I had to look at my watch to make sure it was open, since when I arrived it looked like a ghost town. Just like at Starbucks, the place empty, with only a few bored-looking staff members playing on their phones behind the counter. The seating area, desolate.
“Hey,” I said as I walked up to the counter. “You guys are open, right?”
“Yeah,” the older woman who was cleaning the machine behind the counter answered. The younger girl didn’t bother looking up from her cell phone. “That new bookstore has been taking all of our business.”
“Really?” I asked, wondering what in the hell they were putting in the coffee over there. It was not only affecting business in Greenswood, but in The Heights too? I was really going to have to check it out.
“Yup, it’s been like this for about a week now. Ever since they opened.”
She put the rag down and stepped over so that she was in front of me, then looked me over and asked, “What can I get for you?”
Her nametag said Jaclyn, and she looked to be a little older than Samantha had been. Thinking maybe she was the manager, or had at least known Samantha, and since there was no one in the joint to overhear, I decided to just try my luck with her.
“Actually, I’m here about Samantha Stacker,” I said, and watched as her face closed off.
“You a cop? ‘Cause I already talked to the cops.”
“No, actually, I’m a private investigator. The name’s Delilah, Delilah Horton, and I’m just trying to find out what happened to her.”
Jaclyn looked like she was trying to decide whether or not I was telling the truth. She must have decided to trust me, because she tilted her head toward the back and said, “Come with me.”
I waited for her to meet me at the door to the employee entrance, then followed her back down the hallway and into the back office.
“Have a seat,” Jaclyn said, picking up a stack of paperwork to clear a seat for me, before moving to the chair in front of the computer desk and turning it to face me.
I took the notebook out of my bag and sat, then waited for her to say what she wanted to say.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told that tiny cop … Sammy was a sweet girl. Too sweet. She often got played, taken advantage of, but the girl had a heart of pure gold. It’s bullshit what happened to her.”
“And, do you know what happened?”
Jaclyn shrugged a shoulder and replied, “They say that biker killed her, but I don’t believe it. That MC is diligent about keeping their shit out of this town. They keep to themselves. I don’t see why that would change just because Sammy asked him for help in that bar, then bailed. Doesn’t make sense.”
“She told you that she was asking him for help?”
“Yeah, she pulled one on him, making him think she was looking to hook up, then tried asking him for help with the shit with Tony. Then some bitches busted in and she lost her nerve.”
I decided to ignore the bitches comment. What the hell is up with everyone wanting to call strong, independent women bitches anyway?
Instead I asked, “What do you know about Carlton, her ex?”
“That pissant was just another of her charity cases. She barely went out with him, just kept saying yes because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She never even liked him that much, ya know?”
“Was there someone else? Someone she was serious about?”
“Nah, not that she said. After that mess with Carlton, she wanted to steer clear from guys for a while.”
“What about her brother, Tony?”
Jaclyn’s face turned thunderous and she scowled.
“That fuckin’ weasel. He didn’t deserve Sammy, the way he fucked up repeatedly and always ran to her to bail him out. She wouldn’t give up on him though, always said she hoped he’d turn his shit around.”
I was about to ask her another question, when she scrunched up her face then snapped her fingers and said, “He called her that night.”
“What? Who? Tony?”
“Yeah, I forgot about it until just now. We’d gone out for drinks after closing, that’s when she told me about what was going on with Tony and his bookie, and trying to get that biker’s help. We’d had a couple and I was trying to talk her into cutting Tony loose, once and for all, when he called.”