Page 5 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
Briggs rolled his eyes.“You should have left well enough alone and called the police.”
“When we realized he was dead, we did.”
Briggs leaned over, cupping a hand to the side of his mouth, and shouted to a fellow officer inside.“Harlan, will you get Grady on the phone, find out what’s taking him so long to get here?I need to know the approximate time the murder took place.”
“I can tell you,” I said.
Briggs gave a humorless laugh.“I doubt that.”
I glanced at Cade, who looked poised to jump to my defense, but I had my own words for the small-town sheriff.
“I’m a private detective, and Cade is a retired chief of police,” I said.“Here’s what I observed: when I checked Gideon, he had no pulse.After we turned him over, as you saw, it was clear he’d been shot.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Gideon’s early postmortem.His jaw and fingers are stiff, and his skin is pale and waxy.I also noticed corneal cloudiness in his eyes.He hasn’t been dead long, less than three hours I’d guess.”
I waited for Briggs to come up with a snarky comeback, but he didn’t.
“Not bad,” he said.“How long have you been a private investigator?”
“A long time.Never thought it was the career path I’d take.”
“So, why’d you go down it?”
It was a story I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell.
“My sister was murdered by a serial killer in Park City, Utah,” I said.“When the police couldn’t identify her killer, I decided I’d find him myself.”
“About your sister—I’m sorry.You catch the guy responsible?”
“I did.”
He paused, then said, “Everyone knows each other in Hollow Pines.When it comes to this town, I know everything that’s going on in it.And since I’ve never seen the two of you before, I’m guessing you’re not from around here.”
“We’re not.We’ve been traveling around for a while in our RV.Cade knew I’d always wanted to attend Spooktember Fest, so this year we made it happen.”
“How long do you plan to stay?”
He tried to sound indifferent, like my answer wouldn’t change a thing.But he wasn’t fooling me.He was determined to keep me out of his investigation.
“We haven’t decided how long we’re staying yet,” I said.
Briggs frowned, then ran a hand along his jaw.“I need both of you to come down to the station so we can take your statements.And then … well, thanks for the call, but I’m here now.What I mean to say is, I think it would be best for the two of you to be on your way.We’ll take it from here.”
5
It had been a week since we’d arrived in Hollow Pines, and I hadn’t heard much about any developments in Gideon’s investigation, though it had never been far from my mind.Whenever we were in town, Gideon’s murder was all anyone talked about, not that I blamed them.According to one woman, it was the first murder they’d had in two decades.
Cade and I had just finished breakfast, and I was sitting at the table with Boo, AKA Lord Berkeley, my West Highland Terrier.He was getting on in years and lacked the vigor of his younger days, but we were grateful he was still with us.At the moment, he was sprawled across my lap, sleeping.Then a knock at the door startled him awake.
He perked up, preparing to bark, and I gave him a pat on the head.“It’s okay, bud.You’re all right.”
Parting the blinds, I peered out into the fading light and spotted a woman I didn’t recognize.She looked to be in her early forties, her dark hair pulled back in a careless knot.A pair of worn denim overalls hung loose over a black long-sleeved shirt, the kind of outfit that suggested practicality over style.She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, as if torn between leaving and knocking, her gaze darting toward the RV and then away again.Something in her posture—stiff shoulders, arms folded—spoke of someone carrying a heavy weight.
Cade opened the front door, and the woman said, “Is Sloane Monroe here?”
He nodded and invited her in.
