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“Crime Scene,” Tidwell said to Theodosia. “You touch anything in there with your sticky little fingers?”
“Um, the front doorknob, then the door leading to the office.” Theodosia thought for a moment. “And I touched two fingers against Helene’s neck. I pretty much had to, you know, to see if she was still alive.”
“And she was not,” Tidwell said.
Theodosia shivered. “Unfortunately, no.”
Two men from the Crime Scene unit, one tall, one short, laden with camera cases and other gear, hustled past them into the shop.
“You’re doing video?” Tidwell asked.
“And stills,” said the short one, patting his camera case.
“Good. Then I want every hair, smudge, and miniscule piece of dirt and particulate collected, bagged, and analyzed,” Tidwell told them. “We need to get to the bottom of this ASAP.”
“You got it,” the tall one replied.
“And let me know when I can come in and take a closer look, will you?” Tidwell asked.
The short one nodded. “Will do, Chief.”
Tidwell turned to Theodosia. “And we need to get a statement from you.”
“Of course,” she replied.
“So that will be…ah, here he is now.”
A dark blue BMW pulled in behind the Crime Scene van and Pete Riley climbed out.
“Riley!” Theodosia cried. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here because you’re here,” Riley said. He stopped a few feet from her, put his hands on his hips, and said, “But the real issue is, why are you involved with Helene Deveroux?”
“It’s a long story,” Theodosia responded.
“I’ve got time,” Riley said. He walked into the small circle of light to join them. Three humans plus one canine. “What’s going on, Theo? What on earth brought you here?”
“She’s a magnet for trouble,” Tidwell muttered.
Theodosia ignored Tidwell and touched a hand to her heart. It was still fluttering excitedly inside her chest as she explained: “Filming ran late at Brittlebank Manor tonight, so when I got home I decided to go for a run.”
“Of course you did,” Tidwell said.
“Anyway, after Earl Grey and I did a good two miles, I stopped at a food truck gathering,” Theodosia said. “You know, where that little parking lot is, near the battery wall?”
“Yes, yes.” Tidwell was impatient to hear her story.
“And I just so happened to see the words ‘Deveroux Electric’ kind of painted over on the back of one of the food trucks.”
“What?” Riley said.
The two detectives exchanged skeptical glances, then Tidwell made a noise in the back of his throat as if he didn’t quite believe her.
“Painted over, did I hear you correctly? On a food truck?” Riley said.
“Yes, a food truck,” Theodosia said. She was starting to get irritated. They didn’t seem to be taking her story seriously. “Rocco’s Ribs, if you must know. Anyway, I started wondering about…I mean, Helene’s husband owned an electrical repair company…so what are the chances?”
“You thought you’d made some sort of connection to the Josh Morro murder?” Tidwell said. “You thought Helene might have some knowledge of electrical engineering. Or wiring?”
