“It was my only call. The first thing they taught me to do was to admit to my family that I fucked up. Once I did that, my mom, God bless her, bailed me out. It took me time to pay her back, but eight years later, I was all caught up and then some. I had a lot of business. I took on a few employees to help me out.”

“Melinda Little?” Oliver asked.

“No, I met Melinda way before,” Shriner said. “We used to frequent the same casinos.”

“She had a gambling problem.” Marge tried to keep her voice even.

“She did. I was the one who talked her into going to GA before she hit the skids. She was reluctant to admit it, but once she did, she went with the program. The hardest part was confession. She just couldn’t bring herself to admit to her folks that she’d been gambling away her dead husband’s insurance money. We worked out a plan. She’d say that she spent the money on hiring a private investigator—the reason why she was low on funds. Her parents bought the story and helped her out. She was ashamed, but swore she’d never go near a table again.”

“I was told that she had money in the bank when Ben died,” Marge said. “When did she start gambling?”

Shriner shrugged. “I met her about six months after the tragedy. She was hitting the tables pretty often: her game was blackjack. I do know that some of her husband’s insurance went to the boys for an educational fund that she couldn’t touch. That was probably a very good thing. We compulsive gamblers don’t have a good stop mechanism.”

“She was very forthright giving us your name,” Oliver told him.

“She didn’t know I was going to blow her cover. Otherwise she might not have.”

“How’d she react to that?”

“She wasn’t pleased, but she didn’t try to talk me out of it. Part of the GA philosophy is to come clean with your lies and excuses. I thought it would be therapeutic for us if we told the truth. She’s not ready for confession, but she had no right to tell me how to run my own life. She knows that you’ll be contacting her again.”

Oliver said, “Do you think it’s possible that she had something to do with her husband’s murder?”

“Anything’s possible, but I’d say no.”

Oliver said, “Why?”

“I could just tell that the woman was in pain.”

“She may have felt bad about his death, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t cause it, especially if she had a habit to support.”

“It was my understanding that she started gambling after the murder. At least, I don’t remember seeing her until after it happened.”

“She could have gambled elsewhere.”