Page 53 of Always Murder

“That’s great.I still don’t know why the freight company didn’t make an official complaint.I mentioned I’m highly suspicious of someone working there, right?”

“You did,” she said.And she even managed to make it sound like this was an ordinary thing that ordinary citizens said to her all the time.“We’ll take a look.”

“At least you can clear Paul from your list.I didn’t want to say anything to Millie, but I was starting to have my doubts.”

Sheriff Acosta didn’t say anything to that.

“Wait a minute,” I said.“Are you serious?You still think Paul might have done this?Someone tried to beat him to death.Or do you think he bashed his own face in?”

Sheriff Acosta didn’t say anything to that, either.

After a few seconds, I mumbled, “Sorry.I ate a Cloud Cake, and there’s still a bit of a sugar high going on.”

“I don’t think Paul attacked himself.But you have to consider how the attack looks.”

“How it looks?What does that mean?”

“Paul was fired for stealing packages.Then Paul disappeared.Then Paul was attacked at a storage unit—”

“His sister’s storage unit,” I put in.

“—where, conceivably, Paul might have been storing those missing packages.”

“But Paul didn’t—” I stopped.“But Millie would have told us.”

Sheriff Acosta nodded, but it was sympathy more than agreement.

“So, what?”I said.“You think Paul did steal the packages, and someone attacked him—why?”

“It could have been a crime of opportunity,” the sheriff said.“Someone was passing by and saw the contents of the storage unit.”

“That doesn’t make sense with Millie’s timeline.And someone who happened to randomly be in a Santa suit?”

“Or it might have been professionals.”

“Professionals like the Turnleys?”

“I’m not suggesting anyone in particular.I’m only saying that someone might have wanted those packages for themselves.Another possibility is that Paul was trying to sell the contents of those stolen packages, and his fence turned on him and robbed him instead.”

They were all logical explanations.They were all, as the sheriff said, possibilities.Aside from Millie’s eyewitness account, there wasn’t any evidence that things hadn’t played out the way the sheriff suggested, and I knew that, at least for now, the sheriff couldn’t simply take Millie’s word for it.And if I hadn’t already been up to my eyebrows in this mess and felt the general weirdness of it all, I probably would have agreed with the sheriff—Paul was the most likely suspect for the package thefts, and the fact that it had come back to bite him probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“I’ll be in touch if I have any additional questions,” the sheriff said.“Do you feel up to driving yourself home?I can call Bobby.”

I shook my head.“No, I’m fine.Thanks.”I hesitated.And then I said, “Sheriff, I heard you’re hiring a detective.”

“That’s right.We’re making some changes.I think it’ll be for the best.”

There were probably more eloquent (or at least subtler) ways to go about it, but I was exhausted, so I blurted, “You should hire Bobby.”

The sheriff’s eyebrows went up.

“He’d be great at it.He’s super smart, and he’s good with people, and he’s observant and analytical.He’s your best deputy, and I’m not the only one who thinks that.”

Sheriff Acosta nodded.“I’ll take that into consideration.”

“I know what you’re thinking.I know I’m a problem, and I’m always butting into sheriff’s office business, and you think I’d take advantage of my relationship with Bobby somehow and get inside information or something like that.But I wouldn’t.And it’s not fair to punish Bobby because he made the very questionable decision to date me.This is his dream.You have to hire him.Please.”

A smile—a real one—spread across the sheriff’s face.“Dash, if I hired Bobby as a detective, I’d like to see you try to get information out of him.”

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