Free Catch as Cat Can by Claire Donally Page B

him?”
    â€œActually, I think she was there to flirt.”
    â€œWith Ollie? That’s the problem with the federal government—misplaced priorities.” Mike paused for a second. “So what did Will say about the case?”
    â€œNot much,” Sunny admitted. “And maybe that’s the way it ought to be.”
    â€œBut he’s your partner. You worked on cases together.”
    â€œWe worked on cases together mainly because his bosses didn’t want to investigate them. You remember how Frank Nesbit was about the crime statistics. He didn’t want to admit any serious crime happened in Elmet County.” Sunny took a breath. “But now Will is Lenore Nesbit’s chief investigator. He’s official now.”
    Mike nodded. “And this is his first big case. How do you think he’s doing?”
    â€œIt’s not easy,” Sunny said. “They don’t even know who the dead guy is. Will said he had no wallet and no identification on him.”
    â€œCould he have been homeless?” Mike suggested. “That might explain the wrong clothes for the weather, and even why he broke in.”
    â€œIt might explain something else.” Sunny took a sip of seltzer. “Zach Judson described the guy who attacked Shadow as wearing a raincoat.”
    â€œSo—maybe a nut, homeless and looking to get out of the weather.” Mike looked worried. Kittery Harbor was a blue-collar town, where a lot of people were only a paycheck away from homelessness.
    â€œBut if he wanted to get out of the cold, why go in the freezer?’ Sunny asked. “And most importantly, who shot him?”
    Mike chewed on a piece of meat for a moment, then said, “Neil Garret?”
    â€œThere was frozen blood around the dead guy.” Sunny shuddered a little at the memory. “So he had to have been there for a while. When I came into the store, Neil looked shaken—but not ‘I shot somebody’ shaken.” She shookher head. “I have a hard time picturing Neil as the shooter. And why would he open the freezer and show me the dead body?”
    â€œMaybe he wanted it found at that time,” Mike suggested. “Or maybe he wanted a witness to see when he supposedly found the body.”
    Sunny nodded slowly. “Sheriff Nesbit was pretty interested in making sure when Neil arrived at the store.”
    â€œYou mentioned that she questioned you,” Mike said. “How is Lenore handling all of this?”
    Sunny poked at her stew. “She said she’s skipping anything with tomato sauce for the time being, but she asked some good questions.” She frowned. “I suppose they have to concentrate on Neil. He’s the obvious suspect. It’s his store, and the body is in the freezer he specially ordered.”
    â€œYou say this guy broke in,” Mike said. “Wouldn’t Neil have been justified in shooting him? Self-defense or something?”
    Sunny shook her head. “Not the way this guy was killed. He was shot from the back. And it’s not as though Neil just walked into the store and found an intruder. The blood had frozen.”
    Her frown grew deeper.
So, you’ve got a dead body in your freezer. It’s not impossible to get rid of. Lock up the shop, wait until things get good and quiet, and bring your car round the back where the deliveries get made. Open the back door, bundle the embarrassing body out, and drive away. You’ve got almost 3,500 miles of coastline to dump it,
she thought, remembering a factoid she’d used in some of her promotional copy.
    So if Neil was the shooter, why did he need to show the body to me—or whatever other unlucky first customer he had today? What’s the advantage for him? And if the body in the freezer was a surprise to him, how did it wind up there? With all that coastline to choose from, why would someone take the risk and go to the effort of breaking into