ch7 pg 48-50

THE sound of splashing water and clinking dishes was hard to miss as Samantha cleaned up in the kitchen. Seeing her there in her black dress standing over the sink made me feel like I'd just kicked a dog.
I was also a bad host.
"The dinner was excellent. You cooked a wonderful meal."
She looked straight ahead while she continued with the pots.
I tried again. "Your father was a lucky man."
She smiled. I put the last plate on the drying rack and faced her.
"Samantha, it would help if you felt comfortable around me. I was wrong back there. If I thought the call was personal, I would have taken it on another phone. I'm sorry you had to hear that. The person I was talking to, she didn't know someone was here and I should've-" I was talking too much. "Forget it. The main thing is that you feel all right around me."
She turned to face me. "I do feel comfortable around you."
"Good. That helps if we plan to get you out of this."
I took her arm and walked her into the living room. The bright lights of Waikiki struggled to shine through the thick walls of rain that fell in front of my windows. We sat down on the couch and faced each other.
"I didn't want to mention this at dinner. There are a few things I found while I was gone today."
"It's okay, I can handle it."
"Greenie is dead."
She sat back and put her hand to her mouth. She bit so hard into her index finger it began to turn white. I put my hand to her face and pulled her hand down.
"I found him cold in his apartment. There were no signs of a struggle or fight. No bullet holes or stab wounds or bleeding that I could see. Just him in his living room."
Samantha sat there on my couch, her gaze focused on some point of light far out on the horizon. I put my arm around her shoulder and tried to tell her not to worry. I could have been talking to a statue. Finally she turned her head to me and searched my eyes.
"I'm in deep." She knew what was she was into.
I didn't. "You got nothing to worry about as long as you're here."
"How-"
"I don't know. Looks like he just dropped in his tracks and died. Maybe he fell and broke his neck. When was the last time you saw him?"
She looked at me and brushed the hair from her eyes. "Friday? I think it was Friday night."
"I had a chance to look around while I was there. You have any idea where he kept his books?"
She shook her head. "I don't know."
I put my arm around her. "This is important. Greenie's book will tell us where the money came from."
"The only time I saw the book was on Tuesdays, when we settled the accounts. He would enter in our wins and losses and figure out the weekend take."
Greenie hadn't made it to Tuesday. That meant his book was still out there. I opened the door to my office and took the slip of paper out of my locked drawer. There were a stack of files on my desk that weren't there this afternoon. Work was beginning to pile up.
I guessed the identities of the initials on the paper. It was obviously the weekend split. M.G. meant Green. S.C. was Samantha. The third set, C.S., I couldn't place. I showed her the slip.
"Any idea who the third set of initials belongs to?"
She looked at the markings and shook her head. It was the last set of initials that matched the largest amount of money I was interested in. I had to be the unseen backing that Greenie and Samantha probably had.
"That could mean Chucky, but he had no stake with us. At least I didn't think he did. Could it be a pay off to another house?"
The houses sometimes worked together, laying off each other's bets and setting the lines. You didn't just book a fifty thousand dollar bet without knowing if you could cover it or not. In this business, there was no such thing as credit.
I shook my head. Someone else was involved here that Samantha was either hiding or she didn't know about.
"Did you look for Chucky Silva? The initials match."
"I don't think he's important right now. The guy is probably laying low just like you. I think we need to go to Danny's."
She stared at me. I answered her before she could ask me why.
"I want to talk to Freddie. He might have information that we need."
I took her hand and made her look at me. "You okay with that?"
Samantha sent an unsure smile my way and nodded her head.
I picked up the phone and asked for Kua and a car. I put my hand over the receiver and looked over at Samantha. "You think Freddie will be there tonight?"
She looked at the clock. "As long as we get there before ten."
I put my ear back to the phone. "Yes? That's okay. I'll drive myself." I turned to Samantha. "Ready?"
She nodded to me and picked up her purse.