“You spoke with my partner.”
“Right. Where is she, by the way?”
“Checking some other things out.”
“Murdock will be all over your ass if you get near his investigation.”
“It won’t be the first time we’ve rubbed the official machine the wrong way.”
“Just giving you my two cents.”
“So why’d you stop here then if you’ve got nothing to tell me?”
“Man was killed. Like to know who did it.”
“That’s what I want, too.”
Dobkin scuffed the road with his shoe. “Got a chain of command. You’re not in it. Got a family. Can’t throw my career in the toilet. Not for nothing. Sorry.”
“Okay, I get that. I appreciate what you’ve done.” Sean headed back toward his car.
“Any idea who took a shot at you?”
Sean turned back around. “No, other than it wasn’t the first time they’d fired a rifle. That fact was pretty clear.”
“I’ll look into that.”
“Okay.”
“Why didn’t you notify the police? Somebody tried to kill you.”
“No, they were warning us off. Different thing.”
“I’ll still look into it.”
“Suit yourself.”
“You don’t seem to be taking this too seriously.”
“I take it very seriously. I just doubt you’re going to find anything.”
“We’re pretty good at our job,” Dobkin said stiffly.
“I’m sure you are. But something tells me the other side is pretty good at its job, too.”
The two men stared at each other and seemed to reach a silent meeting of the minds.
Dobkin finally pointed at the Ford. “If I were you I’d get those windows covered over. Supposed to rain tomorrow.”
Sean watched him drive off and then he steered the Ford back to Martha’s Inn, his coat buttoned all the way up against the damp chill coming through the open windows.
CHAPTER
20
MICHELLE FLASHED her light around as she walked toward the back of the house. She’d had some dinner, reported back to Sean, and mulled over what she’d found thus far. She’d waited until it was well after dark before heading to Bergin’s house. She wasn’t breaking and entering, but the nighttime suited her better for these types of activities.
Ted Bergin had lived in an eighteenth-century farmhouse that he had restored about five years ago, just in time for his wife of forty years to die in a freak car accident. Sean had provided Michelle with this nugget of information, and it had served to deepen her empathy for the man and make her want to find his killer all the more.