6

T he icy reception didn’t happen until they reached Theo’s workstation. The man was up to his eyeballs in paperwork and didn’t act the same way he had over dinner at their house. He sat at his desk, flipping through case files, his mood dark and brooding.

A few feet away, Lucien and Brogan stood waiting for an opening. Brogan finally cleared her throat. “Look, we know you’re busy. But we have some information about Bethany.”

“That’s not my case,” Theo stated absently. “Take whatever you have to the sheriff’s office.”

“We don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brogan started.

“Why not?”

“It’s a long story. It’s the reason we’re here now. Were you aware that Bethany worked for the sheriff’s department in records? That detail wasn’t in her missing person report.”

Theo looked confused. “What? You’re saying she has ties to law enforcement at the county level? No way. How did they leave that part out?”

“No idea. But her entire job is logging evidence into the system, taking it from boxes covered in dust to digital format. She was, in fact, digging into a cold case on her own from 1999.”

“The Connie Upland murder,” Lucien provided.

“How do you know that?”

“We talked to Bethany’s parents. According to them, Bethany had been obsessed with the case since late August. Starting in October, she began to receive hang-up phone calls, perhaps they were threatening.”

Theo cocked a brow in doubt. “ Maybe threatening ? Which is it? Some kid who had the hots for her found out her phone number and did the heavy breathing thing? That’s not threatening.”

“That’s not how her mother described the calls,” Brogan defended. “Bethany argued with someone on the phone shortly before she went missing.”

“Maybe she was slacking off at work and not doing her job,” Theo proposed. “Maybe she’d gotten obsessed with a case, got in over her head, and her work started to suffer. Her boss might’ve been chewing her out.”

Riled up now, Lucien planted his feet, ready to do battle. “Or maybe she had discovered the suspect’s name in Connie’s old case file and made the connection no one else had made before. We did some digging. We talked to Upland’s sister. Connie Upland had been having an affair outside of her marriage with a cop named Keith. No last name. The sister had this information all along but didn’t tell the first pair of detectives for fear the information would damage Connie’s reputation. Instead, she waited four years until Keith Shepherd’s little brother, Kenneth Shepherd, just happened to appear on her doorstep with his partner, Pete Davito. Angela Manning remembers coming clean about ‘Keith’ and the affair. Now, Pete probably was a straight shooter. So, he entered Keith’s name into their report, which went into the case file as was proper procedure. Meanwhile, the case goes nowhere. Whether it’s legit or Ken honestly doesn’t make the connection to his brother, we may never know. But Connie’s case remains unsolved. Bethany was trying to change that.”

“There’s something else,” Brogan added. “ Keith Shepherd has a connection to another woman’s murder. A rookie cop by the name of Jill Vosberg. Keith was responsible for training her.”

That finally got Theo’s full attention. “Okay, go on.”

“We think Bethany discovered Keith’s name in the file. Somehow, she made the connection to Keith Shepherd, who happened to be a cop at the time Connie was murdered. Per her parents, Bethany was convinced she’d found two other victims that matched Connie’s set of circumstances. Two murders—Connie and the rookie cop named Jill Vosberg—had definite ties to the same dirty cop, Keith Shepherd. In 2000, eight months after Connie’s murder and six months after Jill’s, Keith was kicked off the force during an internal affairs audit that revealed his corruption. The guy had his fingers in drug trafficking and tampering with evidence. Bethany must have discovered that Keith had been responsible for training Jill Vosberg, who left the force before her probationary period ended. Jill was later found murdered at the end of June in her apartment under mysterious circumstances just two months after Connie died. It’s another unsolved murder if you’re interested.”

Theo’s dark eyes were deep in thought. They could see the wheels turning. There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever. No one said anything until, finally, Theo leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “I have to admit, this is quite a leap you’re taking, especially when it involves a cop. But I can’t deny the intriguing points you’ve made. I’ve been in this business a long time, and when coincidences like the ones you described keep piling up, it makes me suspicious.”

Lucien and Brogan exchanged hopeful glances, thinking their information may have made an impact. But what he said next deflated all hope.

