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“Nah. I’m a born and bred Mainer. To me, it’s just chilly.”
Lori laughed and let him put his sheepskin duffle coat over her shoulders. She ran her hands down the garment, which felt incredibly luxurious. “If I’m moving to Maine, I’m getting one of these.”
He grinned. “I might be able to help you out with that. This one belonged to my dad. Come on. The Range Rover is just out front.”
CHAPTER 8
RYKER
After getting her settled in his Range Rover, he drove down along the seawall until Lori pointed to the dock where she’d seen the murder take place. Ryker parked next to the walkway where they could easily see the dock.
“They don’t even look like they have it cordoned off,” she said in disbelief.
“That should surprise me, but it doesn’t. Middleton isn’t going to want to call attention to the fact that someone was murdered.”
“He tried to tell me it hadn’t been ruled a murder yet.”
“I’ll just bet he did, mainly because he doesn’t want it ruled to be a murder. I know what you say you saw, but are you sure?”
Lori nodded. “I was sure from up here, but when I went down there and turned him over to help, he had a vintage typewriter ribbon...”
“Like an old spool-to-spool?”
“Exactly. It appeared as though he’d been strangled with it.”
“Curious.”
“Exactly, but it doesn’t lead easily to any conclusion other than the fact he was murdered.”
“Well, you know Maine is known for its wandering packs of killer typewriters, and it would be kind of fitting if a hack like Cobain strangled himself with an old school ribbon.”
Lori laughed. “It would; so how can he say it wasn’t murder?”
“Because if he says it officially, he has to call in the State forensic team and the MCU, so he’ll put it off as long as he can…”
“And if he doesn’t cordon it off, then no one is really any wiser. That jerk. Don’t get me wrong; Cobain was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve to die.”
“Okay, so there are two ways we, or rather you, can handle this.”
“I’m listening.”
“You can call in the MCU yourself. Report it to them and tell them you think Middleton is lollygagging.”
“Ooh, double points for the correct use of lollygagging. I’m impressed,” she teased.
“Hey, I won a Pulitzer Prize. I know words,” he laughed, enjoying the easy way they were getting along.
“So, what’s my other choice?”
“Well, we could let the MCU fight its own turf war. And while they’re doing that and it’s not an officially opened case, we could do some snooping around.”
Lori clapped her hands together gleefully. “Oh, I was so hoping you’d say that. Door number two, please.”
Ryker glanced at his watch. “Okay, let me get you back to your event. When you’re done for the day, give me a call, and I’ll come get you. I’ll do some preliminary investigative work and we’ll go over what I’ve found, and you can give me an in-depth report of what you saw.”
Lori nodded. “I made some preliminary notes, so I’ll share those with you. In fact, I’ll send you an email.”
“Good. How about if we have dinner at my place? That way we can spread things out and start putting together what we know.”
