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“Very well then. I thought I’d let you know that I ran into the village public safety officer who handled Henrietta’s case,” Gibson offered.
“What’s that?” Andi asked.
“They’re fully sworn peace officers who are armed and tasked with overseeing small rural communities,” Gibson explained. “He was the village cop, the first one called when immediate help is needed.”
“What did he tell you?” Andi rushed.
“I know we all had the impression that Craig talked to the police and told them the name of the killer,” Gibson said. “But Officer Tropical—yes, it’s an unusual and slightly ironic name considering where we are—said he’s never talked to Craig before.”
Duke flinched.
Had Craig made that fact up? From what Duke knew of Craig, that didn’t fit. But he also had to consider that he didn’treallyknow Craig. He only knew the side of him he presented on air. Many people put on different personas to do that.
What if most of what he said wasn’t true?
What if all of this was for ratings?
But then . . . why would someone have killed him?
“Did your friend say anything else?” Duke’s gaze darkened as he waited for Gibson’s response.
“Not really. Only that every lead ran dry, and that there weren’t very many leads to start with. They tried to find motive, means, and opportunity, and it was hard to find any of those things. Tropical didn’t really have anything new to add, unfortunately.” Gibson shrugged.
Andi didn’t bother to hold back her frown. “That is unfortunate.”
“I wish I could tell you something else.” Gibson let out a quick sigh. “But that’s all I’ve got at the moment.”
Andi cleared her throat and glanced back at the murder board behind her. “There’s one other thing I want to add to this.”
Duke turned toward her, curious.
There was more? He couldn’t wait to hear what.
* * *
“I’ve been working on putting together a timeline,” Andi explained as she grabbed her notebook. “I did one based on everything I learned about Henrietta’s murder and another timeline based on what Craig said on his podcast. I tried to follow in his footsteps, thinking that might lead us to the killer. That’s how I know that approximately a week and a half ago is when Craig found the lead that led him to believe he knew who the killer was. Before that, he was willing to end his season after seven episodes and leave the murder unsolved.”
Duke nodded, looking a little impressed. “Did it lead you anywhere? Did you have any realizations because of it?”
“I have it all written out.” She opened her notebook. “I didn’t sleep much last night, so I worked on this instead. But I wanted to double-check some things before I shared it.”
She walked to the board and pinned one of her notebook pages there.
Everyone crowded around to look at it.
Henrietta’s timeline:
Monday:
5:30 a.m.: Henry left home to fly to Seattle on a business trip. Drove himself to airport. Definite alibi.
6:30: Henrietta wakes kids.
7:30: Breakfast
8:00: Clean up.
9:00: Homeschool
