Back at their table, the
Detective commended Seth on his quick thinking.
“Not only did you help out my cousin; you’ve saved other
restaurants from the same fate. I wonder how many other places he’s scammed.”
“If you had been facing this direction you would have
done the same thing, Bill. It’s no big deal. I just feel like he’s getting off
easy.”
“Nah, I don’t think he is. That reporter caught his name
when the scumbag handed over his credit card to pay. Imagine that hitting the
evening news and posted all over the internet. I wouldn’t want to be in his
shoes. He won’t be able to buy a damn cup of coffee in this town.”
“Yeah, I supposed you’re right. Um, can they really pull
out the dialogue from my video? We were talking about some stuff at the morgue
and it could mess up your investigation.”
“Good point, Seth. Tell you what; let’s run this through
at the station first just to be safe.
That way we can…hang on a sec. I’ve got to take this.”
The detective’s phone had
been set to silent but it bounced across the table top demanding attention.
Seth noticed the caller ID read Station.
“No, you did the right thing. I’m on my way. Folks, I’m
sorry to eat and run. It seems they’ve found another body.” Bill announced as
he flagged the waitress. “Melanie, it was my absolute pleasure to meet you.
Would you I lose your good favor if I stole your husband and brought him along?
I figured I could show him the crime scene and then we can stop over and get
that recording cleared.”
“I won’t mind as long as you make him promise not to give
me any gory details, Bill, and if you’ll agree to drop him off at the house. I
have to be at work in the morning and I don’t want to have to drive out to the
middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. I’ll let you in on a little
secret. I’m not so pleasant when someone wakes me from a sound sleep.”
“She’s not kidding. I have to stand at the opposite side
of the room when her alarm goes off or I could lose a limb.”
Melanie scowled at her
husband and waggled her finger at him. Her stern façade cracked within seconds
as she burst into laughter. While Bill was gathering his things, Seth whispered
in his wife’s ear, double-checking that she wouldn’t mind but Melanie’s reply
had been genuine. She was relieved that her husband was gaining both knowledge
and inspiration. He was always happier when he was writing. The two men
escorted her to her vehicle before they set off for the crime scene.
By the time they arrived, Kim and Angela
were already on the case. Seth waved to his friends as he followed Detective
Crash past the police tape.
“He’s with me,” Bill called out.
The officers nodded and went
back to their duties. Angela’s flash temporarily blinded Seth but he managed to
stumble over to say hello.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” teased Kim. “Just when
you thought you were out we sucked you back in, huh?”
“You know you missed me, Kim. Couldn’t bear to carve up
another corpse without me, could you? Actually, I didn’t expect to be here. I
took my wife to that restaurant and we bumped into Bill. Can you believe that
same jerk showed up and tried to get another free meal? Anyway, we were just
finishing up dessert when he got the call so he asked me to come along for the
ride.”
“You know what’s really funny? I was going to call Angela
and see if she wanted to go grab some dinner over there too. If we’d all gone
at the same time that would have been hilarious.”
“Aw, I wish you had…Mel would love to meet you two. Say,
do you think I’d be in the way if I got a closer look?”
Kim smiled and motioned for
Seth to follow closely. They stepped in directly behind Angela as she snapped
her next photo. The flash illuminated the scene and the body.
“Oh my God!” Seth gasped. “I know him.”
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