Murphy's Slaw by Elizabeth Logan

Author:Elizabeth Logan [Logan, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

* * *

I was the last to return to the booth. The other three team members had rosy complexions from the heat of the day and slightly rapid breathing, indicating they’d taken the twenty-minute-walk rule to heart.

Me? My rapid heartbeat was due not to aerobic walking but to my encounter with Roland Hortenson.

My biggest quandary now was whether to lay it all out to my teammates. No harm had come to me other than the stress brought about by my own fear. I didn’t want to worry anyone. On the other hand, what if Roland went after Annie or Chris next? Shouldn’t I warn them? If he knew my vehicle was near his property, did he also know Chris was the driver?

“Dessert,” Nina called, and came bearing a large baking dish, overflowing with cherry cobbler. She gave me a look, then didn’t hold back. “Charlie, you look like you ran hard the whole twenty minutes. More, since you’re the last one here.”

I made an attempt at a laugh. “Guess I’m not as young as I used to be.” I was disappointed that the young college student didn’t contradict me.

“I took the list with me,” Trooper said, “and I see that this session will be pretty short, since there’s not much to report.”

We moved quickly through a couple of agenda items. There were no forensics yet from the Jessups’ SUV.

“I tried to apologize to them for keeping it so long,” Trooper said, “but since Sue Ann thinks it’s bad luck now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they put it up for sale anyway.”

Chris perked up. “Hey,” he said. “Like I said before, I’d be happy to take it off their hands. I can handle a little bad luck, as long as the thing runs.”

Everyone at the table had seen Chris’s battered old pickup and knew he was serious, especially when he jotted something down in his notebook, underlined it several times, and added a few exclamation points.

“That smartwatch?” Trooper asked. “Any fingerprints were wiped out when the vehicle ran over it. And who knows how long it was stuck in the tire. Is there some data from the numbers you checked?”

This was Chris’s agenda item, and he shook his head. “It seems there are watches where you can send your data into the cloud to keep track of it, but”—he shook his head, almost forlornly—“not this one.”

“Same strikeout with the gum, et cetera, that you picked up at the scene, Charlie,” Trooper said. “I’m afraid nothing turned up there, either.”

Now there were four of us forlorn. Is this what police work was always like? I felt sorry for the full-timers at the job.

I had a feeling we were about to break up, and I hadn’t mentioned the threat I’d felt from Roland Hortenson. That’s what it was, I reminded myself, a feeling. He hadn’t thrown a punch or brandished a weapon or even issued a threat, like “Stay off my property.” He’d just asked why I was where I was.

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