Waif

Peggy is shot full of holes. Sammy takes one near the neck and one in the thigh when two of his cases collide.

A waif, Zoë Hummerstein, hires Detective Sammy Shovel to solve a twenty-two year old murder that her father was accused of. Zoë made certain her makeup and clothes were chosen with care before she stepped into the private investigator's office. Sobbing, Zoë tells her story of a hit-and-run took that took place in San Francisco; not only was her father accused of murdering his wholesale liquor business competitor, but also having an affair with a woman from Oakland. Her father's young business partner, Tony Lucchesi had taken over the business and married a woman named Linda from the east coast; a New Jersey Mafioso's daughter.

Zoë knew the only way to solve the mystery was for Sammy to find the mistress.
Sammy feels the case seems straightforward and it will be simple enough to prove her father innocent. But Sammy soon learns there are things Zoë didn't tell him: her mother died six months after her father died in prision. Linda took over the company, L&T Liquors, and her father's partner, Tony is somehow different. Sammy learns an astonishing truth; Linda had been paying Zoë's mother a secret monthly stipends. When her mother died, Zoë lost her cash cow.
But when the waif's case slams into another, they explode into a fantastic struggle of such magnitude that it leaves Sammy in shoot up and in totally dismay.The leads will take him on a perilous journey from seemingly unrelated warehouse robberies in San Francisco to a ghastly murder in Oregon.
Like some of Sammy's other cases, Waif is filled with lies and murderous greed, but when he finds the police corruption aspect, he knows Herman Ziece, Zoë's father, was railroaded for murder. But Sammy needs proof. It came in sealed vials of DNA samples taken years before by a funeral operator. The DNA proves the extraordinary circumstances of the case. However, It almost gets him killed when he falls into a well- laid trap. Regardless of the risks, Sammy Shovel delves into every case with equal gusto--to find out why pure innocent people turns into public enemy number one. Growing more suspicious with each--now provocative-- visit from Zoë, Sammy finds her high school yearbook, and it all becomes clear and the answer was right in front of him from the start.

Bullets, threats, and seduction won't stop Sammy Shovel from unraveling the truth.