to find Reese staring intently at his phone. “Anything interesting?” she asked as she handed over his cup.
She was disappointed not to get a reaction to the sparkly rendition of a brooding teen vampire on the mug she’d deliberately chosen to goad him. All he did was take an absent sip and nod.
“Yeah, I just got a text from my friend at the ME’s office. Apparently they had a slow day for a change and got to Mr. Benedetto already.”
Something in Reese’s expression made her certain she already knew the answer, even before she cautiously asked, “Did they decide on a cause of death?”
He glanced up from the phone and thrust it toward her. “Turns out Hamlet is in the clear. Here, read for yourself.”
Squinting, she made out the phrases, Estimated TOD between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. . . . Blunt force trauma to head . . . DNA material found on possible weapon collected . . . Being sent to outside lab to confirm tissue match. Handing back the phone, she asked in as small voice, “I guess this means . . .”
He nodded. “Your boyfriend had it pegged right. To put it in layman’s terms, someone bashed Curt Benedetto over the head with that crowbar.”
ELEVEN
“NOTHING TO REPORT FROM LAST NIGHT,” ROBERT ASSURED Darla come Friday morning as he switched the computer screen of the security software from review mode to the multipicture live view. “Not unless, you know, you count all those guys I saw going up to your place.”
“Guys? There weren’t any . . . oh, wait.”
Snatching the mouse from him, Darla pulled up a full-screen view courtesy of the front exterior camera. Sure enough, not only did that camera capture the store’s front door, but now her private stoop as well as the Plinskis’ stoop next door was also visible.
Darla gave the teen a stern look. “Last I saw, the camera covered just the store’s front door and window. Any idea who changed the angle?”
“Sorry,” he replied, ducking his head. “It’s just that the owner of the barbershop down the street came by a couple of days ago when you were at lunch. He said the scrap thieves hit his shop and stole his fancy mailbox. And Professor James was like, all worried about you, so he had me get out the step ladder and move the camera so it recorded your door, too.”
“And no one was going to tell me about this?”
“I guess we figured you’d notice sooner or later.” He pointed to the screen. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious. And with what happened to Mr. Eisen’s friend—”
Robert broke off dramatically with a gesture of hitting his head with an invisible crowbar, and Darla suppressed a sigh.
“Oh, and boss, about the guys . . . that’s all good,” he added, giving her a grin and an exaggerated thumbs-up.
Darla felt herself blush as bright a pink as the sweater set she was wearing over her brown woolen slacks, even as she firmly informed him, “Sorry to break it to you, Robert, but the guys you saw were Detective Reese and Mr. Eisen. We were all just talking about what happened to Mr. Benedetto.”
Reese had left soon after Barry, staying only long enough to gulp down his coffee before heading back out into the night. His parting comments had been to warn her that Curt’s death was now a full-fledged murder investigation.
“I particularly want to talk to Tera Aguilar,” Reese had told her, “so do me a favor and don’t give her any early warnings if you see her before I do. That little hint your boyfriend dropped about a fight between her and Benedetto might turn into a motive.”
“Maybe Jake can help you track her down,” Darla had suggested, nobly eschewing offense that he’d assume she’d make the same mistake twice. “Hilda might be more open to talking about Tera to her than to you.”
“You’re reading my mind, Red. That’s where I’m headed next.”
Continuing her virtuous streak, Darla had bit back another reflexive Don’t call me Red, and also resisted the temptation to keep a surreptitious watch out the window until Reese left Jake’s place so that she could run down and pump her friend for details. Not that she wouldn’t see if she could pry a little bit of gossip out of Jake today, though she suspected that the ex-cop would likely be as closemouthed as Reese on the subject.
For the moment, though, there was an even more important issue that needed to be