The Bone House - Brian Freeman [104]
Cab reached for his phone. He was about to call Felix Reich when he stopped.
He knew what would happen when the crew from the sheriff's department arrived. Reich would take a statement and get him out of the house, which was exactly what Cab would do if it was his own turf. Before he was banished, Cab wanted to know if Hoffman had left behind any clues about what he intended to tell him. Whatever information the man had, it had been enough to get him killed.
He backtracked to the kitchen. Based on the cane and pushed-back chair, he concluded that Hoffman had been sitting at the dinette table before he made his way to the front door and was shot. There was nothing on the table except a pen and an open bottle of Jameson's. On the kitchen counter, he saw the man's bulky key ring and a pair of glasses. He checked the master bedroom, which was impeccably neat, and spotted a computer and printer on one wall. When he lifted the top of the printer, the glass was clear. The wastebasket beside the desk was empty. He pulled open the top drawer and found pens, paper clips, staples, and a neatly folded Door County map. That was all.
He did a quick review of the filing cabinet near the man's desk, but the folders mostly revealed tax and property records, which would take hours to study in detail. He nudged the computer mouse with the knuckle of his finger, but the computer had been powered down.
Cab frowned. Nothing.
He checked his watch and knew the clock was ticking. He needed to call the sheriff. He made his way back to the living room and stared down at Peter Hoffman.
'What did you want to tell me?' he said aloud to the corpse at his feet.
At that moment, the body began to sing to him in Steven Tyler's voice. It was an Aerosmith song. 'Dude Looks Like a Lady.'
Cab started in surprise before realizing that the music came from the dead man's pocket. It was a phone. Cab bent down and used two fingers to reach inside Hoffman's right pocket and slide the phone into his hand. He answered neutrally. 'Yeah?'
'Hello? Mark? Who's this?'
'You first,' Cab said.
'This is Hilary Bradley. I don't know who you are, but I think you've got my husband's phone.'
Cab shook his head in sad disbelief. This wasn't going to be a happy call, it's Cab Bolton, Mrs Bradley.'
'Detective?' He could hear her freeze with shock and surprise. 'How on earth did you get Mark's phone?'
He didn't answer her question. 'Do you know how he lost it?'
'No, I don't.'
'Where is your husband now?'
'As far as I know, he's on the ferry back to the island. What's going on? Where did you find his phone?'
'I can't tell you that right now.'
'Excuse me?'
'You won't be able to get it back.'
'Why not?'
'I'm sorry,' Cab said. 'That's all I can say.'
'Is something wrong?'
'I'm sorry,' he repeated. 'I have to hang up now. It would be better if you didn't call this number again.'
He ended the call before she could say anything more. She'd know what it was all about soon enough. The sheriff was going to be out for blood, finding Mark Bradley's phone in the pocket of Peter Hoffman, lying dead in his own house. Peter Hoffman, who was Reich's lifelong friend. Peter Hoffman, who swore he had information that could help put Mark Bradley behind bars.
He bent down next to Hoffman's body. As he slid the phone back into the dead man's pocket, his fingers grazed something else. Paper. He extracted a single folded sheet with his fingertips, and when he unfolded it, he found an enlargement of a map showing a small portion of the NorDoor section of the county stretching west to east from the town of Ellison Bay to Newport State Park. Nothing was written on the page itself.
Curious, Cab reached into Hoffman's pocket again and dug to the bottom.