little statuette and her anxiety rose evenmore.
Crazy Daisy may have been here whenXavier arrived. What did thatsignify?
The ambulance took Xavier away.Brenda walked Cass back to her house. Walker stayed with Sam, hugging her close while she wept from the aftershock of the night’sevents.
“Given what we know about Juan’s death,” he told her, “the sheriff will try to expedite the blood tests on Xavier and turn thisinto a crime scene. Better get some sleep before they start tramping up thestairs.”
Holding Daisy’s artwork, she nodded against his shoulder. If this was a crime scene, it had already been seriously disturbed. Still, he’d have to tell the sheriff about the kerosene and the butterfly in themorning.
Taking Sam’s nod as permission to lock the door, Walker guided her behind the colorfulblanket to her bed. “Anything look out of place in here?” he asked, switching on thelights.
She jerked back, surprised. “You think someone was inhere?”
“The door was locked, so no, I don’t think so, but I thought it best to check before we mess up anything else.” He really wanted her in that bed. He needed sex, not tears. No more tears, no more crazy, no more responsibility foranyone buthimself.
