Contents
24. Carter
Overview
Birdy arrives as the new DCI and shocks Carter, who had unknowingly slept with her. She immediately challenges Carter’s unfounded suicide assumption regarding Eden and asserts control of the investigation, ordering a transcript of Harrison’s interview. The power shift sidelines Carter and reframes the case’s direction.
Summary
Carter learns that the woman he slept with—Birdy—is actually DCI Olivia Bird, newly assigned to Hope Falls and surrounding areas. Shocked and resentful after being passed over for promotion, Carter struggles to process that Birdy is now his boss.
Birdy cuts through his discomfort with sarcasm and sets boundaries, noting their prior encounter predates her appointment. She immediately quizzes Carter about the supposed suicide at the cliffs, exposing that there is no reported missing person, no body, and no witness to a jump.
Pressed on procedure, Carter admits he interviewed the husband, Harrison Woolf, based on “strange goings-on.” Birdy demands a proper transcript of the taped interview, making clear that conjecture is not evidence and that the case requires rigor.
Declaring the station unusable, Birdy relocates to The Smuggler’s Inn to work and orders Carter to email her the transcription. The chapter ends with Birdy firmly in charge and Carter chastened, his assumptions about Eden’s fate under active review.
Who Appears
- Sgt. CarterLocal sergeant; stunned to discover Birdy is his new DCI and former fling; pushed to formalize evidence.
- Olivia “Birdy” BirdArrives as new DCI; asserts control, rejects Carter’s suicide assumption, orders Harrison’s interview transcribed.
- Harrison WoolfHusband of Eden; previously interviewed by Carter; central to Birdy’s demand for a proper transcript.
- Eden FoxSubject of the suspected suicide; no body or report, prompting Birdy to question Carter’s conclusion.