The Mia Quinn Collection by Lis Wiehl

Author:Lis Wiehl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 30

This coffee smells good and burnt.” In the squad’s break room Charlie dubiously sniffed the cup he had just poured. He was talking to Andy Gibbons, another homicide detective. Yellowing reminders taped to the walls exhorted them to clean up their spatters and to remember that their mother didn’t work there. Despite the homemade signs, the space was a mess, had always been a mess, and would always be a mess.

“It’ll put hair on your chest,” Andy said, reaching for the glass carafe.

“How’s it going with that double murder?” Charlie asked.

The other detective shrugged. “Seems pretty open and shut. Two dealers fighting over territory and the girlfriend was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He threw back a swallow of his coffee as if it were rotgut whiskey. “How about you?”

“I’m working that shopping cart case.”

“I saw that on the news this morning. So stupid. So the lady died?”

“No. At least not yet. Right now the focus is on deciding whether to charge the kids who did it as adults or not.” Charlie took another slug of his coffee. “And I’ve been looking into a traffic accident in Puyallup County that I’m pretty sure was no accident. But I guess they don’t see it the same way, even though the death investigator should have picked up on some discrepancies.”

“Good luck with that,” Andy said. “That place is positively inbred. If I remember right, their death investigator is married to the sheriff’s sister.”

Charlie blinked as a piece of the puzzle fell into place. No wonder the sheriff had been so adamant that no mistakes had been made. It wasn’t a cover-up. Or at least not a traditional one. Puyallup was covering up their own incompetence. They might have done the same no matter who was in the accident. And minus a literal smoking gun, nagging them to reopen it was not going to do any good.

Back at his desk, Charlie called the number listed on the accident report for the first responder. He had debated about using his work phone but decided on his personal cell.

“Hello?” The man had a thin voice with a bit of a quaver. Charlie pictured an old guy in a fishing cap.

“Is this Alvin Turner?”

“Yes?” He sounded suspicious, as if Charlie had interrupted his dinner hour to try and sell him something he didn’t need.

“This is Charlie Carlson. I’m a friend of Mia Quinn. Last April you were the first person on the scene after the accident that killed her husband, Scott Quinn.”

“Oh yes. That was a terrible thing. Terrible.”

“Mia is just now coming to terms with what happened. She is wondering if it might be possible to meet with you.”

After a long pause, the old man cleared his throat. “I’m not sure there’s much I can tell her.”

“It would really help to ease her mind.”

“But he was dead—or at least very close to it—when I got there.”

“Even knowing that would be good for her. And I promise it won’t take much of your time,” Charlie said, not knowing if that was true or not.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.