Read Online The Silent Reporter (A Police Procedural Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Hyder Ali #1) by Thomas Fincham - Free Book Online Page B

and with the shades he could barely see much from far away.
    Reluctantly, he removed them.
    Lafferty looked at him, but made no comment.  It was why Nolan was comfortable coming down here. 
    “What’re you working on?” Nolan asked.
    They walked over to a table.  “Victim was only sixteen. She was been shot right through the head.”
    “Wow,” Nolan could only say.
    “Exactly.”
    “Perpetrator?”
    “Looks like it was the stepfather.  He had apparently been abusing her for years and now she was willing to press charges against him.  I guess he didn’t like that too much.  He’s saying she did it to herself, you believe that?”
    “I’ll believe anything if the evidence backs it up.”
    “The evidence is overwhelming against him.  He won’t be able to squirm out of this one.”
    “Glad to hear that.  Doc, a body was sent here a day or so ago, the victim’s name was Eric Freeland.”
    “I remember, the professor, right?”
    “Yep.”
    “What about it?”
    “The file’s missing—your report, in particular.  I figured I’d come and get it myself.”
    “I don’t have it.”
    Nolan was confused.  “Then who does?”
    “I don’t know.  Someone came by and picked it up.”
    “Who?”
    Lafferty shrugged.  “I didn’t catch his name.  He said you guys needed the report ASAP and so he was sent to retrieve it.”
    “Did he sign for it?”
    “Sure.”  Lafferty went to the other side out of the room and pulled out a binder.  He flipped through it.  “There.”
    Nolan leaned down and squinted.  The signature was nothing but a scribble. There was no possible way to decipher the name of the signatory.
    Lafferty said, “Maybe it’s sitting on someone’s desk and hasn’t made its way to you.  It’s happened before, you know.”
    “Sure,” Nolan said.  But something told him that wasn’t the case this time.
    “Can you tell me something from the report?”
    Lafferty shrugged.  “Sure, I guess, what do you want to know?”
    “Was it a suicide?”
    Lafferty shook his head.  “I couldn’t say conclusively.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “When I examined the body I found ligature marks around the wrists. Those marks indicate the victim had been tied up.”
    Nolan thought about it.  “I saw those marks too. If that’s the case, then he couldn’t have possibly hung himself.”
    “That’s what I noted in my report.”
    Another thought went through Nolan’s head.  “Did you find almost half a bottle’s worth of anti-depressants in his stomach?”
    “No, as a matter-of-fact, I didn’t.  I even did a blood test and there is no trace of any medication of any kind in his body.”
    Jessica Freeland was right when she said her dad never took any such medications, Nolan thought .
    “Okay, thanks, Doc.” Nolan’s head was reeling.
    “Sure, no problem.  I’m sure it’ll turn up somewhere.”
    As Nolan left the coroner’s office, he wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
     
    TWENTY-TWO
     
    Hyder returned to the Daily Times completely confused.  On the one hand, he wanted to help Jessica by finding who killed her father, but on the other hand, there was no proof that her father was murdered.
    Detective Nolan had proven that Professor Freeland’s death was a suicide.  No motive, no murder weapon, equalled no murder.  There was no other way to look at it.
    Hyder sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.
    When Jessica had stormed out of police headquarters, Hyder had tried to reassure her that he would do everything to find her father’s killer, but even he knew his words felt hollow.  He couldn’t tell if she believed him. 
    She had thanked him for his help and left.
    Hyder wished he could have done more for her.
    The image of her leaving in tears bothered him.  Why was that?  Was he interested in her?
    He wanted to say no but he knew that was a lie.  He was enamored of her.  Was it because she had appeared to him in the form of a damsel in distress?  She wanted