Chapter 9

Brian studied the items Paul had sent over with Shelly for a long time, lost deep in thought. He had still been looking it over when Lori brought him a mug of fresh coffee.

"You know, if you stare at that stuff long enough, it will jump out and bite you," she teased.

"Just when I think this case can't get any more fascinating, somebody comes up with something else."

She tapped at the photo of the knife wound cast. "What's this?"

"Paul made a cast of the wounds that killed Ms. Schaad. It's a pattern of the weapon that may have been used."

"The allegedly missing knife?" Lori guessed.

"Yes."

"This is getting interesting. What doesn't make sense, though, is why someone would use two knives, yet take only one away from the crime scene."

"Exactly," Brian nodded. "That and what Shelly pointed out where the knife that was left behind had been placed right after the murder. Either the killer dropped it on their way out, or more than likely, it was put where Ryan could find it, knowing he'd probably pick it up."

"But his prints were the only ones on that weapon," Lori reminded him.

"Which means, when Cindy took a closer look at it awhile ago, someone could have wiped their prints or wore gloves, hence why only Ryan's showed up."

"And someone wanted to set up Ryan? Who and why?"

"Who is anyone's guess at this point, which is why Shelly is doing more digging for me. Why is clearly obvious. Someone hated Lily Schaad enough to kill her, but made it look like Ryan did it to get the proceeds of her life insurance and his inheritance, which, by the way, Ryan knew about neither until after her death."

"Who else would have known?"

"Only person I can think of is Arthur Anders, and he had an alibi. Plus the man is way too smart to want his top client dead, not to mention he's close with Ryan."

"Wait," Lori said. "Who was Lily Schaad's attorney? She would have to have someone to draw up a will."

"Way ahead of you, my dear. I had Shelly check on that as well. I'm not sure how much it will weigh in this case, but it is a good start. We only have a short time left until Ryan's trial, so it's better to cover too many bases than not enough. And God only knows what Helen Krenn has up her sleeve. We need to be prepared in any and all aspects."