“Someone killed him for a sax?” Kevin asked incredulously.
“Him—and two other people,” Danni said. “But I guess he gave up on trying to make the deaths look accidental. The others were tortured and killed.”
“Over a sax,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “You face all kinds of hell in a war, and then someone sticks a needle into your arm and you’re dead on your home turf. That’s bitter.”
“Arnie’s folks are good people. I know they want the truth. But more than that,” Quinn said, “we don’t want anyone else to die. We want this killer to face justice.”
“Justice,” Kevin murmured. “Forgive me. Justice to me would be to see the bastard skinned alive. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not judge and jury. You didn’t know Arnie. He went into every situation, no matter how bloody and gruesome, when he had to. But he played with the kids over there, and he believed in making a better world. He could make an instrument out of anything—drums out of pots and pans. Hell, he could play a paper bag and make it sound like a symphony.”
“Danni and I both knew him back in high school. He was a musical genius even then,” Quinn said.
“Damn, this sucks,” Kevin said. “And I’d do anything in my power to at least catch whoever killed him. But I’ve never even been in New Orleans, you know?”
“We were hoping that maybe he had told you about someone who was jealous of him, someone he had some kind of beef with, especially someone who was part of the music scene,” Danni said.
“Arnie wasn’t a fighter. Well, that sounds odd—he was a great soldier. I mean that he didn’t like to pick fights. If someone had a problem with him, he wanted it out in the open so they could talk it out. He didn’t harbor resentments. If they disliked him, well, he was sorry, but they didn’t have to hang with him. In the service you’re with who you’re with, but you learn to get along.” He frowned. “You don’t think it was someone he served with, do you?”
“No, we don’t,” Danni told him. “We’re as close to certain as it’s possible to be that it has to be someone who lives in New Orleans and knows the city backward and forward. Whoever is doing this disappears into courtyards or down alleys, or blends in with the crowd so quickly you’d barely have time to blink. It has to be a local.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kevin said. He shook his head. “Arnie made a point of getting along with everyone. I do know one thing, though, that he wasn’t telling anyone else.”
“What’s that?” Danni asked.
“He was in love.”
“With who?” Quinn asked.
“That I don’t know. He said I would be the first to know, if and when he found out if she loved him, too.” He shrugged. “He told me, ‘Kevin, I found the girl I want to bring home to my mama. In my family, that means a lot.’ I guess he thought anybody knowing about her would jinx him. He said he never mentioned it to anyone else—not even Tyler.”
“So he liked her but didn’t know if she liked him?” Danni asked.
“I’m not sure she had any idea Arnie was crazy about her. I think he’d been admiring her from afar for a long time. But I don’t think knowing her name would help you any. If Arnie was in love with a girl, I don’t think she’d be a homicidal maniac. Anyway, who the hell kills people over a sax?”
Danni glanced at Quinn. He didn’t respond. She didn’t know everything about his police work or some of the things he’d been involved with before they met, but she did know that he’d seen people kill for what most of humanity would consider ridiculous reasons.
Kevin answered the question himself. “How can I ask that, coming back from war? People get crazy things in their heads—ideas, beliefs, customs—and then they kill.”
Danni set a hand on his. “We’re trying to stop this killer,” she said. “And anything you can do to help...”
“Of course,” Kevin said. “Ask me anything you want. And I’ll give you my cell number, too. If you think of anything at any time, feel free to call me.”
“We will, thank you,” Quinn said. “What about the guys in the band Arnie usually played with? Did he ever talk to you about any of them?”
“Tyler’s band?” Kevin asked. “The B-Street Bombers?”
“Yes,” Danni said. “So you know them? Well, about them, I mean.”
“Sure. Arnie talked about them all the time. I could practically see them just from his descriptions, but he had pictures, too. He said Shamus was a massive flirt. I think he liked Gus Epstein the most, after Tyler. Said he came at music with a quiet wonder—that was his exact phrase.” He paused, frowning. “I guess if he ever had a problem with any of the guys it was Blake. Blake was like Arnie—could play almost anything. Arnie said Blake took his sax from him once to show him how he thought something should sound.”