Witching Hour Dead by Colleen Cross

Author:Colleen Cross [Cross, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-989268-64-3
Publisher: Colleen Cross

Chapter 13

It was early afternoon by the time Tyler dropped me off at the office so I could follow up on Antonio’s SecureTech lock. Tyler headed to the Harcourt ranch to notify Richard’s wife, Valerie. I didn’t envy him one bit.

My legs felt heavy as I trudged up the stairs to my office. This weekend hadn’t turned out anything like I had expected. A fun day at the wine festival followed by Tyler’s promised surprise had now morphed into a murder investigation and uncomfortable inconsistencies about our neighbor and friend. How had so much gone wrong so quickly?

The Shady Creek police had transported Antonio to their headquarters an hour away, where samples of his DNA and fingerprints would be taken and his clothes, shoes, skin, and fingernails would be examined for forensic evidence. Depending on the initial results, Antonio would be either released or held until Tyler’s arrival there.

Having the Shady Creek police complete the forensics exam was a practical necessity since Tyler was the only law enforcement officer in town and he couldn’t be in multiple places at once. Antonio and Tyler also knew each other fairly well. Since they were friends, it made sense for a third party to collect the forensic evidence. It ensured impartiality and eliminated any accusations of bias. Those elements would be important whether or not Antonio was charged and tried for Richard’s murder.

I powered up my computer and searched for any information on SecureTech. I soon found their website which had photos of different locks. Some were key locks; others were combination locks; and others, like Antonio’s, had biometric security features. I recognized Antonio’s biometric lock immediately but found very few details in the description, other than the lock being state-of-the-art technology. The website only listed sales contact information, but I remembered that Antonio had a scheduled appointment with a technician on Monday. That was too long to wait. In the meantime, I would have to get creative. I had to either find a tech sooner or else track down an instruction manual to confirm its inner workings.

It was after 3 p.m. by the time Tyler returned from the Harcourt Ranch.

He trudged inside and slowly lowered himself into the chair beside my desk. He looked exhausted. I filled him in on what little I had learned about Antonio’s fancy lock and the technician appointment on Monday.

“We can’t wait that long. I’ll see about getting the technician’s contact info so we can get him out here sooner,” Tyler said.

“How did things go with Valerie?”

“I couldn’t find her,” he said. “I talked to her housekeeper though. She was out horseback riding all morning. Didn’t take her cell phone, so there’s no way to reach her. I told the housekeeper to get Valerie to call me as soon as she got home. Hopefully it’s soon because I don’t know how long I can keep a lid on this.”

“The housekeeper doesn’t know about Richard?”

Tyler shook his head. “I only told her that it was an urgent matter.”

Tyler glanced at his watch.

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