Page 38 of Holmes, Margaret and Poe

“Cost you a lot,” said Sampson, who’d returned from moving the car.

“More than you know.”

I said, “Your girlfriend?”

The anger rose up in him again. He glared at me. “That was an ex-girlfriend. A long-ago ex-girlfriend.”

“Antonia Mays.”

He nodded reluctantly.

“And she had a daughter, Jenna,” Mahoney said.

“You gonna drag them into this?” he said, shaking his head in disgust.

“If we have to,” I said. “We can understand you wanting to keep it quiet.”

“Look, I had nothing to do with that. Nothing. I started dating Antonia when I played for the Ravens. She hated that I quit the NFL. We had an on-again, off-again relationship for a while, and she was dating someone else when she got pregnant with Jenna. So Jenna wasn’t mine, but she was a great kid, and when me and Antonia were done for good, I kept taking care of Jenna. I sent Antonia money every month for her. But Antonia, man, she just had a darkness in her soul.”

“Did she support you when you came back from overseas?” Sampson asked.

“Ah, no. She told me I should have stayed in the NFL, made some real money. She hated me, blamed me for everything wrong in her life. Right to the end.”

I said, “How long after you were dropped from the American Airlines pilot program did she …”

“Four days. I’d gone down to Galveston to drink to the end of my pilot career with a couple of old buds.”

“How’d you hear?”

“Antonia’s sister, Lucille, called me,” he said. “Told me what she’d done.” Davis stared off into the middle distance and shookhis head. “It was just shock and disbelief at first. Then it hit me that it was real.” He looked at us. “I went to my knees and bawled my eyes out for that poor little girl. I was just gutted.”

“But eventually you got angry,” Mahoney said.

“Oh, angry enough to tear heads off. And sad enough to blow my own head off. I mean, what kind of woman shoots her seven-year-old daughter in her sleep and then turns the gun on herself?”

I said, “A disturbed one. Was she angry about you getting dumped by American?”

“Of course. Antonia looked for reasons to be angry,” Davis said. “About everything. So, sure. It pissed her off. But you know what? The job wasn’t going to change my life or hers financially. I made quite a bit of money in the NFL, and I invested it all before I went overseas. I didn’t need the job to help take care of Jenna is what I’m saying.”

His explanation felt real. The sorrow in his face seemed heartfelt. I think Sampson saw that too, but Mahoney wanted to be sure.

“Mr. Davis,” he said. “Captain, I’m trying to believe you here, but do you understand the importance of this investigation?”

“I may have had my bell rung a few times, but I’m not suffering from dementia.”

“We want to eliminate you as a suspect once and for all. Will you let us search your house or do I need a warrant?”

Davis thought about it, then said, “Go ahead. I got nothing to hide. I’ve got a coaching staff meeting to get to. You find something, you know where I’ll be.”

CHAPTER 36

BREE STONE WALKED THROUGHFranklin Park toward the corner of Fourteenth Street and I. It was chilly, and a blustery wind shook the leaves that were turning color all around her.

Jannie was already at the corner, sitting on a park bench wearing running shorts and a light jacket on which was printed howard university track. She was sipping a mocha latte that had come from the Compass Coffee across the street. She had two more coffees in a cardboard tray, and she smiled when she saw Bree.

“For you,” Jannie said, holding out one of the coffees. “Figured we could all use a warm-up. It’s just the way you like it.”

Bree took the coffee, tasted it, and smacked her lips. “Perfecto.”

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