Page 210 of Oracle Returns: Time will Stop

Somehow.

All they could hope now was when they got called into his office, and they would be because that was how the captain rolled, he’d buy the ‘the ME marked it all as suicide’ explanation.

What other choice did they have but to lean into that explanation?

Truth be told, their backs were to the wall on this one, and it didn’t look as if it was going to get better any time soon.

As Bishop and Honor pulled up to the house with the address that Maura and Jagger had sent them, it was a fairly quiet neighborhood.

Cute houses.

Pretty streets.

Oh, and a dead body in a tree.

If that didn’t scream Salem, they didn’t know what did.

Parking at the curb in front of the one house, they had bad news for whomever was trying to sell the house beside the victim’s home.

Housing prices were about to go down once the nice neighborhood was flagged with a dead woman in a tree.

Call it a hunch.

No one wanted to live by a suicide house—or no one in their right mind did.

As they got out, OF COURSE, one of the neighbors was outside, watching them.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

Clearly, he was new to the town, because it was rare that anyone didn’t recognize them.

To introduce herself, Bishop pulled her blazer back to reveal the gun and shiny gold badge beside it.

“We got a well-visit call on this address. What can you tell us about your neighbor? Have you seen her recently?” she asked, as she was scanning the neighborhood to see if anyone was watching them.

He considered it.

“I haven’t lived here long, and only met her once or twice, but she seems nice. I haven’t seen her today. Normally, she’s outside with her cat in the sun.”

Why weren’t they shocked that there was a black cat in the window, looking at them? That was the most Salem thing in Salem.

Bishop was curious.

“And you are?” she asked, pulling out her notebook to make it look like she was taking information for a report.

He shared.

“Victor Lang.”

She scribbled his name down.

“Well, Victor, we’re going to check on your neighbor. Have a good day,” she said, dismissing him.

The last thing she wanted was to have idle chitchat with some resident when there was a body swinging in the breeze behind her house.

“Oh, thanks. You too!” he said, going back to his business so they could do their job.

That was when both women started walking up the sidewalk, and they hoped the man didn’t question why there were two other people with them.