“I can’t take this and go anywhere with it. For one thing, it’s not my case. And if Kenneth Shepherd is still part of the force, I doubt anything would come of it. I might be brand-new here, but any sheriff’s department I’ve ever worked with closes ranks tighter than a steel trap when a cop goes bad.”

“Keith Shepherd has been out on his ass since 2000,” Lucien explained. “The thing is, we can’t locate him anywhere in California. He’s disappeared into the wind. If he is a serial killer, it somehow got back to him that Bethany was looking into Connie’s murder, and he took exception to that fact. We think that’s the person Bethany met that Sunday morning. We believe he did something with her and then murdered Sam when he came looking for his sister. There,” Lucien said matter-of-factly. “We just solved your case, too.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll run Keith’s name through the system. I have a guy I know back east in Quantico who works with the FBI as a consultant. I’ll pass along the name and see if he gets a hit anywhere in the world. How’s that sound?”

“So we’re in a holding pattern until you get back to us,” Lucien proffered. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Up to you. But I’d keep digging for something more solid than a theory if it were me. Find me physical evidence or a strong connection to Shepherd, and I’ll act on it.”

“How was Sam murdered?” Brogan asked.

Theo winced at the question. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. But the autopsy isn’t complete yet. All I know with my own eyes is that he was shot three times in the chest at close range, say less than five feet.”

“How did Sam and the killer get inside the lighthouse?”

“Del Rio and I are working on that. We’re trying to account for every key in existence that opens that door.”

Feeling dejected, Brogan turned to go. She lightly pushed Lucien toward the door. “Thanks for your time, Theo. We’ll get out of your hair now.”

“No problem. Thanks for the tip.”

“Just remember, Bethany Heywood is still missing. Every day she’s not found means the outcome doesn’t look good,” Lucien said, turning his back on Theo and escorting Brogan out the door.

Before they could reach the reception area, though, Eastlyn blocked their path. She lowered her voice. “Hey, I’m glad you came in. I thought of a way you could get the band together and ask them about what happened around the time you were conceived.”

“Really? What’s that?”

“Invite them over to Thanksgiving dinner and get them all liquored up.”

Brogan sputtered with laughter. “That might actually work. Thanks.”

“No problem. In the meantime, I’ll keep brainstorming.”

Walking out to his truck, Lucien stopped. “I can’t believe you told Eastlyn about the DNA.”

“What can I say? I got chatty before heading to the lighthouse. For some reason, I’ve always been able to open up to Eastlyn. She’s easy to talk to. Besides, inviting everybody to Thanksgiving might be the best idea I’ve heard yet. After I have my heart-to-heart with Delia, of course.”

“Of course. I just have a hard time believing you opened up to Eastlyn. Will the entire town know about it before nightfall?”

“I don’t know. I’m beginning not to care. You were right about Theo.”

“Yeah, I didn’t plan to do the ‘I told you so’ bit.”

“Thanks. How did you know?”

“He gave off that kind of vibe that says he’s a ‘by-the-book’ kind of cop. That’s probably why Brent hired him.”

Brogan nodded. She couldn’t argue with that assessment as she climbed into the truck.

Back at home , they realized they couldn’t wait around for Theo to get back to them with information about Keith Shepherd. They needed to keep digging, following any lead they could find that pointed to an alternate theory.

While Brogan scoured the internet for any details about Jill Vosberg’s murder, combing through newspaper articles, looking for any overlooked detail that could shed light on Keith Shepherd’s involvement, Lucien sat in front of his laptop, taking another look at Sam’s personal life. He tried to find anything that might throw up a red flag: Sam’s workload, his day-to-day relationships at his job, including his movements in the days before his murder.

Lucien couldn’t find anything that stood out, so he emailed Barry Heywood to ask a few more questions.

As Brogan delved deeper into Jill Vosberg’s death, she stumbled on a forum post from a few years back that caught her eye. It was from a user dubbed “TruthSeeker22,” who claimed to have insider knowledge about Jill’s case. The post mentioned the string of unsolved murders in the area dating back to 1999. The poster also referenced Connie Upland’s murder.

And then it hit her.

