“I already have. Keep fighting me, and I’ll give you a little push.” Sam slackened her hold on Elle, and the other woman screamed as she pitched forward on the escalator. Keeping a grip on the cuffs, Sam let her dangle precariously for a second before she pulled her back. Elle remained comically still for the remainder of the ride to the lobby.

A crowd had formed around the police cars, and smart phones held aloft recorded their emergence from the hotel. Sam would bet that Elle wished she’d worn her hair down tonight, because she had no way to shield her face from the cameras. “In you go,” Sam said, putting her in the back of a patrol car.

“You will not get away with this,” Elle said once again.

Sam slammed the door in her face and walked away. That had gone well.

* * *

Avery led Ray to a hallway outside the crowded ballroom.

“What the hell is going on, Avery? What’re you even doing here?”

“There’s no easy way to say this, Ray. Elle is being arrested for murder.”

Ray looked at him as if he’d spoken the words in a foreign language. “What in the world are you talking about? You don’t think she had something to do with Willie...”

“Willie and Rick Lind.”

His face went slack with shock. “Rick’s dead too?”

“I’m sorry, but yes. He was found dead today at the Capitol Motor Inn.”

“What’s that got to do with Elle?”

“The company was in big trouble.”

“We’ve had some problems, but big trouble is a bit of a stretch.”

“She’s completely broke. Every credit card is maxed out. The paper can’t meet its payroll next week. Her house of cards was dependent on those World Series TV rights. In her mind, Willie ruined everything, and Rick didn’t help by failing to close out the game when he had the chance.”

“She wouldn’t kill them. I mean, she’s not always the warmest woman in the world, but she’s not a murderer.

“Checks for ten thousand dollars each were written to Boris and Horace from your joint account the day after the game. Can you tell me what that was for?”

“I have no idea.”

Avery let the statement speak for itself and watched as the realization hit Ray like a sledgehammer. “We believe she paid her bodyguards ten thousand dollars each to kill Willie. She took care of Lind herself.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t she get them to take care of him too?”

“Because Lind was personal.”

“Personal? What does that mean?”

Once again, Avery let his silence do the talking, letting a moment pass during which the truth dawned on Ray.

“No. Elle and Rick Lind? Come on! That’s not true. I don’t believe it.”

“I’m sorry, Ray, but we can prove it.”

“How?”