Part Two

Jerod started from the beginning.  They’d rented the cabin.  They arrived yesterday afternoon.  The shed was locked.  They fished, then went to the bar and grill for a late supper, and a man tried to punch Thane.  He thought Thane had bothered his wife.  They came home, went to bed but heard noises after midnight.  Looked outside but only saw raccoons.  But this morning, the locked shed door was open, so they went to check on it.  Found the woman’s body.

Officer Cooper listened to them and took notes.  “Have you ever seen the woman before?”

They shook their heads.  Jerod said, “All we’ve done is fish and go to the bar and grill for a late supper.  She wasn’t our waitress, and I don’t remember seeing her there.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Cooper said.  “She’s the wife of the man who took a swing at you.”

Ansel scratched his head, confused.  “Why was she here?”

Cooper gave them a sympathetic look.  “That’s what I’d like to know.  Unless Cassandra was looking for the guy who manhandled her, there’s no reason for it.”

Thane and Walker walked out of their room and stopped when they saw a law officer sitting at the kitchen table. 

Cooper pressed his lips together when he saw Thane.  “No wonder Mikey mistook you for the guy hanging around his wife.  He never met him, but you sure fit the right description.”

With a frown, Thane looked at Jerod.  “What’s going on?”

Cooper answered for him.  “Your friends found Mikey’s wife, dead, near the backyard shed.”

Thane’s gray eyes widened in surprise.  “Dead?”

“Murdered,” Cooper added.  When Thane’s shoulders sagged, Cooper went on.  “I don’t think it was you.  I think you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Ansel frowned, trying to put the pieces together.  “The husband?”

“Mikey’s a volunteer fireman for the area.  He was fighting a blaze at a marina two towns away most of the night.”

“Is the other redhead still in town?” Ansel asked.

Cooper smiled at him.  “Can’t answer that.  It’s an ongoing investigation, but if you run into him, you’ll figure it out.”

Ansel locked gazes with Jerod.  “Then I hope we do.  I don’t like a murder hanging over us.”

“Understandable.”  Cooper stood to leave.  “In case you hear anything or think of anything else, here’s my card.”  He handed it to Ansel.

The men watched him walk to his car and drive away.  Then Thane sighed.  “We leave River Bluffs for a long weekend, and this happens.  I thought it was only Jazzi who got pulled into murders.”

Jerod finished the last of the coffee and started for the door.  “I didn’t come here to solve murders.  I came to fish.  Let’s go.”

Walker and Thane grabbed their fishing gear and followed him and Ansel.