"Why didn't you let me arrest him?"
The pitch in Steve's voice was raised slightly as they turned back onto the gravel road, heading toward Route 6 and the other side of town.
"Arrest him for what?", Mike answered calmly, trying to deflect his partner's irritation to something more constructive, "Not being aware that his daughter was dating Rory?"
"Aw, come on now. He had to have known. Everybody in town knew. The pictures in the restaurant. The signs on the trees, for God's sake. He knew. And he's still covering for her!"
"Evidence, Inspector.", he cautioned sternly and let his eyes drift across the farmland waking up to another sunny spring day, "Since when do we arrest people without solid evidence? That knock on the head made you forget a few of the basics?"
Falling quiet again when he realized he'd overstepped a line; Steve drew in a deep breath to calm down, his fingers tapping the steering wheel of the Galaxy nervously. Eventually, Mike reached over to cover his partner's hand with his own to try and settle his anxious senses.
"Listen, we both know that everybody in this town seems to be in on this in one form or another. Morrison is a well-liked and respected man; he has been through a lot in the last year. Darr is a hard worker, trying to keep his business going in this David and Goliath game of poultry they've got going on here. We know what happened after their…their kids became involved and we know that a lot of people could have had a motive to kill Rory, most of all Amy. And of course, her father would be the first one wanting to cover for his daughter, after all, she's the only thing he's got left. And yes, you could absolutely use your precious youthful energy to arrest him and drag him through interview after interview for hours on end and you might get a small part of the truth out of him. But I say we put our eggs in a different basket."
His sincere words made the young Inspector glance over intrigued as they slowly approached Route 6 again.
"You want to check out some of the members of the Amish community first to find out who was on the road this morning?"
Smiling at his partner reading his mind like an open book, Mike slowly shook his head, before pointing north.
"I thought about that, as we were talking to Morrison. But I bet on a beautiful day like today, many of them are out in the field right now plowing away and getting ready for planting season. We'd be wasting a lot of time we don't have."
Nodding understandingly, Steve turned right onto the paved road, the half-detached passenger side mirror tapping against the door for a few moments until the car reached smooth ground.
"No, Buddy Boy, after Morrison said that she's working at that other slaughterhouse today, the one that Darr purchased off him for future use, I say we pay her a visit. See how she reacts under pressure. If she's anything like her father, she might not handle it well."
"He said she's maintaining the machinery there…", Steve noted and pursed his lips, "We might find the murder weapon there. And the rest of Rory's body…"
"It's possible."
Reaching for the map to find the exact location of the facility, Mike couldn't hide a faint shudder running down his back.
"Let's just…Stephen, let's just be sure we keep our eyes and ears open when it comes to that girl."