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pushed them toward Sam. “Your notes alone aren’t enough. If you want more, you’ve got to give me something the guy touched. Maybe take me some place he used to go. And I’m not even sure that will give me anything you can use in an article. What is it you want to write about, anyway?”
    “I’m not looking to find his killer. But before the cops arrested him, Morrow cashed in a lot of his securities. He had millions of dollars in assets that the regulators were never able to trace. I want to be the one who can lead them to his hidden fortune.”
    “And you expect me to be able to find them for you?”
    “Yeah, if you can.”
    “Would you like me to gift wrap the moon and give that to you, too?”
    Sam grinned. “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
    “And what if I
could
help you with all that? What would I get out of it?”
    Sam sobered. “Morrow cheated a lot of people out of their life savings. You lost just about everything when you were mugged and they robbed your home. Wouldn’t you like to help others who suffered a similar fate?”
    Yeah, but I wasn’t about to be suckered in so easily. “Except that I was physically robbed. A lot of Morrow’s marks were just greedy, making risky investments because they let the guy blow smoke up their asses — promising them whatever they wanted to hear. The guy had to have some kind of charisma to pull that off with so many people.”
    “That he did. But can you blame people with kids who’ve got substantial college debt — or people who were looking to have a carefree retirement? It’s human nature to want as much as you can get.”
    And Sam wanted to cement his job and reputation by nailing a story and looking like a hero. He had a slew of awards to his credit, but he was still worried about staying on top. If he felt this way in his late thirties, what was the next decade likely to bring? And how could I turn him down? He’d saved my ass by loaning me his gun not six months before. It had saved me, Richard, and Maggie, and he’d asked no questions when the gun wasn’t returned.
    “What do you want me to do?” I asked, resigned.
    His mouth quirked into a smile. He knew he had me right where he wanted me. “I haven’t figured that out yet, but now that I know you’re on board, I’ll think about it and get back to you.” He took another sip of his beer. “So, anything interesting going on in your life?”
    I shrugged. “Richard bought a boat.” God, my life was so friggin’ boring the most exciting thing going on didn’t even have much to do with me.
    Sam’s eyes lit up.
    “A Slipstream 9000,” I went on.
    He nodded, impressed. “Not the top of the line, but not far from it, either. Kinda late in the season, isn’t it?”
    “He picked it up for a song at a government sale. And how do you know so much about boats?”
    “Who do you think writes the yearly feature on the subject for the
Buffalo News
?”
    “Have you got a boat?”
    “Yeah, and not nearly as nice. I sure hope you’re going to invite me onboard sometime.”
    “I haven’t even driven the damn thing,” I said, still smarting from the morning’s non-adventure. “We’ve got the week to play with it before it goes into storage for the winter.”
    He shook his head. “The summer is far too short for those of us who enjoy the water.”
    “I don’t swim and I don’t fish — but I’m not immune to the pleasure of a sunset cruise with a beer in my hand, either.”
    “Well, don’t count on it happening this week. The forecast is for cold, rain, and wind for the next few days. But believe me, on a frigid winter’s night you’ll be counting the days until the fair weather hits late next spring. If nothing else, it gives you hope,” he said, tipped back his bottle and drained it.
    “So now that you have a story to work on, what’s next on your agenda?”
    “Interviews. Would you be interested in coming along on a few of them?”
    “What for? Do you want me to act as a human