She had the best source right here in town, a person who knew Santa Cruz crimes better than anyone else, second only to Brent Cody. But Brent was on vacation. On the other hand, Jade Weingarten had just moved to Pelican Pointe. The woman had written lengthy blog posts to bring attention to bizarre murders that had been unsolved going back decades. She had exposed crooked cops, detailed their habits, and sometimes captured serial killers firsthand like no other blogger or podcaster in the area. The self-described true crime junkie had her own sources and a history of not pulling punches. Oh, yes, Jade could be instrumental in helping them crack the case.

Thrilled by this potential breakthrough, Brogan shared the information with Lucien.

“Way to think outside the box. Maybe Truthseeker22 has posted on her blog before,” Lucien supplied.

“Let’s have them over for dinner and find out.”

“Sure. But we could find out for ourselves by cross-referencing Truthseeker22’s profile, especially if they used the same name across all their posts.”

They spent hours researching the name. Their efforts led them down a winding path of cryptic messages left on other sites where the poster claimed several key players had gone missing under suspicious circumstances, further fueling their belief that this person might have inside knowledge.

“According to the first post Truthseeker22 made, he began posting ten years ago,” Brogan provided. “Is there any way to track down a poster?”

“For that, we’d need to use Jade’s analytics from the company that hosts her website. That might give us a starting point as to location. But it won’t ID the poster, especially if they use a Virtual Private Network.”

“So we’ve hit a dead-end,” she concluded. “I’ll call Jade and see if she and Birk are free for dinner.”

“Maybe we can put Birk’s tech skills to good use. Did you know he asked Jade to move in with him?”

“Jade mentioned it. I take it that Birk must’ve mentioned it during the search?”

“After we’d finished, yeah, he told both of us. Beckett seemed surprised.”

“All I know is that it comes at a time when she’s ready to buy a house. Why now, I wonder?”

Lucien shrugged. “Men do strange things when they think they might lose the woman they love. Has she decided to do it? Move in with him?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out over dinner. I need to come up with something that isn’t boring?”

“Whatever it is, it won’t top your tamales.”

Time became a deciding factor when throwing together an impromptu supper on short notice. Brogan fell back on one of Maeve’s tried and true dishes—roasted bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin served with baked apples and a hearty salad.

When the doorbell rang a few minutes before seven, the house smelled like a mix of sweet cinnamon and savory bacon.

Brogan answered the door to see the couple nicely dressed: Birk in a sports jacket and khaki pants and Jade wearing a long black dress with a floral print. She’d let her hair down and left it flowing and curly. She promptly handed off a bottle of wine.

“I wasn’t sure what we were having, but this red goes with almost anything.”

“How thoughtful,” Brogan cooed, wrapping Jade up in a welcome hug. “But we should probably be bringing you a gift. We’re about to ask a favor, a big one. We need your expertise in tracking someone down off your blog.”

“How thrilling,” Jade returned. “Do you hear that Birk? They need my help. Whatever you need, I’m more than willing to do whatever, as long as I don’t have to cook.”

“Is this about Sam Heywood?” Birk wanted to know as he stepped into the entryway.

“In a manner of speaking. We’ll explain all about it over dinner.”

“What we need relates to Sam’s murder,” Lucien said. “It’s a complicated theory going back to 1999 and a string of unsolved murders in Santa Cruz that might be connected to his case and Bethany’s disappearance. We believe someone might have insider knowledge posting on your blog, and we’re hoping you can help us track them down.”

Jade’s eyes widened with intrigue. “Oh, this is becoming more fascinating by the minute. Let’s dive right into it, shall we?”

As they settled around the dining table, Birk started the conversation by sharing the couple’s plans for the future. Brogan and Lucien couldn’t help but notice the genuine affection between the two, wondering if this partnership would lead to more than cohabitation.

“Obviously, you’ve decided not to buy Tazzie’s house,” Brogan surmised.

“I already told Nick at the bank. It was fine with him. He told me someone from out of town had shown interest in the property. Nothing stays on the market for long around here, and buying a house today usually means a bidding war. But not for Tazzie’s. Nick mentioned he knew the buyer personally and had already approved their loan. He even told me that she loved the house.”

