“Yes. We have an inspection scheduled for tomorrow and wanted to go over the list one last time to make sure we hadn’t missed any of the items needing attention,” Copper answered.
“Got it. We’ll be over in a bit,” Officer Dunk said and made her way back into the kitchen.
Once we were inside my house, Copper went straight for the fridge and pulled out four beers. “What in the hell is going on around here? I’m starting to think that damn house is cursed.”
River came around the corner and plopped down at the kitchen table. “What house is cursed?” she asked and took the beer from Batta’s hand.
Batta laughed. “Which one do you think?”
River looked from Batta to me. She must have seen something in my eyes, because she immediately asked, “What happened?”
I sighed and sat down in the chair beside her. “I went over to the house to upgrade the security system and found a dead body in the kitchen.”
River choked and sprayed beer everywhere. “Shit! Are you okay?” I asked as I patted her on the back.
When she got her coughing under control, she glared at me. “First of all, the back patting doesn’t do anything but make you feel better. As long as I’m making noise, I’m moving air. Secondly, never, ever say anything like that when someone is taking a drink. And lastly, what in the actual fuck did you just say?”
We all waited as she took another sip of her beer. “He said he found a dead body in the kitchen,” Bronze repeated.
River cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure they were dead? I can go check.”
“Oh, we’re sure,” I said. “Besides, the police are already over there doing their thing. They were nice enough to let us wait over here until they’re ready to question us.”
We made small talk for the next hour or so until Officer Dunk and Officer Underwood knocked on the front door. River excused herself to her room after offering both ladies something to drink.
They went through all the usual questions and took notes. When did we arrive? What were we doing there? When was the last time someone was at the house? Was the door locked when we entered? Was the security system on?
“I came in through the front door and yes, it was locked. The security system was also on. I can print out a log of the times it was armed and disarmed for you,” I said.
“Yes, we’ll definitely need that.”
“I’ll have it for you in just a moment,” I said as I logged into the system from my phone and sent the document to my wireless printer in my home office.
“Did any of you know the man?” Officer Underwood asked.
“None of us knew him, but Batta thought he might be the same guy who was causing problems at Precious Metals a few weeks ago,” I said.
“And who was that?” Officer Dunk asked.
“Brett Owens,” Copper said and Officer Dunk’s head shot up confirming what we already suspected. “Him and his buddy attempted to assault a female in my establishment. Judge and Batta were on staff as security that night and intervened. The boys weren’t cooperative and had to be physically removed from the premises. We filed a no trespass order the next morning for both individuals.”
“I see. And who was the female involved in the assault?”
Fuck. I didn’t want to tell her because I didn’t want River involved, but if I didn’t name her, it would come out later and look like we were trying to hide something. “River Lawson,” I said.
“We’ll need to speak with her and check into a few more things before we can close out this case.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, if you’d like to speak with her now, I can go get her. She’s my roommate.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
River
I was playing a game on my phone when someone knocked on my door and startled me. Before I could respond, the door opened and Jonah stepped inside.
“Are they finished?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. The officers would like to speak with you,” he said hesitantly.
