Page 7 of Southernmost Murder

Tillman ignored the question. “The grounds appear clean as well.”

“That’s it, then?”

“If something turns up, the police department will be in touch.”

“I’m going to go through all of our security footage,” I insisted.

“Please do.”

Tillman left my side. He walked down the porch steps and disappeared into the garden as he made for the front gate.

Screw that guy. He was an ass. I swear it was like a prerequisite.Are you a total dickwad? Here’s your gun and badge.But on the other hand, I had a constant hard-on for men in uniform, and it was my own fault. I grew up reading a lot of romance novels, and the cop stories were my favorite. Too bad I never seemed to find the sexy hero with a heart of gold and a naughty idea or two on how to use their handcuffs in real life.

Until Jun.

But I didn’t want to jinx anything, so I knocked on the wooden windowsill behind me for good luck.

“Aubs?”

I looked to my left as Adam came up the porch steps. “Tillman leave?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s a jerk.”

“I don’t think he likes you,” Adam agreed. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.” My shoulders slumped. “The skeleton is gone.”

“I didn’t see Tillman with it.”

“No, I mean it vanished.”

“I… don’t think that’s possible.”

“No shit.” I stepped up to the window again and nudged the bottom of the pane.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to break in.”

“There’s a door right beside you.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back at him. “I’m testing a theory.”

“Which is?”

“Not sure.” I grunted and struggled to try to open the window without any of the leverage provided from opening it on the inside. “There’s no way someone could get inside with the doors locked, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Adam agreed.

“But this window? The latch is broken.”

“You think someone climbed in and… stole the skeleton that no one knew existed thirty minutes ago?” Adam slowly asked. “Because that makes very little sense.”

I paused to look at him again. “It makesnosense.”

“Then why are you trying to get the window jimmied open?”