“Hmm. The prospective buyer loves a house owned by a murderer. That sounds like someone right up our alley. I wonder who it is?”

“All I know is that it’s a woman.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because when I drove down Beacon Lane this morning, I saw a woman standing outside the house peering into the window. I figured it was the person interested in buying the house.”

“This is delicious tenderloin,” Jade fawned. “I wish I was a better cook.”

“Me too,” Birk teased with a wink.

Once dinner was finished, the plates were cleared and dessert was served, Birk was ready to dive into specifics about why they were there. “If we’ve finished with the niceties and personal anecdotes, how about letting us in on the murder investigation? Explain how a blog post figures into Sam’s murder.”

Lucien took them through Bethany’s obsession with the Upland murder and added one more, that of Jill Vosberg. “We believe there might be a connection that points to a former cop, a guy by the name of Keith Shepherd, who we suspect is the killer. We need your help to track down this mysterious online user who goes by the name Truthseeker22. This person seems to have insider information about these cases that could give us valuable insight. They even hinted at a cover-up within the police department.”

Jade’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. “Truthseeker22? I remember that poster. He or she always had a tidbit or two to add to the discussion about the high number of unsolved cases. Consider it done. I’ll pull up all the data from my blog and see what I can find. Birk’s even better at cracking those VPNs people use. I didn’t bring my laptop, though. I’ll need to borrow one.”

“You can use mine,” Brogan offered, shoving from the table. She led Jade into Lucien’s office and booted up her laptop.

While Jade went through her blog archives, Brogan hovered over the desk. “It occurred to me this afternoon, after reading your website, how much firsthand knowledge you have about the darkest corners of human nature. How do you handle it?”

“It used to get to me. But after meeting Birk—you have to remember that when we first met, he was so angry about his sister’s unresolved disappearance that we butted heads. He accused me of exploiting the victims, including Brigid, which is the last thing I was trying to do with the blog. But then something happened during all that upheaval. Even before I met Kelly, even before she put so much effort into finally solving Brigid’s murder for Beckett, Birk and I began to share our frustration and anger over the system that allowed these cases to fall through the cracks. Somehow, we bonded over that, over all the other unsolved cases in Santa Cruz. He helped me come to terms with the dark forces in the world he’d encountered firsthand. In the beginning, ours might’ve started out as a complicated relationship. But it shows that sometimes opposites can meet in the middle and make it work.”

Birk had been listening at the door. “She’s right. Because of Jade, I can approach things with a better understanding of how getting information out onto the web is imperative in solving these cold cases. As much as detectives protest their intrusion into their cases, it’s clear that getting the word out is much better than it languishing in some dusty file cabinet somewhere.”

“Ah, here it is in my website analytics,” Jade announced. “I found Truthseeker22’s data. They’ve posted three dozen times going back five years. Here’s the IP address that shows in the analytics. And it stays the same through all those posts”

Birk pulled up a chair and sat down next to Jade. “I can work with that. I might not have an answer for you tonight, but give me a couple of days, and I’ll know who owns that IP address or at least the general vicinity of its origins in Santa Cruz.”

Lucien leaned against the doorjamb. “That sounds promising.”

“Let me make sure I understand why this is important,” Jade said. “You think Truthseeker22 might have inside knowledge about Connie’s murder?”

“And Jill’s,” Brogan supplied. “Because we think it’s the same killer.”

“Okay. The former cop Keith Shepherd, right? If this poster has key information, they’ve posted about it for several years.”

“Hinting or at the very least pointing the finger at a cop and a cover-up,” Lucien stated.

Jade nodded in understanding. “And because Bethany opened up a can of worms, the killer showed up that Sunday morning and probably murdered Bethany, then a few days later murdered her brother Sam at the lighthouse. Do I have that right?”

“You got it,” Birk relayed. “What we don’t know is who the other murder victim is that Truthseeker22 keeps referring to. They keep mentioning a serial offender who has more than these two victims. If you’re right about Truthseeker22, there’s a third victim, at this point, nameless. You could be solving Sam’s murder, maybe Bethany’s, Connie Upland’s, and Jill Vosberg’s, along with another. That’s worth resolution for a lot of families.”

