The three of them sat down as Jeffries started tapping his hands together.
“Miss the guy like hell,” he said. “I still can’t get it through my brain that he’s gone for good. This never should have happened. I warned him lots of times to be careful, though. He loved the underworld too much. Got much too chummy.”
Cindy was taken aback. “How so?” she interjected.
Jeffries turned and looked at her, then he looked at Mattheus.
“We’re a team,” Mattheus said.
“Yeah,” said Jeffries, “heard that Kendra wanted a woman detective on the job. She’s always had a distrust of men. Except for Paul, of course.”
“They had a good marriage?” asked Mattheus.
“As good as any,” said Jeffries. “I know the cops are focusing on her, but that seems unlikely to me. I never saw bad blood between them. And, he never complained about her to me. If Paul was one thing, he was loyal.”
“Who do you think did it?” asked Mattheus plainly.
“If you ask me, it’s one of the cons,” said Jeffries. “They’re a tricky bunch. You’re playing with fire when you take on these cases,” Jeffries scraped his throat loudly.
“You ever had any trouble with them personally?” asked Mattheus
“No, I haven’t, but I always thought the day would come. Not to Paul, but to me. I’m shorter with them. I can get nasty.”
“You want me to go through your cases as well as his?” asked Mattheus.
“It’s not necessary,” said Jeffries. “We kept our cases apart. Stick with his.”
“What else can you tell us about him,” asked Cindy. She felt that this guy knew a lot more than he was letting on.
Jeffries got antsy, “What do you want to know? Paul lived big and gave a lot. Big tipper, too. You’d always see him in his expensive suits, driving his yellow car. The guy didn’t like to stay in one place for too long or be pinned down. He loved to come and go. Did a lot of work in St. Croix, so he’d fly out for a couple of days and then fly back home. It was a way of life for him. Everyone got used to it.”
“Peggy said he loved his work, and his clients?”
“Sure,” said Jeffries, “The guys he helped loved him too. You can’t do this job if you don’t have some connection with them. Paul also liked being a big man around town, having influence in the courts and with the cops. His word had weight. He was respected. No one could believe that he’d been found dead like that. On a back alley, like a heap of trash! It didn’t fit. I really would have thought the cops would have done a better job hunting for his killer.”
“We’re on the job now,” said Cindy.
Jeffries looked at her, amused. “Okay,” he said, “don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything else.” He chuckled. “Or if someone else suddenly turns up dead.”
CHAPTER 12
Mattheus went back to the police station to do more research on Paul’s past clients and Cindy felt it was time to drive to the address Heather gave her.
She went back to the hotel and called for her car. When it arrived, she got in and began to drive slowly to the address Heather had scrawled on that piece of paper. Bright sun pierced the windshield and she turned the radio on loud to lift her spirits as she drove. Lively reggae music came on and Cindy sang along with it. It was easy to feel good down here. For a brief second she wished Mattheus was with her, sharing the drive and music.
The address she was headed to was all the way on the Eastern tip of the island. It was almost a world apart, a residential community that dipped down along the ocean. Some said it was an island of its own. Cindy was more comfortable driving now as she learned how to navigate the treacherous, winding roads. This work was exciting. Every day she learned something new and met someone else that expanded her mind. Now she enjoyed the changing scenery, as the ocean came into view and then disappeared again behind a clump of trees. As she wound her way to this distant peninsula, she looked forward to what and who she would meet next.