Page 19 of Code Violation

The last thing Forrest was going to do was check various social media sites. He didn’t even have a personal account, just a page for the farm. And that was only because Lani insisted he needed one if he planned on ever turning a profit.

“Do the police know anything yet?”

Forrest still couldn’t wrap his head around the news that Ned Barker was dead. As in, not alive any longer. Barker had been a part of Cooper Springs’ two-man postal team for years. Although Ned was more fun-loving and less responsible than Oliver Cox, his former brother-in-law and the nominal head of the town post office, Ned was—had been—dedicated to his job. He was a weird but friendly guy who loved to hike—often with Rufus and Oliver—on his days off.

Like the other two men, Ned had been a good friend of his grandfather’s. He’d been around the house a lot when Forrest and Lani were growing up, a fixture of Forrest’s childhood. The four men would sit around the patio at night drinking whisky and swapping tall tales about, well, pretty much everything. Ned was the one who would take a break to show the two young kids the joys of card games and playing catch. When Forrest had been deemed old enough to join them on the patio, he’d lorded it over Lani for months.

Fuck.

Another thought occurred to him. The Cooper Springs PD was stretched to the limit as it was—how was Chief Dear going to investigate this too? Lani was still recovering from being shot (so was Forrest, frankly) and the new officers were still in training.

“Yeah. Believe it or not, Nero Vik was the one who discovered him,” Nick informed him. “Other than that, there’s not much to know for certain. He was found off Yew street,” Nick added. “Chief might be calling in some favors. Apparently, the murder of federal employees is a big deal. But who knows if they’ll respond.”

“For sure, murder?” Forrest asked. What the fuck? Ned was really gone?

“Old Ned didn’t break his own neck and crawl into the bushes by himself. His mailbag had been tossed into the blackberry bushes too. I think we’re lucky it was Vik who found him and not some high-school kid cutting through to town.”

Nero Vik. Again. Popping up like fairy circles after a good rain. Vik was everywhere, making it very difficult to ignore him the way Forrest wanted to. The want that flared when he saw him in the pub or walking down the sidewalks of Cooper Springs. Or sat next to him at the pub.

“That guy,” Forrest said with a half-hearted sneer.

Many, many times, Lani had told him he needed to pull his head out of his ass, that he needed to trust that most people weren’t creeps or grifters. The vote was still out on Vik though.

“He seemed pretty shaken up about it when I talked to him at the station,” Nick said.

Ned Barker dead—murdered. Discovered by fucking Nero Vik. What were the odds of that anyway? And what was Vik doing in that part of town? It was a good country mile from the resort.

“Is Vik a suspect?” Forrest demanded. “He discovered the body, after all.” He had to do something to distract himself from the well of sadness that threatened to overwhelm him. Ned, along with Rufus and Oliver, had been there for Forrest after his grandfather died. They’d helped him navigate the funeral, sort out the will, and find his balance again in the months afterward.

“Nah.” Nick shook his head, almost apologetically, which Forrest appreciated. “He was seen getting coffee at the Gull and Sandpiper. Tilly Sanders and Vik both reported seeing Ned driving by before Tilly finished making his coffee. Then Liam saw Vik drive past his house too; he even stopped and checked out the yard art. It would’ve been a tight timeline. Too tight.”

“Huh, but still a possibility,” Forrest said, secretly wishing it really was that simple. Mostly, he wished Ned wasn’t dead. “Who would want Ned dead? He was harmless. And for crying out loud, who’s going to deliver the mail? Ollie can’t take that on, not with his back issues. Oh god, Ollie’s going to be devastated by this. Ned told me he was out of town on vacation with his grandkids. And,” he added, “what was Vik doing over that way?”

“No idea why Vik was over there. That’s probably something Chief or your sister know. As for the mail, do you have a pen pal you’re sending letters to? Don’t worry too much. Chief says there will be a temporary delivery person to help Ollie out, so you’ll get your damn love letters.” Nick made googly eyes at Forrest. Forrest resisted resorting to violence.

“Fuck you.”

“Aw, I love you too, Forrest.”

Forrest rolled his eyes.

“I need to go,” Nick announced, standing from the chair. “Stuff to do and Martin wants to head to Aberdeen later tonight. But I thought you’d want to know. I know you and Ned were friends.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Sucks, for sure. I’ll catch you later.”

With that, Nick was gone and Forrest’s house was quiet and empty again. For a few minutes, Forrest stayed on the couch and stared out the front window. It was just starting to get dark and the outdoor light hadn’t flicked on yet, but there wasn’t anything to see outside anyway.

What he needed was to see the scene of the crime.

* * *

Forrest told himself that he was just going to talk to his sister, make sure she was doing okay with the news. Lani had been close to Ned as well. He got behind the wheel of the Ford and headed to Lani’s house first. He could have tried calling and saved himself a trip to town, but he figured that Lani might still be holding down the fort at the station—or pushing her luck by insisting on helping with the new investigation. Nick had come by around early afternoon, and it was now barely evening, so it was a possibility. However, he decided to drive past her place first and see if she was home.

All the lights were off in her little bungalow, so Forrest didn’t bother stopping. Like some kind of rubbernecking ghoul, he headed toward where Nick said Ned had been discovered. He figured it wouldn’t be hard to find.

Crime scene tape hung haphazardly between a tree and a bush, marking the spot. No police car was around to guard it, but a jumble of cheap bouquets and stuffed animals already marked where Ned’s life had ended. As Nick had said, the spot was very close to the cut-through to and from the high school.

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