to take our order. He was tall and whip lean with skin the color of dark coffee and a smile that lit up the room.
“I’m Sam,” he said to me, since he’d obviously already introduced himself to Scarlet and Kate. “I can mix up lots of nonalcoholic drinks for you. The fruit is real good for the baby. Make sure you’re taking your prenatal vitamins. You’re looking a little pale. Must be having a girl.”
I growled and shot Kate and Scarlet a knowing glare.
“We didn’t say a word,” Scarlet said. “We’re innocent.”
“Yeah, right,” I said, waving my phone.
Sam took one look at the picture of Vince and gasped.
“You recognize him?” I asked.
“Of course,” Sam said. “Mr. Walker was a guest earlier this week. Tragic. We at the Four Seasons don’t condone that type of behavior, and we wish Mr. Walker the best.”
“What behavior?” I asked.
“What happened?” Kate asked.
“Can you bring another round of shots on your way back?” Scarlet asked. “With some chips and salsa.”
“Oh,” Sam said. “I saw his picture and thought you were reading the story in the paper. It’s been all the rage this week.”
“The paper,” I said, looking at Kate. “Who would’ve thought to check the paper?”
“Mr. Walker is a friend of ours and he went missing,” Kate said. “We were hoping someone might have seen him.”
“Not since the shooting,” Sam said. “But that’s understandable considering things were chaos at the time.”
“There was a shooting?” I asked.
“Yep, right here as a matter of fact,” he said. “You can still see the bullet holes in the wall.” He pointed behind him, and sure enough, there were three distinct bullet holes in the plaster.
“Oh, God,” I said. “I knew something had happened to him.”
“He didn’t get shot or nothing,” Sam said. “The police keep the beaches real safe, but every once in a while there’s a lunatic who’s had too much to drink and you’ll hear shots fired. Poor Mr. Walker was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and one of the bullets shattered the glass in Mr. Walker’s hand. He had to get stitches. The manager comped his room and everything.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “Was Mr. Walker having dinner with anyone or was he alone?”
“He was alone this time,” Sam said. “I’d served him earlier in the day and a woman joined him for lunch.”
“Must have been Angelica,” Kate said.
“Yes,” Sam said, snapping his fingers. “That was her name. Lovely woman.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “How many days was Mr. Walker here?”
“He stayed two nights and ate all his meals here in the restaurant. I tried to give him tips for good clubs and the sights around Miami, but he said he was here on business and didn’t have time for any fun. I told him to stay out of Vegas because he was so unlucky.”
“Because of getting shot at?” Kate asked.
“That, and because he almost got hit by a car earlier that day,” Sam said. “He was pretty banged up from that when he came to dinner. His hands were all scraped and the side of his face was all bruised.” He pointed to his cheekbone. “I told him he should’ve ordered room service and an ice pack, but he just laughed and said a good meal and moving around was the best thing for it.”
“Nobody saw who almost hit him?” I asked.
“Oh, sure,” Sam said. “Lots of people saw. But this is Miami and sometimes the traffic laws aren’t always understandable. It happened right after lunch with Ms. Angelica. I heard the squeal of tires and all the screams. Of course, everyone went running to see what happened. And there was Mr. Walker lying on the ground next to the fountain. I ran over and helped him up, but he said he was fine.”
“Where was Angelica?” I asked.
“She’d already left in her own vehicle,” Sam said. “I saw a bright yellow Corvette speeding away after all the screams started, and a couple of other people said they saw the Corvette squeal around the corner just as Mr. Walker was walking across to the beach. They said the Corvette never put on the brakes and Vince barely jumped out of the way in time. It’s just bad luck all around.”
“Yeah, bad luck,” I said softly.
When Sam left to get our food, I looked at Scarlet and Kate and said, “We need to find Vince fast. If he got out of here alive it was just by luck. I’m going to call Nick and see