In Secret and Shadows 7

Chapter 7

Jason was sitting on the Balcony of his hotel room. his feet were up on the table that was on the balcony. And his resonator guitar was in his lap. His room was a pricey suite. When he had called his parents earlier and told them that he was going to stay in Willow Creek overnight, they called around and found this hotel. This suite was the only room left thanks to the Horse and Rider convention that had started that day.

"The only reason my parents agreed to spring for this room is because my mom and Mrs. Cavanaugh are still feuding over some stupid mis-understanding they had at that get together last month." Jason Mused to himself. "I wish they'd get over it already."

Not that Jason minded the nice room or the room service, that is. It's just that every time this happened, and yes it had happened before, Jason his dad, his sister, and Kristi were always caught in the middle of it. One time, it had gotten so bad that, before his mother and Mrs. Cavanaugh came to their senses, they had, at the mere mention of the other's name, thrown every present that had ever passed between them or their kids out into the front yard. Jason had to walk on the proverbial eggs shells enough as it was in his line of work, without having to do it at home.

He sighed. There was nothing he could do about it at the moment and he knew better than to try. It was best to just keep is head down and stay out of it. the two ladies would eventually end up crying, hugging, and swearing to never fight again. Which everybody in both families knew good and well wouldn't last. But that was the nature of their friendship.

Jason, ended his musings with another sigh, put his slide back on his ring finger, and went back to playing a bluesy tune. His mind returned to the case, and trying figure out what was off about that crime scene photo.

He hadn't played more than a few bars, when there was knock at the door. Standing up, Jason laid his guitar back into its case, and walked toward the door sticking the slide into his pocket.

When he opened the door, he found Lisa standing there.

"Lisa what are you doing here?" he asked glancing at his watch as he let her in, "It's almost 11:30! I figured you'd have been asleep over an hour ago!"

"Couldn't sleep," she sighed.

"And you came here instead of to your boyfriend's place?" asked Jason puzzled

"Nothing keeps Rafael awake." Chuckled Lisa, "Besides, he has a show to do tomorrow. Plus, I remembered that you turn into an insomniac too when your mind is on a case."

"You know me well." Chuckled Jason.

Lisa flopped down on the couch.

"Something about the whole Carmichael case seriously stinks." Said Lisa, "And it's driving me crazy because the pieces we have don't all fit together."

"Yeah, it's bugging me too," said Jason, "Though they no doubt don't fit together, because, we don't have all the pieces yet."

Lisa nodded as she absent-mindedly twirled a lock of her hair in her fingers. She was thinking again.

"This is the most frustrating part of being a detective." She murmured breaking her silence, "Waiting, you end up watching the clock even though you know it won't speed things up."

Jason stopped dead in his tracks.

"That's it!" he cried, "Lisa your beautiful!"

"You finally noticed!" she grinned cheekily, "Now what's it?"

Jason ran over to his backpack and pulled out the report and a picture. He laid them on the coffee table and pulled out a magnifying glass.

He looked at something in the picture with his magnifying lens. Then, he checked something in the report.

"Ha! I was right, Lise, look at this." He said, "in the report it says that the crime scene was discovered at 2:05 pm just as Matthew Lake was returning from a late lunch. The police station isn't that far away. So, if you figure 10 to 15 minutes for the crime lab to get there after the report was made, that would put them there taking these pictures somewhere between 2:15 or 2:30 at the outside, right?"

Lisa nodded. Jason handed her the Magnifying glass.

"Look at this, there are two clocks in the background of this photo, one on the wall, and a smaller one on the shelf next to the sign out sheet!"

Lisa looked at the clocks.

"Wait," she said, "Both of these clocks say 5:00 pm!"

"Exactly," said Jason, "If that blood spatter happened at the time of the murder, which was hours earlier, then the blood should've been dry when these pictures were taken but it's not! These pictures were staged!"

TO BE CONTINUED… Please Review