“I didn’t.” My hand twitched on my cup.
“That’s okay,” Ozzie said. “We’re taking prints from everyone who was there, so we can exclude you from what we find. Mina, do you know where Mr. Shuman is?”
I shook my head. “No idea. Talk to Miranda Bennett. She might know since she had to get the real estate contracts to him. He’s not in town, I know that much.”
His nose wrinkled, and I knew he was not looking forward to that. Likely, he’d heard enough of Claire’s horror stories about her colleague to know it wouldn’t be an easy task to get information out of the woman. I didn’t envy him the challenge.
“Okay.” Ozzie turned his head toward Luke. “What made you start with that wall? Just random choice?”
“Actually, no. I noticed the water damage when I walked through with Mina last week. I decided to start there today so I could see if there was an active leak somewhere and to determine if we needed to fix any of the supports behind the plaster.”
Ozzie nodded. “Did you notice anything else out of the ordinary about the wall?”
“No. Well, maybe. The location of the water damage. It was low, but there were no pipes there. I mean, I get now why that’s the case. It’s not water damage, it’s… seepage.” Luke frowned.“But yeah, I guess that struck me as odd. My original thought was possibly there was a roof leak.”
“Do we have any idea who this could be?” I asked. “I mean, someone’s been missing for many, many years. That should tell us something, right?”
“It does, but I haven’t had a chance to go through missing persons cases yet. The chief might have an idea, but we haven’t talked since I got the call. Let us get the body out and maybe get a timeline established. That will give us a better idea of who it could be. And how they ended up in your wall.”
The bell over the door jingled again as a frazzled-looking Claire hurried through.
“Mina!” She skirted a table and a set of chairs to envelop me in a quick hug. “Are you okay?”
I squeezed her back. “I’m fine. Just a little freaked out.”
Claire stepped back and grabbed another chair, pulling it close to Ozzie.
“Babe, I’m conducting an interview.”
“Oh.” She paused halfway into her seat. “Sorry. Do you want me to get some coffee and come back?”
He sighed, a small smile tilting his mouth, softening his stern features. “No. I think we’re done.”
She shot a mock glare at him and lightly slapped his chest. “Don’t toy with me, Oscar Allen. This is a serious time. Don’t you remember how traumatized I was when I found Mrs. Hammond?”
The levity left his face. “You’re right.” He looked at me. “I’m sorry, Mina.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I offered him a small smile. “I appreciate you trying to make me smile.”
“So, what do we know?” Claire asked, diving in.
Oscar gave her a quick rundown, which wasn’t much.
She frowned at him. “What are you still doing sitting here? Go find out who’s in the wall.”
He chuckled. “Slow down, babe. Forensics has to get the body out of the wall first. I don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman.”
Claire whipped out her phone.
“What are you doing?” Ozzie asked.
“Your job. I’m looking up missing persons from this area.”
He groaned. “Will you let me do this my way?”
“No. My way is faster.”
Luke chuckled and met my gaze. I understood his amusement. Claire could be a wrecking ball.
