Page 21 of Off the Hook

We’d had a few wild nights out in Brickell. New Year’s with Laura might be dangerous. But I hadn’t had a good night out in the six months I’d been in the Keys. “You know it. Text me when and where.”

“Yes!” Laura squealed. “Can’t wait to see you!”

As I hung up, Deputy Louis walked up, his usual friendly smile in place. “Hey Faith,” he leaned in and lowered his voice, “How about dinner when we get off tonight? You look like you could use a break from that one,” he hitched a thumb in Oscar’s direction. “There’s a new place that opened up on the bay. I thought we could maybe check it out?”

I managed a polite smile. “Thanks, Louis, but I don’t date anyone at work. It’s just a bad idea for a woman on the force.” Nevermind that I wasn’t the least bit attracted to him either.

He nodded, looking crestfallen. “I understand, but hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying. If you ever change your mind…”

I chuckled, admiring his guts. “You’ll be the first to know, Louis. I promise.”

“Anything come of the Lorelei folks?” Louis called as I walked away.

“Only what we already knew. The victim didn’t show up to work. Before that everything seemed normal,” I said over my shoulder.

“Get anything else from Coulter Rodman?” he asked.

Hearing Coulter’s name sent a zing right through me, stopping me in my tracks. I turned back to Louis and smiled. “Just a DNA sample. Can you please put a rush on that for me?”

“I can try,” he said with a slight wince, “but with the holidays…”

“Lean on them for me, Louis. Pretty please.” I flashed a smile.

“On it!” he grinned.

I walked back toward my desk, where Oscar stood staring at me and shaking his head. “You’ve got too many distractions. Focus on the case, or you’ll never make lead detective at this rate.”

“I am focused,” I bristled at his dismissive tone. I was a damn good detective, and should be lead on this one. Iwouldbe if the Sheriff hadn’t called him back to work early. It was clear that my peers thought I needed oversight, but no one knew the case like I did. “Yes, we have Coulter returning to the scene. But we also have Kylie’s apartment untouched and her mother's house ransacked, which doesn’t point to him.”

“He’s smart enough that he might have thought of that.”

“So he killed his ex-girlfriend in a jealous rage and then staged a burglary upstairs?” I tried not to let my opinion that it was an asinine theory come through in my voice. “Where’s the evidence to support that? There were similar scratches on both locks. Coulter had access to keys. So he picked the locks to throw us off too?”

“We’ve got motive. And we’ve got him at the scene. That goes a long way with a jury,” Ramirez grumbled as he walked away.

A chill ran up my spine. Oscar accused me of crushing on Coulter, but he was the one with a hard on for him. One of the cardinal principles of investigation was to view the evidence objectively, without blinders. Tunnel vision is dangerous. You only see what you want to see. Looking for evidence to prove your theory rather than examining the evidence to form your theory, was a slippery slope. One that can land innocent people in prison.

I slumped into my chair and rubbed my temples, wishing I was going for that drink with Laura tonight. Staring up at the name at the top of the board made my head hurt worse.

Could Coulter Rodman have killed his ex-fiancé? Deep in my gut, I didn’t believe he had it in him. But was that my own tunnel vision, because it’s what I wanted to be true?

CHAPTER 12

COULTER

Ileaned forward on my barstool, elbows resting on the scarred wooden top with a mug of Channel Marker, a local IPA, sweating in my hand. My twin brothers, Kai and Luke, flanked me, their two labs lying in a puddle of dog at their feet. A big digital timer over the bar counted down until the New Year. There were still 3 hours and 47 minutes to go, but everybody was already feeling good.

“Coulter Rodman!” Nick, an old high school buddy from Coral Shores who was now the bar manager at Hog Heaven, approached and slapped me on the back. “Look what the cat dragged in! How’ve you been, man?”

I grinned and stood to give him a guy hug and a pat on the back. “Doing alright, Nick. Better than you, since you’re on that side of the bar on New Year’s Eve,” I said, my chin motioning across the bar.

“Thanks for rubbing it in," Nick laughed. “You boys ready for another round? It’s about to get real crazy in here when the band starts up.

“Definitely,” Kai said, downing the last swallow and holding up his empty mug. “And put in a couple orders of wings, too, will ya? We’re starving.”

“You got it.” Nick rounded the bar, grabbing fresh mugs and expertly pulling the taps, leaving a perfect two-finger head on top of the amber liquid.

He slid them across the bar, a trail of foam in their wake. I took a delicious sip, noticing the band setting up on the floating platform in the basin of the waterfront bar. I recognized the guys—Alex on drums, Ryan on bass. They were old friends I used to jam with. “Aww, hell,” I laughed, elbowing Kai. “It’s my old crew!”

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