Free Deadly Places: A Mapleton Mystery Novella by Terry Odell

sure you have important things to discuss.”
    He and Colfax left the kitchen. “You want to work or talk?” Ed asked. “Either way, I’m sure Mary Ellen will relinquish the study. It’s more private than the living room.”
    “A little of both, I guess.” Colfax followed Ed down the hall to the study. “You have a nice place. Nice family.”
    “Thanks.” Ed waited for Colfax to start.
    “You know I didn’t buy into your theory. Still not sure I do. But after I found out Rudy had died, and how , it’s making more sense. Or maybe I’m as crazy as you are.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Thought we might compare notes.”
    Ed accepted the page. A spreadsheet with many familiar names, places, dates, and how they’d died. He sat at the desk and booted his laptop. “Most of what I was doing was correlating deaths with blog posts and comments from Paula’s Places .” Ed pointed out the two names he didn’t recognize on Colfax’s spreadsheet, and checked the dates. Both over six months old. “I don’t recall posts from these places. But I wasn’t following her blog then.”
    He pulled up Paula’s Places on the laptop, then went back nine months and searched for locations near where the victims were found. When he got no matches, he said, “She doesn’t always post about the exact location, so not finding something doesn’t mean she wasn’t nearby.”
    “So broaden the search. She mentions the states, right?”
    “Oregon and Kentucky. I was getting to that.” Ed plugged in Oregon. “She’s got sixteen posts from Oregon. One victim was found in Shady Grove, wherever that is. How’s your geography?”
    Colfax leaned over Ed’s shoulder. “Better when I’ve got Google Maps at my fingertips. Pull up Oregon.”
    “You want to use the desktop for the basics?” Ed relinquished his chair and dragged the easy chair to the other side of the desk. “Log in as Guest. No password. You take Oregon, I’ll take Kentucky.”
    While Colfax was determining whether any of Paula’s blog posts originated near Shady Grove, Ed did a search for Kentucky. “Now these sound like places I might visit.”
    “Kentucky?” Colfax said. “You into horses?”
    “No, there’s a bourbon trail. Paula’s blog mentions four stops in one post. But it doesn’t fit the timeframe.”
    “No reason to expect every deadbeat dad who died from less than obvious natural causes fell prey to your so-called assassination ring.”
    “You think there’s a chance Paula’s not involved? That she doesn’t know what’s going on?”
    “About as much as a snowball has in hell,” Colfax said. “ If your theory is true, that is.”
    “Cut the BS, Colfax. If you didn’t think it had legs, you wouldn’t be here.” Ed checked Paula’s blog and the maps for a few more minutes. Colfax seemed engrossed in the computer. Or was he thinking about the implications of his ex brother-in-law’s death? When the detective hadn’t touched the mouse or clicked any keys in several minutes, Ed took a breath and broached the subject.
    “You know, I was talking to Mitch yesterday, about how as cops, we can’t look the other way because someone’s a friend or family.”
    “He ask you to fix a parking ticket?” Colfax’s tone lacked his usual sarcastic touch. Ed waited.
    Colfax shoved away from the desk. “Yeah, I’m wondering if my sister did something stupid. I’m waiting for the tox screen reports, which could take days, maybe weeks, to get through the system. Meanwhile, my gut says it was homicide, and yes, my sister would be on the suspect list if it’s confirmed. Her kids—my niece and nephews—would be the real losers, because the bastard’s money should be helping keep them fed, clothed, and educated. I can’t think of a way to spin taking a hit out on one’s ex as justifiable homicide, and accidental death seems outside the realm of plausibility.” He slapped the desk. “I keep thinking the