Mattheus knew he’d been harder on him than necessary. But bum leads wasted time, and pissed him off. So many people pretended they knew it all, couldn’t bring themselves to just say they had no idea what was going on.
Mattheus ambled over towards the table where the guy said Paul hung out. It was medium size, and situated in a half lit section of the place. There were about five or six others sitting there, looking at their cards. Rolls of green, red and yellow chips were piled in front of all of them. As soon as Mattheus sat down, the dealer immediately looked over at him.
“I’m a friend of Paul’s,” Mattheus remarked loudly. Everyone at the table put their cards down and looked up at him.
“What kind of friend?” the dealer asked, right away. He was a short heavy guy, who was half bald, with hanging jowls.
“I’m here to help him,” Mattheus said.
“Too late for that,” the dealer said gruffly.
The guy sitting next to Mattheus, poked Mattheus in the ribs softly, as if to say, shut up.
He was a tall and thin with red hair, big eyes, and bit the corner of his lip.
“The guy was killed a couple of weeks ago, week ago,” the dealer continued, as a pall fell over the table.
“Any idea who?” Mattheus jumped right in.
“If I knew that I’d be right at the police,” the dealer thumped his short hand on the hard table. “He was one of us. No one here did it.” And he looked at Mattheus with fire in his eyes.
“There was no reason for it.”
“There’s never a reason to die,” said Mattheus.
“Yeah, but there’s always a reason when it’s murder,” the dealer retorted.
“Someone had something against him,” Mattheus wouldn’t let up.
“No one I knew,” the dealer insisted. “He lived his life straight up.”
The guy next to Mattheus poked him again. Mattheus turned his attention to him.
“Hi,” said Mattheus to him, extending his hand. “Mattheus King.”
“Roomey Burke,” the guy looked over and took Mattheus hand.
“Okay, deal,” someone else at the table called out. The conversation was over. It seemed like they’d all been through this for a while now and wanted to move on.
“Mind giving me a minute or two?” Mattheus asked Roomey. “We could sit over there and talk.”
“Sure,” said Roomey, and put his cards down. “A minute or two.”
“Deal,” one of the guys at the table insisted.
Roomey and Mattheus got up, walked a few feet to a lounge with some comfortable couches and chairs, and sat down.
Roomey was a strange mixture of elegance and anxiety. Out of place here, Mattheus thought. “You knew him well?”
“Very,” said Roomey.
Mattheus looked at more carefully and wondered why. What could they have had in common?
“It was a shock to everyone,” said Roomey. “Especially me. I talked to him almost every day.”
Mattheus was surprised to hear that. This could be an important find. “You’re a lawyer, too?” Mattheus asked.
“Architect. We both live in St. Thomas and spend a couple of days here during the week. Takes the pressure off, to a degree.”
“Suppose it does,” said Mattheus.
“I knew him well. I know the family,” Roomey continued.
This guy had to be a treasure trove of information, Mattheus thought.
“Police say the wife did it,” Mattheus was curious what his reaction would be.
Roomey smiled a strange, pained smile. “That’s ridiculous,” he said definitively. “She’s innocent.”
“You sure?”
“She’s a terrific woman,” his eyes flared a bit.
“How do you know that?”
“Just take it from me.”
“I can’t just take it. I need solid information,” Mattheus mumbled, but loud enough so he could hear him.
Roomey obviously didn’t like being pressed. He pulled back a little and tapped his fingers against each other. “What are you? A detective of some kind?”
“Yes,” said Mattheus.
“Really?” Roomey’s eyes opened at that. “Thought you were a reporter or something, possibly a family member who flew in to help. None of them even came to the funeral, you know. Paul and Kendra both have family back in the states who wrote them off years ago, when they got married and settled here. He never even introduced her to his family. That’s probably why they moved away in the first place.” Roomey said bitterly. “You can’t blame them.”
No, you can’t, Mattheus thought. That was a lousy deal, no family coming down to the funeral. No family standing up for Kendra either. Lots of people who’d settled down here on the islands had some kind of story like that. Mattheus wondered if that was why Roomey was down here as well.
“Help me out with this,” Mattheus said.
“I’ve become like family to them now,” Roomey said softly. “Kendra’s beautiful, smart.” His face flushed as he spoke.
Mattheus looked at him intently. . “Why are the police pouncing on Kendra?” Mattheus asked.
“To avoid looking further,” Roomey said. “I’ve seen it happen over and over. Especially down here. It’s easy, next of kin - especially with a big insurance policy.”