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I stowed my tools in the back of my truck and shut the tailgate, making sure it latched, so it didn’t fall open when I was driving. I needed to get that latch fixed. Again. It kept coming loose. The last thing I wanted was to lose my tools.
Right now, I was supposed to be meeting Cord. I didn’t know what she would tell me, but she’d thought her uncle would do the autopsy on Duncan Morrau today. Even though he had a few others waiting. Cord said he wasn’t happy about that, but the pressure was strong to figure out what had happened.
I wasn’t sure what to hope for. If her uncle ruled the death suicide, which would leave Deke off the hook. What if someone else killed him and staged it like a suicide, as they had with Mayra? They’d still be out there. What if they struck again?
I didn’t want to think about that.
I couldn’t do much about either of those things. Not until I had more information. Maybe Cord would have that when I saw her.
By the time I got over to the diner, I could see her sitting at a table near the window. Talking to... Jen? Maybe she was just here getting food for her and her mom. Which was the most likely explanation. Why was she talking to Cord, though? I didn’t think they were friends, exactly. Not that they hated each other, but the way Cord had her head bent toward Jen’s seemed a bit more than cordial acquaintances.
I pushed through the door and headed for Cord’s table, pasting on a wide grin. “Well, if it isn’t two of my favorite females.”
Cord laughed and leaned back. “I’m afraid to ask which slot I’m in today.”
I side-eyed her. Like she’d ever been anything but number one. One side of her mouth curled up, and her eyes glinted. “I should tell you second just to let a little air out of your head.”
Jen snorted. I flashed her a grin. In high school, we hadn’t been friends, but we hadn’t been hostile. Since everything happened with Josiah, that had changed. She might technically be my employee, but I didn’t see her that way. I wasn’t sure I’d consider her a friend, but we were friendlier than we’d been before. “Are you joining us for dinner, Jen?” I asked her. “Or do you need to get to your mom?”
Jen shook her head, but I wasn’t sure what that was in answer to. Then she said, “The nurse is there. A nurse is always there now, but I should get back. Enjoy your dinner.”
I turned to Cord, who watched the door, though Jen was gone. “Everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s perfect,” she said, a little too much cheer in her voice. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re acting weird,” I told her as I sat down.
“I don’t think so. Do you want to order before I tell you?”
The waitress, Carly, was heading our way, so I nodded at Cord and waited until Carly left with my order before looking back at my friend. “Did he do it today?”
Cord took a sip from her glass as she slid a folder over to me, casual as can be. I glanced around, then flipped the folder open. The last time we’d discussed a case at the diner, it brought Matthias down hard on me, and not in a way I’d like.
I’d like that even less with Morein in charge of this case.
Not that I would let that stop me. Deke was innocent. If anyone thought differently, I would prove it. I read over the top sheet, but I didn’t understand half the words in the report. Except for the ones at the bottom. Determination: Cause of Death, hanging, Mechanism of Death: strangulation. Manner of Death: Pending.
“Why does that say pending? What other options are there?”
“Six,” she said. “Natural, accidental, homicide, suicide, undetermined, and pending.”
“What’s the difference between those last two?”
“Pending means he’s waiting on more information. In this case, the tox screen results. It’ll be a couple days at least. He’s still waiting on Mayra’s if that tells you anything. Undetermined means there’s not enough evidence to say for sure. A lot of suspicious deaths fall under that one.” She took a sip of her drink. “If you go through his notes, you’ll see he’s inclined toward ruling it homicide, but he’s not willing to make a final determination until those tests come back.”
“He doesn’t think it’s suicide? Despite the note that was left.”
“He didn’t take the note into account. Just the evidence left by his body. Including the blood found at the scene. Which didn’t belong to Morrau.”
“So, we don’t know anything.” Except someone else had been there. And had been bleeding. But who?
“I wouldn’t say we don’t know anything. But, not much. He had other marks on his body. Including bruising on his wrists, one reason Uncle Bobby is leaning away from suicide.”
“This isn’t over yet, is it?”
“I’m afraid not.”
When Cord left, still being mysterious about what was going on—and I didn’t know what was with that — I stared at the papers she’d left. Why had she bothered? Individually, the words all made sense, mostly. Put together, I didn’t have a clue what they meant. And that was only the autopsy report.
