“The victim hasn’t been shot and doesn’t look like he was in a position to do any shooting. Did Liam already figure the whole thing out? And I wasted my time even driving here?”
“I figured out why I don’t enjoy working with you,” Liam says as he meanders into the next room that, like the rest of the house, shows clear signs of someone going through it. They must have been looking for something.
“Because my handsome face puts you in a bad mood?” Matthew calls after him. Liam just sticks a gloved hand out to flip him off and carries on.
I follow Liam as he moves around the kitchen. “Are you looking for signs of a gun?”
“Who just… fires a gun when their victim is already dead? Who draws attention to the scene? Or something more was going on,” Liam muses as he wanders a bit. “Could have been outside… they check the premises?”
“Wait,” I say as I nod toward the window. “There’s blood smeared here. Looks like it might have been from a shoe. But then why aren’t there traces of it as they walked through the house?”
“Maybe they cleaned it up,” Liam says as he examines it. “The window screen is still intact. If they left through the window, they had time to put it back.” He hesitates and then looks up, eyeing the top cupboard above the counter. “No, they used this to step up. They stepped up here to put something up there.”
He slowly walks along the counter, checking it before he looks at me. “Let me boost you.”
“I could just grab something to climb up.”
“We don’t want to mess up the scene in case something is important.”
“You literally just want to boost me for some unknown reason. I can find something to step on that won’t mess up the scene,” I assure Liam.
“Like Matthew’s face?” he asks.
“Definitely not.”
Liam’s not deterred. “Matthew, come here. Don’t forget you owe me your life.”
“Yes, my lord,” Matthew says with much sarcasm as he enters the kitchen. “What would you like, my lord?”
“Get on your hands and knees; I want to step on your back to look up there.”
“Oh, I could never taint your foot by making you step on my foul back,” he says as he grabs Liam’s ass in a bear hug and lifts him up. “Is this good for your royal ass?”
Liam growls, no longer pleased by this scenario. He must get what he needs because he waves to be put down, but Matthew isn’t putting him down.
“Did you say you needed to go higher?”
“I’m going to send you as high as you can go here in a minute.”
“How sweet that you think I’m going to heaven,” Matthew says as he sets Liam down. “So?”
“It’s a bag.”
“What kind of bag?” I ask.
“I’ll lift him back up so he can tell you,” Matthew says, but Liam shoos him off.
“Small messenger bag. It looked pretty empty with how flat it was, but I’m sure there’s something in there. It could easily be a tablet or thin computer. Let’s get it documented so we can get it down and opened up. In the meantime, Matthew, carry me to the next room.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“You’re both going to get fired if you don’t act professional,” I warn them.
“How is this not professional?” Matthew asks as he holds his arms out like Liam is going to leap into them.
Liam heads into the bedroom and looks around before pointing at the pictures that hang on the wall. “I haven’t seen a single photo of the dead guy anywhere in the house. Is this not his home?”
“I’ll look into it,” Matthew says.
