Free Cold Case Recruit by Jennifer Morey

episodes involving a stripper and a health club manager. When she finished she said, “Oh, and we saw you on the news. How you were planning on coming here to Alaska to solve a case, and how you joined that agency. You must be so brave.”
    “And smart,” her friend said.
    He saw Drury look from the women to him, still unreadable.
    “And available.” The blonde laughed, her friend joining in. Then the blonde looked at Drury. “Oh...sorry.”
    Drury held up her hands. “It’s all right. We aren’t together like that.”
    The blonde, missing that Drury might very well be involved in the case that had brought him here, opened her eyes wider, thrilled. “Well, then, you are available.”
    Some women didn’t know when they made a spectacle of themselves. Brycen handed the napkin to the plainer girl. “Not for socializing, I’m afraid. I’m here on business.”
    The blonde’s mouth parted and she looked at Drury. “Ooooh.”
    “Will the case you’re investigating be on one of your shows?” the other woman asked.
    Brycen looked over at Drury. “We’ll have to see.”
    Drury frowned with raised eyes that said, No, we won’t.
    He grinned, unable to stop the reaction.
    “Who was murdered? Someone you know?” the blonde asked Drury.
    “I can’t discuss the details.” He saw Cora coming toward them, a moderately tall, thin woman with brown hair up in a bun. “If you’ll excuse us.” Then with a practiced smile, “Back to work.”
    “Oh...all right.” The two retreated, glancing back several times as Cora came to their table, excited to catch a glimpse into the real Brycen Cage at work.
    “You must smile like that a lot. I’ve seen you smile when you mean it. That smile was for the stage.”
    He shot a glance at Drury before Cora stopped at their table. In her late twenties, she looked a little older than her years with the first signs of wrinkles appearing.
    “You came to see me?” Cora asked.
    Brycen explained who they were. “We understand you’ve already been questioned about the attack that occurred roughly a year ago?”
    “Yes, Trooper Nichols came by.”
    “Well, I read in the report that you and a friend of yours had a falling-out. You had relations with her brother and broke his heart. Something along those lines?”
    “Yes. Trooper Nichols asked if I had any enemies. Since the man who came into the bar that night I was attacked proved not to be guilty, he looked at others.”
    “Like maybe your friend’s brother came after you?”
    “Yes, but he had an alibi.”
    She revealed nothing different than what he’d read in the report.
    “Trooper Nichols asked me all these questions,” Cora said, rubbing her arms and looking off into the distance.
    “How well did you know Noah Decoteau?” Brycen asked.
    Cora’s head turned with a startled jerk. “The trooper? Not well. He just talked to me the night of my attack.”
    “You didn’t meet him before that?”
    “No. Why?”
    “What about any of your friends? Family? Did anyone close to him know you?”
    “No.” Her alertness softened as she must see why he’d asked. “No one I know would have wanted him dead. That’s a question Carter didn’t ask.”
    “When did he last come to see you?” Drury asked.
    “Carter? Why, just last week. He comes by every once in a while. Grabs a bite to eat and talks to me. He asked if my friend had forgiven me yet. Of course, she hasn’t.” She breathed a sad laugh. “You’d think I robbed her or something. I couldn’t help it if I didn’t feel the same way as her brother.”
    “Does she have a boyfriend? Did she at the time of your attack?”
    “Yes. Trooper Nichols asked about that when he was here. He said he’d look into the possibility that maybe her boyfriend did it, you know, one of those ‘I love you, so I’ll go after this girl for you because you asked me to.’ I think that’s a reach. My attack must have been random. Maybe some man I didn’t notice saw me working and