Don't Touch Me! - 6

"Can Mr. Harding really help me, or am I just clutching at straws?" Cody stared at his computer screen, more worried about the fact he seemed to be in Detective Milburn's sights as a murderer than how to move on with the story he was writing.

He was certain one reason Milburn thought he'd killed his mother was the fact he had been in the house when it happened. That would make me wonder, if I was him.

He glanced at the time. "How the hell did it get so late? And I've written maybe…" He checked, shaking his head. "Five pages, damn it. And probably crap, since my mind wasn't on it." He saved his work, sent it to his cloud program, and shut off the computer before going down the hallway to his bedroom to change into a fresh shirt and comb his hair. He finished just as the doorbell rang.

"You're right on time, Mr. Harding," Cody said, stepping well aside to let Brent in.

"I try to be," Brent replied with a smile. "Oh, and please call me Brent."

Cody nodded, leading the way into the living room.

The first thing Brent did when they were seated was put the promised contract and a pen down on the coffee table. Cody picked it up, appreciating Brent's sensitivity in not just handing them to him. He took time to read it through thoroughly, noting it was for a month with the option to extend it if necessary—or cancel it earlier, if both parties agreed.

"Looks fine to me," he said, signing it.

"Now that that's done, I'd like to see where your mother was killed."

"Right in there," Cody replied, pointing to a door off to one side of the living room. "It used to be the dining room but with all Mother's problems she had a hard time going upstairs, so it became her bedroom."

With a nod, Brent went into the room. Cody couldn't bring himself to join him. He knew what Brent would see—a queen-size bed, now stripped of its sheets, the nightstand knocked over…

"Cody," Brent called out. "Would you come in here? Please?"

Reluctantly Cody did, shuddering when he remembered walking into the room two days earlier and seeing his mother's body.

"You've undoubtedly answered this question more times than you want, but humor me. Obviously you're the one who found your mom's body. Exactly how did things look when you came into the room?"

"She…she was sprawled out, with a pillow over her face. I knew that wasn't right. I thought maybe… Well, I don't know what I thought. I went over and lifted it off. Her face was sort of purplish and there were bruises on her neck, so I knew right away the pillow wasn't there by accident."

"Did you knock over the nightstand?"

"No. It was like that, but I didn't see it at first because it's on the other side of the bed from the doorway."

"You said she was sprawled out, like she tried to fight off her attacker?"

"I guess? But…umm, I got the impression the detective doesn't think she did. At least not until the last second. Like…she knew who was there." Cody grimaced. "Meaning me."