Page 34 of Midnight Witness
“That’s good work, Mina. I retract my earlier statement about the list. Maybe I should tell Chief Riggs to hire you as my partner.”
Snorting softly, I glanced at Luke with a grin. “I’ll stick to slinging coffee, but I’ll happily take any consulting fees the department wants to send me.”
Ozzie laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I wouldn’t hold out hope.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t.” I knew the finances for most law enforcement departments were tighter than the caps on some of my syrup flavor bottles.
“So, what’s this woman’s name?”
“Oh.” I laughed. I hadn’t mentioned that. “Moira Duluth.”
“I’m going to talk to my dad,” Luke interjected. “See if he knows Rich and what he can tell us about him. We tried to find a connection online between Rich and Walter Shuman, but there wasn’t anything that we saw. Dad might have some insights.”
“Just warn him not to say anything to Rich, if he knows him. I don’t want to tip him off before I’ve had a chance to speak to him.”
“No worries there. He’ll keep it quiet.”
“So, whatdidyou learn today?” I tipped my head, staring at the phone with a slight smile.
Ozzie chuckled. “You’re as bad as Claire. There really wasn’t much. I spent the day trying to track down a jeweler who would recognize the necklace we found with the body. Now that I have a possible identity, though, I’ll reach out to her family.” Hesighed. “I’m really never going to hear the end of it if you truly identified her before I could.”
“You’d have figured it out. That necklace is a good lead.” And was a tidbit of information he hadn’t mentioned before, probably on purpose. I knew the police held back things they didn’t want made public, so they could use it to be certain they had the right person.
“I just happened to recognize a name,” I continued. “I hope we’re on the right track. If it’s not Moira in the wall, I don’t know who it is. None of the other women seem to have a connection to Parker’s Landing.”
“We’ll find out soon enough. I’ll locate her family tomorrow. Hopefully, they’re still in the area.”
“Do you want me to look? I have a computer in front of me.” I raised my hands, ready to type.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll look in the morning. It’s getting late, so we should all get some sleep.” The pointed note in his tone told me that while he was grateful for the info, I needed to let him do the rest.
And I would.
Mostly.
I would still do my own quick search. It was all public knowledge, after all.
He didn’t need to know that, however. “Okay. Will you at least let us know if you make a positive ID?”
“Of course. The department will release a statement.”
I narrowed my eyes at the phone. That wasn’t what I meant.
“Get some rest, Mina. I’ll talk to you later.”
A quick huff puffed past my lips. “Fine.” Bidding Ozzie goodnight, I hung up. Not skipping a beat, I typed Moira’s name into the web browser.
Luke chuckled. “You’re googling her family, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” I had her parents’ names from the articles we found at the library. With a few clicks, I found out they lived in Juneau.
The laptop lid slowly closed. I glanced up from the screen at Luke, who used one finger to shut the lid.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You found your answer. Ozzie’s also right. It’s getting late, and you still need to drive home.”
My lips twisted, annoyed at his logic. I wanted to keep digging. It was no longer about getting back to my café renovations. I mean, sure, I still wanted that, but now that I had a face to go with the sightless eyes staring back at me from the void in the wall, I wanted her and her family to have closure.
