Four Blind Mice

Chapter Fifty-One

Sampson and Mrs. Billie Houston stopped and sat in the sand in front of a sprawling ocean house that must have at least a dozen bedrooms. It was empty now, boarded up and shuttered, and that seemed such a monumental waste to Sampson. He knew people in DC who lived in abandoned tenements with no windows and no heat and no running water.

He couldn't peel his eyes away. The house was three stories high with wraparound decks on the upper two. A large sign posted on the dune near the house read: These dunes are protected. Stay on walkway. $300 fine. These people were serious about their property, or its beauty, or both, he thought to himself.

Billie Houston stared out at the ocean as she began to speak.

“Let me tell you about the night the murder happened,” she said. “I was a nurse at the Community Medical Center in Tom's River. I got off my shift at eleven and arrived home at about half past. Laurence almost always waited up for me. Usually we'd catch up on each other's day. Sit on the couch. Maybe watch a little TV together, mostly comedies. He was a big man like you, and always said he could carry me around in his pocket.”

Sampson didn't interrupt, just listened to her story take shape.

"What I remember the most about that night was that it was so ordinary, Detective. Laurence was watching The Steve Harvey Show and I leaned in and gave him a kiss. He sat me on his lap and we talked for a while. Then I went in to change out of my work clothes.

"When I came out from the bedroom, I poured myself a glass of Cabernet, and asked him if he wanted me to make popcorn. He didn't. He'd been watching his weight, which sometimes ballooned in the winter. He was in a playful mood, jokey, very relaxed. He wasn't tense, wasn't stressed in any way. I'll never forget that.

"The doorbell rang while I was pouring my glass of wine. I was up anyway, so I went to get it. The military I police were there. They pushed past me into the house and arrested Laurence for committing a horrible murder that night, just a few hours earlier.

“I remember looking at my husband, and him looking at me. He shook his head in absolute amazement. No way he could have faked that look. Then he said to the police, ”You officers are making a mistake. I'm a sergeant in the United States Army“. That's when one of the cops knocked him down with his baton.”