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Cop turned Private Eye | Murder Mystery | Thriller
The Redemption of Earl Bodine #6
Forensics provides some clues
For Part #1 of The Redemption of Earl Bodine, click here.
Bleary-eyed and still half asleep, Bodine sat at the counter of the coffee shop nearest police headquarters, working on his second cup of black coffee. Taggert, who’d worked the counter at the coffee shop for as long as Bodine could remember, didn’t ask him a long list of questions about blend or roast or brewing style. He simply brought Bodine a brown ceramic mug of the house blend of black coffee.
McDonald walked in as Bodine downed the last of his second cup and patted the consulting investigator on the back before taking the stool to his right.
“You get any sleep last night, Earl?”
“Not much. You?”
“Some. Not enough.”
The server brought McDonald his coffee.
“Regular, right, Tris, one cream, one sugar,” Taggert said, even though he’d been bringing McDonald their coffee nearly every morning for years.
“Right every time,” McDonald said.
“Your bacon and eggs will be up in a minute,” the server said after glancing back through the window to the small kitchen area. “Wheat toast, no butter?”
“No butter,” McDonald said. They took a tentative sip of their coffee.
Bodine snorted a laugh.
“What you got against butter, Tris?”
“What do you have against breakfast, Earl?”
“Earl here never did eat breakfast, even when he was on the force,” Taggert said.
“Didn’t Earl tell you, Tag?” McDonald said, nudging Bodine with an elbow. “He’s working for the Sheriff’s office now. My buddy here is a consulting investigator.”
Taggert frowned. He lifted a coffee carafe off the warmer and refilled Bodine’s mug.
“What the heck is a consulting investigator? Ain’t never heard of such a thing.”
“The Sheriff agreed to let Earl help on a case due to us being shorthanded,” McDonald said. He raised his coffee mug in a mocking salute…
