Free Past Malice by Dana Cameron

husband and I moved here almost two years ago, it’s halfway between our jobs. We like Lawton fine, but it’s still a long haul to work.”
    Lovell returned to business. “Right. What time did you find…Justin?”
    “I got here about seven-forty-five. It was just after that.” Then I remembered my conversation with Claire Bellamy. “No, it was a bit longer, say five minutes or so? I was having a look at the units, I had a talk with the neighbor—” Not a very nice talk, I recalled, but that put me in mind of something else. “She was complaining about the racket that my students and I were making out here at five-thirty, but I had to tell her no one from the project was out here by then. It had to be someone else.”
    “Where’s the neighbor live?”
    “Just over there, across the road.”
    He followed the direction of my hand pointing. “Okay, well, the neighbor will be our next stop.”
    Officer Hill joined us as he said that, leaving Bucky where she was and having sent Ted to wait out front. I realized that these two would be the first two in a long line of official visitors to the site today. I also realized that Claire Bellamy would not thank me for directing the police to her. It would negatively affect her quality of life. I found myself hard pressed not to take a little satisfaction from that.
    “Oh, I know them,” Hill said. “She’s got us on speed-dial.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Like you wouldn’t believe. Every little thing. They’ve got a couple of big dogs over there, poodles or something.”
    “Poodles?” Officer Lovell didn’t look convinced.
    “I’m telling you. Big mothers, and jumpy, too. Keep an eye out, is all I’m saying.”
    Lovell turned back to me. “Okay, a few more questions here.”
    After he finished, I gave him my address and telephone number. That’s when the ambulance arrived and the crime scene unit and things started getting crowded around the site.
    A detective in plainclothes also arrived, conferred with the two uniformed officers for a minute, and looked my way. They talked a little more, and for the sake of not asking Bucky again if she were all right and for something to do, I began to size up the detective. He was a big man, over six feet and built like a tree trunk. He was wearing a sports jacket in a nice summer weave of light brown wool over a yellow shirt and tan trousers, with shoes that spoke of careful selection. I wouldn’t have noticed that he was just starting to get a little thick around the middle but he pushed his jacket back to rest his hand on his hip. I guessed the clothes weren’t really expensive—they weren’t on the first line of fashion, but fit well and suggested an interest in a stylish appearance that didn’t seem to match the workaday wear that I was expecting. His face was long, broad, ruddy, and creased with wear and care; a wide brow gave him a look of concentration and disapproval, or at least skepticism, and the lines alongside his mouth hinted at jowls that might come with another fifteen or twenty years. He was probably in his late forties or thereabouts. His hair was dark brown with a lot going to gray; there was plenty left though the widow’s peaks were probably getting higher every year, but there was no need of a comb-over yet. A few locks that fell forward suggested a boyishness that wasn’t present in the rest of his demeanor.
    He caught me staring and came over. “I’m Detective Bader. I understand that you were the one to find the body?”
    “Yes.” It must have been nerves on my part, because Iblurted out the first thing that came into my mind. “I’ve got my crew out front, waiting to work.”
    He shook his head and I felt stupid. “I would make other plans, if I were you, for today at least. I’ve got some questions for you.”
    “Okay.”
    “You got here about seven-forty-five? Did you notice anything unusual? Anything out of place?”
    “Mmm, no.” I frowned. “One of the rocks we use to hold down our