~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It had been a long day, and Darby and I were both tired. We decided to stay in for the evening.
The door between our rooms was open again. Darby had gone out to buy drinks and snacks. Our plan was to crash on his bed, eat junk food, and watch the new episode of Iron Chef.
I fished my phone out of my purse and turned it on. There were two more calls from Samantha and one more from Mick. There weren’t any voice mail messages, so there wasn’t likely anything urgent from either of them, but it wasn’t like Samantha to call me when I was on vacation. I punched her speed dial number. She finally answered on the fourth ring.
“Hi, Sam. I’m returning your calls. What’s up?” I didn’t give her a chance to answer. “We got here just fine, I’m feeling better, and we’re having a good time, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I’m not worried,” she said with a small laugh. “I called because I thought you should know something.”
“Ok. What?” I asked. I felt apprehensive. This didn’t sound like it could be anything good, and her voice wasn’t as cheerful as usual.
“Jerry had a heart attack at the club on Saturday night.” She paused before continuing with her news. “He died on one of the courts.”
“Oh my gosh, Sam, that’s horrible,” I said. My stomach flopped over, and I instantly felt sick. “What happened?”
“After you left, a couple of those drunk cable guys got into it,” she said. “They were on court number one, so Jerry was able see them arguing. He went in to break it up, but before he could, he collapsed right there on the spot. The paramedics arrived within a few minutes, but he was already dead. All we know is he had a massive heart attack.”
“I remember hearing sirens as I was dropping off to sleep,” I told her. “I had no idea they were headed to the club. I don’t know what to say. Do they think the heart attack was from steroids? I always suspected he was taking them. This is so terrible for his family.”
“I don’t know about steroids,” she said. “Larry’s cousin, Dick, works down at the police station, and he told Larry that for now, his death is being ruled as a heart attack. They can’t find any family other than an uncle who barely knew him.”
“What about the man who shows up on Thursday nights with the packages?” I asked. “Do they know who he is?” I had to put my first thought out there. “I bet he’s a drug dealer, and there are steroids in those packages. Did Larry tell Dick about him?”
“As far as I know, there’s nothing more to tell,” she said. “It was a heart attack. There won’t be any calling hours, but his uncle arranged a grave-side ceremony at the Carbide City Cemetery for Thursday morning.”
“We won’t be back until Saturday afternoon, so I’ll miss it,” I said. “If you can get his uncle’s address, or find someone close to him, let me know, so I can send a card or flowers.”
“Ok, I’ll do that,” she said.
“Thanks for letting me know, Sam. I really appreciate it,” I told her.
“You’re welcome. And, by the way, I don’t know if I should bring this up, but I did ask Husky about Mick being married, and his reaction was, ‘What? I thought he got a divorce.’ So, if it makes you feel any better, Husky had no idea Mick was still married.”
“Well, I guess that’s something,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll probably call Mick later this week and give him more of a chance to explain. I haven’t made any firm decisions about any of this yet.”
“I hope this works out for you, Susan. Larry and I like Mick a lot, but you know we love you, and we want you to be happy.” She sounded sad.
“Thanks, Sam. Tell Larry I said hello, and thanks again for all the information.”
Darby would be back shortly, and I would fill him in about Jerry. The thought that the man from Thursday nights was somehow involved in his death wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t know how I could find out anything while I was in Florida, but I was definitely going to look into him when we were back home.