AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are there people making knock-offs?” asked Lori.
“Oh, heavens, yes. It takes a discerning eye to tell the difference. I had a guy in here trying to peddle a bunch of fakes once. I just hate that. My customers trust me to sell only genuine antique ribbons. I feel so badly that Mr. Cobain has died. I liked his books, and he was, after all, a good customer.”
“I’ll have to think about the typewriter. It’s a bit more than I was planning to spend,” said Lori.
“I completely understand. If you decide you don’t want to spend that much, I have others. Quite honestly, if you’re thinking about making a collection, I would probably start with one or two of the others, but if you have a collection or just want one as an art object, this Underwood would be a showpiece.”
“Thank you. I’ll give you a call to set up an appointment for an interview. I’d like to do it here and take some photos of you and your shop.”
“That would be fine. Thanks for coming in, and if I can help you, please don’t hesitate to call me now or in the future.”
“I will. Thanks.” They headed out to the Range Rover. Once inside the SUV as he pulled away from the curb, Lori asked, “Now, what?”
“I think we need to go talk to Middleton. I wonder if he’s even talked to the typewriter lady. By the way, she was a bit overpriced. Those typewriters can be picked up for less than that.”
He was always reminded what a small town Bleak Ridge actually was when he had to go from one end of town to the other—two stoplights on the one main street did not make for a long journey. He parked in front of the station and felt a silly kind of gladness when Lori waited for him to open the door. Once inside, they were shown to the interview room.
“This is the same awful room they had me in when Cobain was murdered,” she said.
“I think it’s the only interview room they have,” laughed Ryker, picking up her hand. “But this time I’m with you, and if Middleton steps out of line, I’ll shut him down. The chief of police…”
“Bleak Ridge has a chief of police?”
“You don’t think they’d leave Middleton in charge, do you? The chief basically takes his marching orders from the town council and ignores what’s going on. He’s always going here or there to do public speaking engagements. The one thing he really doesn’t like is less-than-glowing articles in the newspaper.”
She grinned. “My hero,” she said in a simpering voice, clasping her hands and bringing them up to the side of her face.
Before he could respond, Middleton walked in, wiping crumbs from his pants, loosening his tie, and focusing on Lori. “The officer out front says you think you have something to tell me?” He looked at Ryker. “Why are you here?”
“For one thing, there’s been a murder. All your obfuscation won’t change that fact. As far as either of us can tell, you’ve done absolutely nothing to try and figure out who murdered Cobain.”
“I understand you and Ms. Sykes have been keeping company,” Middleton sneered.
“The status of my relationship with Ryker is frankly none of your business. But for the record, Ryker and I are lovers.”
“Thanks for clearing that up for him,” chuckled Ryker.
“I saw a man murdered, Detective Middleton. Granted, it wasn’t close up, but still, I found it very unsettling, and the fact that you don’t seem to have done anything is very upsetting. Doesn’t it bother you that a visitor to your town was murdered?”
“You and your lover keep throwing the word murder around like it’s a done deal, and that determination has not been made by anyone other than you. I am not at liberty, nor do I have any responsibility, to share the details of my investigation with you and your washed-up boyfriend.”
Ryker rose from the table. “Enough, Middleton. I may not be attached to the Associated Press anymore, but I still have friends there as well as other prestigious papers. I’m sure they’d like a story about a bumbling detective who can’t find his ass with both hands and a map purposely not preserving a crime scene, treating a witness like a suspect, and basically doing nothing about finding a killer. Trust me, it’ll make for interesting reading.”
Lori rose to stand beside him. “I think the MCU might want to know about this, as well. And we don’t have to go through channels. I can just mention it to my friends in the Mystery Writers’ Murder Club, one of whom is married to Slade Rafferty and another is engaged to Thorn Wilder.”
“I doubt the Chief will like either of those scenarios,” said Ryker.
Middleton hopped up out of his chair. “There’s no need for that. I was at that party last night and no one stuck out as a potential suspect. I sent the typewriter ribbon to a forensics lab, and they couldn’t isolate anything. It was old and had been handled by a lot of people. There was really nothing for them to find that they could say conclusively pertained to whatever happened to Mr. Cobain. Everyone I talked to last night liked the guy and couldn’t think why anyone might want to hurt him, much less kill him. Besides, Ryker, your girlfriend there didn’t give us much in the way of a description—big, bulky, and wearing a hoodie isn’t overly helpful.”
“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t use the zoom feature on my phone to video it for you. But my phone was dead so if I could have done that, I could have more easily called the cops.”
“You tampered with the body,” Middleton accused.
“I tried to offer assistance,” countered Lori. “I don’t know who you talked to but very few people liked Cobain. He was a misogynist jerk.”
“If that’s true, and I’m going to go off of who disliked him, you just put yourself in my crosshairs as a potential suspect. You were overheard having words with him at the bistro and several people did say he had made disparaging remarks about you.”
“Don’t be stupid Middleton, Lori didn’t kill him.”
