“You have good instincts about people and situations. Trust them. If your gut is telling you something is off, keep an eye on it as best you can.”

“That’s good advice. I wish I could talk to my mom about it without him around, but they’re joined at the hip. They’re even sharing her cell phone. Who does that anymore?”

“Does she seem happy?”

“I’ve never seen her so happy. Since he’s been back, I feel like I’m seeing someone I’ve never met before in her. She never stopped loving him in all the years he was gone. I don’t want to do anything to take away from her happiness. No one deserves it more than she does.”

“But...”

“I’m worried about what’ll become of her if he has another episode.”

“That’s a reasonable fear. All you can do is keep a close eye on it and be there for her if she needs you.”

“Thanks, Sam. It helps to be able to talk to someone who doesn’t think I’m ridiculous for being concerned.”

“You’re not ridiculous.”

They arrived at motel to find it surrounded by police vehicles. The medical examiner’s van pulled up a minute after they did. Lindsey walked with Sam and Freddie up the stairs to the second floor where a crowd had gathered outside room sixteen.

They entered the messy room where a Caucasian male, approximately six foot five or six inches, was lying facedown on the bed in a pool of blood. Lindsey handed Sam a pair of gloves. “Let’s turn him over.”

The two women worked together to turn the big man, gasping when they realized it was Rick Lind.

“Shit,” Sam said, even though this discovery made her job slightly easier. Like Willie, Rick had been stabbed once in the chest, which connected the two murders and ruled out the possibility of a random attack by an outraged fan. “Cruz, get CSU over here.”

“Already on the way.”

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Sam stepped back to allow Lindsey and her crew to prepare the victim for transport to the morgue. Glancing around the hotel room, she saw no obvious signs of struggle, which led her to believe Lind had been attacked in his sleep or by someone he knew. The room’s surfaces were littered with pizza boxes, discarded takeout wrappers, beer cans and drug paraphernalia. Sam didn’t touch any of it, leaving it for CSU to process. She peered under the bed and choked back a gag when she realized there were used condoms under there.

Rick Lind had gone on one hell of a bender after his team lost the big game.

She moved over to the door, which bore obvious signs of damage from whatever tool was used to pry it open.

A group of maids was standing outside the room in a tight cluster. One of them was crying.