Free The Traveler: Book 5, The Eddie McCloskey Paranormal Mystery Series (The Unearthed) by Evan Ronan

women. Tonya Schubert and Tiffany Engel.”
    She caught him watching their reactions to the name drops. Christie had a lot to say about both, but deferred to the chief. Knotts had okayed bringing Eddie in, but she knew the chief wanted her to play things closer to the vest, mostly out of political reasons. Knotts didn’t want an outsider seeing any of their dirty laundry. She understood that to a point, but at the end of the day she was motivated by clearing cases. Protecting the image of the department was important, but she’d never let image take precedence over solving crime. Not that the chief did, but she knew that in his position he had to consider both things, sometimes equally.
    “Tonya Schubert was practically an angel,” Knotts said. “She had a bad habit of picking the wrong guy to fall in love with, and it cost her her life when it came to Rory Tomlinson. For her to now be terrorizing people as a ghost would be completely out of character.”
    Christie was not surprised that the chief left out his connection to Tonya. His family had been close to hers.
    Eddie nodded. “Considering how she died, this behavior would not be out of the question.”
    “But what’s her motivation as a ghost?”
    “Did she know either Stahl or Fellov?”
    Christie jumped in. “It’s possible, but only because this is a relatively small town. They never came up in the course of our investigation.”
    She remembered that one all too well. It had been her first big one.
    “Something to look into,” the chief said. “And again, she’d likely need a traveler, correct?”
    Eddie nodded. He looked like he wanted to say more, but didn’t.
    The chief shifted gears. “Tiffany Engel is a different story.”
    Christie waited for him to continue, but he nodded at her. Go ahead and share , he was saying.
    “Engel was under investigation at the time of her disappearance,” Christie said. She watched Eddie’s eyes and there was no surprise in them. He’d already known this, so it had come up in the course of his research.
    She went on. “She ran a home health agency with her husband. You know what that is?”
    “Not really,” Eddie said.
    She got the sense he did. He wasn’t a cop, but it was a cop’s move: playing dumb and asking other people to explain things. She liked him but resolved to be more careful around him. And Christie wasn’t one to let someone else’s intelligence intimidate her. She didn’t shrink from challenges. She saw them as opportunities to raise her game.
    Christie said, “Many people that require medical care are unable to leave their homes because of their conditions. The agency sends a nurse or social worker out to the home to provide care right there. That way the patient doesn’t need to arrange transportation for their regular check-ups.”
    Eddie nodded.
    She said, “We got an anonymous tip that they were overbilling so we started looking into it.”
    Eddie frowned. “Why was she under investigation, but not her husband?”
    “They were estranged. He still had equity in the business but he’d ceded control of the operations to her almost two years before we started looking at her, and the tip we got was of more recent activity. Mr. Engel just collected a paycheck. It wasn’t my case but I remember some of the details. We wanted to build a stronger case against Tiffany, but then she disappeared.”
    The chief stood, signaling the meeting was over. “I’ll expect at least two reports a day. First thing in the morning and then again in the early evening. Thanks again for assisting the department, Eddie.”
    ***
    Eddie got into the passenger seat. It had clouded up and the temperature had dipped. Weather-wise, March could go either way on you. Right now it had decided to revert to winter.
    He waited for Christie to shut her door to the unmarked cruiser.
    “Alright, so level with me. Was Perks working with a woman?”
    Christie started the engine but kept the car in PARK. “Working with