While the incident had happened years ago, Sam could see that the outrage hadn’t lessened with time.

“I have to ask this—as a wife and a woman—why do you stay with him?”

“Because,” she said with a sigh, “I’m the only reason he’s still alive. When he’s not out of his mind, he’s sweet and loving and a wonderful father.”

“You know that with the right medication—”

Carla held up a hand. “You’re preaching to the choir. I’ve urged him for years to get help for his illness, but he’s so afraid of it ruining his career. And with such a limited amount of time to make his mark in the game and to make as much money as he can, he’s unwilling to risk it. So we live with his demons and do our best to keep them under control.”

Freddie returned. “Archie’s on it.”

Sam turned back to Carla. “I have to ask you... Willie’s error resulted in Rick being charged with the loss and the blown save. Would your husband have been upset enough to harm Willie?”

Carla opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out. “You... You think he killed Willie?”

“I asked if you thought he’d be mad enough to harm him.”

“I...I don’t know. I wish I could say absolutely not, but...” She broke down. “I don’t know.”

“Were they friends?”

“They were friendly. Good teammates, but they didn’t hang out away from the ballpark or anything like that. Rick was quite a bit older than Willie. They didn’t have a lot in common outside the game.”

“You need to give me some ideas of where we might be able to find Rick.”

She ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly. “It depends. He could be anywhere from a seedy hotel in Chinatown to the Ritz.”

“Hopefully his phone will lead us to him.” Sam wrote her cell number on the back of her business card and handed it to Carla. “If you hear from him, call me. Anytime, night or day.”

“I will.”

“I’m also going to speak with the Montgomery County police to see about getting an officer stationed here in case he comes home.”

“Thank you.”

“Is there someone you could call to come stay with you until we get this sorted out?” Sam asked.

“I’ll call my sister. She lives in Bethesda.”

Satisfied that Carla would have support, Sam stood. “We’ll be in touch.”

Sam strode out of the house. “We need an APB on Rick Lind.”

“I already got that ball rolling with Malone.”

“Good job.”

“And I contacted Montgomery County about sending an officer here to keep an eye out for Lind.”

“Are you always one step ahead of me and I don’t notice?”

“Often.”