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“As you probably heard, a local podcaster died yesterday while recording his show,” Duke said. “Andi and I were listening to the previous episodes from this season, mostly to . . . pass time.”
Andi seemed to understand his approach and nodded, remaining low-key. “That’s right. Just passing time. Being armchair detectives.”
Mariella sat down, looking a little too comfortable as she settled in for the conversation. “I love true crime also. Wait . . . have I mentioned that? I listen to it all the time.” Her words came out fast and animated. “In fact, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should switch from doing beauty and style features on my social media accounts to doing true crime instead.”
Wasn’t that just great? Duke mused with a certain wryness.Everyonehere—except maybe Ranger—liked true crime.
That could end up getting a lot of people in a lot of trouble if they weren’t careful.
Besides, he thought she was covering travel? Clearly there was more to her story.
And whyhadthe power gone out?
Part of Duke wanted to go outside to check things out.
But he didn’t want to alarm the twins. He’d blame this on the weather for now. Plus, the troopers were outside. If something happened, they would know.
However, Duke wouldn’t let down his guard any time soon.
* * *
Andi sat on the couch and listened to the conversation around her.
Mariella had begun asking questions about the murder board.
As she did that, Simmy made sandwiches for everyone. She brought them to the coffee table near the fire, along with some chips, and laid them out.
Then they all sat together discussing the clues in front of them.
Mariella waved a chip in the air as she stared at the murder board. “Maybe some random psycho killed Henrietta, and that’s why there are no clues.”
“That does happen sometimes.” Duke said the words as if he were an expert on these things. “I suppose that could be the case. Maybe this guy didn’t have any motive other than simply wanting to kill. It would explain how he’s gotten away with Henrietta’s murder for so long.”
“I don’t think that’s what happened.” Andi placed her turkey sandwich on her plate as everyone glanced at her. “Up until today, I might have believed that was a possibility. But this guy has been paying attention. He knew Craig was about to reveal his identity. So, he went to Craig’s place and killed him in order to protect himself. That whole murder was premeditated, which doesn’t seem to match Henrietta’s death.”
Silence stretched through the room as everyone seemed to dwell on her words.
As the doorbell rang, they paused. Gibson’s voice came through the door, and Simmy let him in.
Gibson stood on the edge of their circle, hands on his hips, and stared at their murder board. After a moment, he pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. “That is quite some work you guys have done.”
“Thank you.” Mariella beamed as if she had anything to do with it.
Andi hid a smile, for some reason finding that fact amusing.
“You guys really think you can track down the person who did this when law enforcement has had no luck?” Gibson stared at each of them, his question hanging in the air.
No one denied the audacity of what they were trying to do.
Andi took his words as a challenge.
“I’d like to dissect the broadcast audio files from right before his murder,” Matthew offered.
“I can scour the online comments people made on Craig’s social media,” Mariella said.
“I can ask people who come in here and see if they know anything,” Simmy said.
“I’m pretty good at making timelines.” Andi shrugged, unable to resist piping in. She only had a little while to work on it because she hoped to leave in the morning. But Simmy needed her help, so how could she look the other way?
