Page 94 of Little Bitter Truths
“Are you telling me the dog kept using Mia's yard as a bathroom?”
“I am.Mia confronted Adrian about it several times.She also left a bag of Moose’s mess on Adrian’s porch with a note.”
Mia looked over at me and winced, offering a guilty shrug.
“What was in the note?”Hunter asked.
“She said something along the lines of if he didn’t keep the dog off her lawn, there would be consequences.”
Hunter whistled under her breath.“That’s not nothing.”
“No, and what makes things worse was that Moose went missing not too long after, causing Adrian to think she may have had something to do with it.At least at first.He says he doesn’t think that now.Whether that’s the truth or not …”
“What’s Adrian like?”Simone asked.
“He’s standoffish and a bit difficult.”
“So, you’re saying he’s a real people person,” Simone said with a laugh.
“He answered all my questions when I talked to him, so that’s something,” I said.“He has no alibi for the night Wren died.He says he was home alone.”
“Does he own a truck?”
I paused.“Yeah, but it’s gray, not like the dark blue or black truck the neighbor saw.”
“What shade of gray?”
“I’d say it’s more of a charcoal.”
It was possible the neighbor may have been off about the color.
Adrian had means of proximity.
A vehicle that might fit.
Conflicts with Mia.
A missing dog.
And a big, fat grudge.
None of it proved he was a murderer, but it was enough to keep him in play.
“Hunter, I’d like you to look into him as well,” I said.
“Already planning on it,” Hunter said.
“What can I do?”Simone asked.
I glanced out the front window toward Adrian’s house.“I have a bit of a strange request.”
“I’m listening,” Simone said.
“I want you to circle back to Mia’s neighborhood and talk to the neighbors about Moose.Ask if anyone saw the dog with someone other than Adrian around the time he disappeared.”
“I don’t see how a missing dog matters to the case.”
“Adrian admitted Moose was the most important thing in his life.If he believed Mia had something to do with the dog’s disappearance, that gives him a motive.On the other hand, if someone else took Moose, they may have been trying to turn him against her.”
