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SEVEN-THIRTY MONDAY morning, Mission No-Work-Weekend accomplished, Gordon noted Bud’s Tacoma was no longer in the department lot. Gratified the man must have sobered up enough to fetch his vehicle, Gordon let himself into his office.
House hunting had skirted being a disaster, but not by much. Seeing the listings live rather than on video brought out all their flaws—at least the way Angie saw them. She’d found reasons to reject every house, saying she hadn’t gotten any of her feelings that they’d found the right one. Not wanting to create a scene in front of the Realtor, Gordon had gone along with Angie’s objections. Truth be told, none of the houses had resonated with him, and Angie was right. They shouldn’t be settling for not bad. They needed great.
The Realtor said she now had a better idea of what they wanted and promised to keep looking, although she warned that given Mapleton’s size, there weren’t a lot of offerings. That was all right with Gordon. Being committed to moving made the shortcomings of their tiny apartment more bearable, even if it took a while to find the right house.
On autopilot, Gordon set his travel mug on his desk, powered on his computer, and took Angie’s day-olds to the breakroom. Laurie wouldn’t be in for half an hour, so he headed for the workroom to see if anything needed his attention. A scanner chattered quietly in the background. Duty officer Todd Gaubatz pecked away at the computer. Gordon hung back, not wanting to interrupt the man’s concentration. When the officer stopped, Gordon stepped forward. “Morning.”
“Same to you, Chief. Enjoy your weekend?”
Gordon smiled. “Very much. Anything I need to know?”
“Don’t think so. It’s been quiet. I don’t know if that means we should be preparing for an upcoming storm.”
“Take the quiet when you can. I’ll be in my office.”
Even the hallway was unusually calm as Gordon strolled to his office. He slid into his chair and logged in, checking his phone for messages. None? Had Jack talked to Harvey? Or had someone else been on duty over the weekend?
Taking his own advice, Gordon opted to enjoy the quiet. He wanted to see who’d picked up Bud, where, and what the man’s condition had been, but he forced himself to read the incident reports one at a time, in order. Since it had been quiet, there weren’t many reports to review, and nothing out of the ordinary. Adding the data to his spreadsheet didn’t take long. He paused when he came to Redstone’s report, skimming it for the details.
18:42 hours. Per description via Dispatch. Intercepted a male, white, six-four, two seventy-five, brown and brown, wandering the square, his gait unsteady. Man provided ID. Bradford Budweitz, 3892 Whittier Place, Centennial. Admitted to speaking with Chief Hepler earlier. Claimed he was supposed to get a ride to his current rental in Evergreen. Had little memory of the events of the evening. Confirmed with Mick Finnegan that Budweitz had been a patron at Finnegan’s and was waiting for a ride to Evergreen. BAC of 0.08, but subject was not driving. No arrest. Escorted him to the station, left him in lockup until transportation arranged. Subject released at 19:28.
Gordon perused the rest of the reports, finished his coffee, and opened the mayor’s folder. Might as well take advantage of the quiet to do research, offer a balanced look at body cameras for his report.
Laurie stepped inside the doorway. “Morning, Chief. Anything for me?”
“Not yet. Everything go all right with Channing?”
She smiled. “He’s so excited to be on his own. I think being able to do what he loves instead of following the path his father laid out has given him new confidence. He promised to invite you and Angie for dinner once he has a culinary repertoire under his belt—or apron, I guess.”
“We’ll look forward to it. Oh, and would you ask McDermott and Perez to drop by when they’re in? Nothing important, just a curiosity itch they might be able to help scratch.”
“Will do.”
His admin returned to her desk, and with each passing minute without a phone call, an email, or someone stopping by the office, the feeling a shoe would drop grew stronger. Could he be bored? In another two weeks, school would be in session, and Gordon looked forward to resuming his self-appointed crossing guard duty.
Laurie’s buzz announcing the arrival of McDermott and Perez provided a satisfying diversion.
“Send them in.”
The officers stepped into his office, and Gordon nodded them to the chairs.
“You have information about Mrs. Volmer?” McDermott asked.
“Not yet, and Solomon will bring you up to speed when he gets his updates. Lab results will take time. What I wanted to ask is highly unlikely case related.” Gordon went on to describe the woman who’d threatened Bud at Finnegan’s. “I couldn’t place her, but you two spent more time at the scene and interviewing the guests. According to Celine, she was one of a group of four women who were in town for a wedding. It might have been the reception at the lodge. Do you remember them?”
“I think I interviewed them.” Perez pulled out his notebook, flipped pages. “Right. Table seven. The loners table. Four women, three men, all single. One man was a childhood friend of the groom, another went to high school with the bride. I didn’t ask, but I get the feeling the woman I think you’re talking about was the plus one of someone else at the table. She definitely didn’t give off Happy for Destiny vibes, but then, nobody was happy.”
“They were all being held captive, questioned by cops, and there’d been a dead woman discovered, so I can see not being happy as normal,” McDermott said.
“The invited guest?” Gordon asked. “Bride’s side or groom’s?”
“Bride’s.”
Gordon made another pass of the pictures the guests had sent but didn’t see the woman from Finnegan’s.
“Do you think she had a motive to kill Mrs. Volmer?” McDermott asked.
“From what you’re telling me, I doubt it,” Gordon said. “We still don’t have a cause of death, so we can’t assume someone killed her.”
“You haven’t ruled it out, either,” McDermott said.
“We haven’t ruled anything out.” Gordon drummed fingertips on his desk. “If the woman I saw at Finnegan’s was an invited guest’s plus one, and was on the bride’s side, I can’t imagine any reason she’d want Mrs. Volmer dead. A matter of dotting I’s and crossing T’s. You talked to her, Rafe. Am I missing anything?”
“Not from where I’m sitting.” Rafe pushed to his feet and grinned. “Or from where I’m standing.”
Gordon grimaced, but at least Rafe’s sense of humor was—for now—confined to the office. “Thanks for your input.”
After they’d left, Gordon found the contact information for the two women. They both lived in Denver. He’d pass the information on to Solomon, let him do his job. Gordon had one of his own to deal with.
He looked at the last of the mayor’s reports, the first to mention costs. McKenna had listed five different models with prices of each. Gordon assumed the circled one was the mayor’s choice, so he took a few minutes to look up the specs.
Laurie buzzed him. “Chief, Officer Gaubatz would like to see you.”
“Of course.”
The officer entered, and Gordon motioned him to a chair.
“This’ll only take a second, Chief. Heard a call come over the scanner, and it rang a bell, so I checked the reports. It was an address. In Centennial, and it matched the one Redstone listed for the guy we had in for a bit on Friday, so I checked with Centennial. A neighbor had reported several accumulated newspapers, and she went to check and noticed the smell. They found a body.”
“I thought Bud was staying in Evergreen,” Gordon said.
“Oh, it wasn’t Mr. Budweitz. It was his wife. Yvonne.”