Cord’s own notes were nearly indecipherable. She used some code surely only she had the key for. I returned them to the folder before taking the last sip of my drink. Everyone would gather at Cord’s house later. I’d have to ask her to clarify some of this then. For now, I supposed I should get to my next job then head home.
I was ready to get up when someone sat across from me. I looked up and instantly my lips pulled up at the sight of Matthias. The firm line of his mouth had that smile freezing. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He still didn’t smile, and he didn’t say anything else.
I folded my arms on the table and leaned forward. “What is going on? You’re worrying me a little here.”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m worrying myself, too,” he said. “I shouldn’t have asked you to look into this. I don’t want you in danger.”
“You didn’t. But, did you really think I’d be staying out of it? Not when Mudbrain surely won’t look farther than Deke as a suspect. Not saying he’d do it to get back at me, or whatever, but I’m sure he’d see that as a happy coincidence.”
“I wish I could say you were wrong, unfortunately I hear the way he talks. I’m afraid his attitude is rubbing off on Officer Lato.”
“Your new partner? What is he doing with Mudbrain?”
Matthias grimaced. “The cases I’m working are simpler than one involving two homicides. Don’t need two officers on them.”
“Duncan definitely didn’t hang himself?”
“I should not have said that. The findings aren’t conclusive yet.” He glanced at the folder in front of me. “I’m sure you know that, though.”
I tugged the folder closer to me, not that he attempted to take it. “You think it will be ruled a homicide?”
“If the medical examiner doesn’t rule that, the Morrau family will likely push to have an independent party go over the findings, until they get the answer they want.” He paused for a moment. “I didn’t just tell you that. I’m not supposed to know so much about the case, but I hear things.” He pushed back from the table. “I need to get back to work. I saw you here, and I couldn’t swallow my worries any longer. Please, be careful, Lou.”
“Of course.” I was already thinking about what he’d just said. If Duncan’s family would lobby that hard for another autopsy, or whatever a second opinion would include, what would they do if they believed Deke was guilty?
I needed to find out what happened to keep us from learning the answer to that question.
“Hey, Lou.”
I glanced up at Deke’s call as I stepped outside the diner and fought an urge to hide the folder behind my back. There wasn’t any reason to keep this from him. He should know what was going on, but he seemed so tired. I didn’t want to add more worries on his shoulders right now.
He’d seen it. “Is that about Duncan?”
I handed the folder over. He flipped it open, his brows furrowing as he read. Then, he sighed. “Nothing conclusive, then?”
“How did you get that from what’s there? I needed Cord to explain it to me. Never mind her notes.”
Deke chuckled and returned the folder to me. “You’ve obviously never seen my notes. Those there are downright coherent. This isn’t the first autopsy report I’ve seen. I once thought I wanted to be a crime reporter, so I learned everything I could. Including the fact I couldn’t deal with all that violence, even secondhand.”
“What a surprise to see you two together. Conspiring on how to get away with murder?”
I bristled at Brian Morein’s voice, but Deke looked like he would be sick. I spun to face the officer. “That would mean we’d have to commit a murder. Since neither of us have ever done that, guess that conversation won’t be happening.”
He grunted. “Yeah, sure. I figure you’re giving him pointers. He won’t have so much luck seducing the lead officer.”
I didn’t bother responding. It wasn’t only my friends who thought I had something more with Matthias than I did. I turned back to Deke. “Come on. I have a job to get to, but I can drop you at the office.”
“He isn’t going anywhere,” Morein said. “I have questions to ask him. I might have more for you as well. Among them, why you can’t leave my little brother alone.”
Sweet cheese. Not what I wanted to deal with right now. “I’ll call Eli,” I told Deke. “Answer nothing until he shows up.” I wouldn’t even address the thing about Morgan, since he’d been the one to bother me. Not that Mudbrain would ever accept that.
“Now that’s not necessary,” Morein said. “Your brother-in-law doesn’t need to be involved.”
“I guess your questions aren’t necessary, either. If they are, you can find us when we can have our lawyer there. It’s not a large town, after all.”
He didn’t stop us. When we were in my truck, Deke said, “Man, I hate that guy. He is the very example of the type who shouldn’t be given a badge and the power that go with it.”
Which had me thinking about what Matthias said. Just what was Morein saying around the station? Would it get Deke into even more trouble?