“I’m guessing you’ve already taken this to someone here in town,” Jade presumed.

Lucien walked further into the room and sat across from Birk. “Theo Woodsong, the new guy. He wanted physical evidence and proof of a link to the victims. We have no way of proving Keith Shepherd is still alive. He seems to have disappeared.”

Birk brightened. “I can help you with that part.”

“What if he’s changed his name and living under an alias somewhere?” Brogan speculated.

Birk grinned. “Let’s just say it’s not impossible to prove he’s still alive. I could even discover his identity now.”

“Let’s print out all of Truthseeker22’s posts, not only from my blog but all the others we can find,” Jade suggested. “That way, it makes it easier to compare his comments.”

After what felt like hours of intense scrutiny, Jade suddenly sat back in her chair, a triumphant smile playing on her lips. “I think I found something,” she announced, pointing at the screen. “Look at this. I see a pattern in Truthseeker22’s posts that leads me to believe they might have some connection to the police department.”

Birk peered over her shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he studied the screen. “What kind of connection?” he asked, intrigued.

As they gathered around the laptop, Jade tapped a few more keys, pulling up several posts in different windows. “He consistently uses phrases like ‘field interview’ and ‘hook and book,’ typical jargon that cops use daily. They have their own terminology like JDLR.”

“What’s JDLR?” Brogan asked.

“Just Don’t Look Right,” Jade replied. “Cops on patrol use that lingo all the time. There are several other words he references. If you give me the printout, I’ll circle the police jargon for you.”

“I bet you didn’t realize we’d put you to work tonight,” Brogan stated.

“I don’t mind. It’s fun catching criminals,” Jade responded in a cheery tone. She worked for another hour before asking for something to drink.

Brogan pulled her up and out of the chair and dragged her toward the kitchen. “Come on. Take a well-deserved break. I’ll fix you a glass of wine.”

“Got any ice cream?”

Brogan chuckled. “You bet. How does Rocky Road sound?”

“Like I’ve hit the lottery.”

Brogan turned to the freezer and dug out a carton of Lucien’s favorite. She got down a bowl and dished out several gooey scoops of the stuff before handing it off to Jade. “Enjoy. You’ve earned it.”

Brogan dished out more bowls when the guys joined them at the table.

“That’s a good catch about Truthseeker22, the way he talks about police procedures and uses the lingo,” Lucien noted, digging into his Rocky Road.

Birk nodded in agreement. “It would explain how they have access to insider information, specifically old cases. Notice how he sounds like he might hold a grudge about the cases going cold, almost like it’s personal.”

“Maybe it is. Like someone else I used to know,” Jade cracked, winking at Birk. “Maybe he uses his profile to badger the homicide detectives in a way that won’t jeopardize his job.”

“That’s a thought,” Brogan remarked. “But the only way to ID this guy is to track that IP address.”

Lucien’s eyes gleamed with eagerness. “We can be patient as long as Truthseeker22 leads us to anything more solid than what we have now. It’s the only way we’ll know what happened to Sam Heywood.”

Brogan nodded as she opened a new bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. “I’m thinking about his sister. I’m beginning to think our killer wouldn’t keep Bethany alive for this long.”

Birk let out a sigh. “Probably not. This guy is dangerous. He isn’t taking any chances. Leaving witnesses alive isn’t his style, not even when it comes to a brother searching for his sister.”

“That’s why you were so hard on Theo yesterday,” Brogan said. “It mirrors your search for Brigid.”

“It got to me, knowing Sam had only been trying to help find his sister and ended up dead because of it.”

The room fell silent as they all considered the gravity of the situation. Brogan poured more wine, this time for everyone, her brow furrowed with concern. “We need to be careful. This isn’t just some random killer we’re dealing with. He’s methodical, and he knows how to cover his tracks.”

Lucien nodded. “Agreed. We need to make sure we don’t tip him off that we’re onto him. If he realizes we’re getting close, he might go underground, and we’ll lose our chance.”

Jade leaned back in her chair, a thoughtful expression on her face. “We should also consider the possibility that the killer has accomplices. Someone with that access and knowledge might not be working alone.”

Birk rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “It’s possible. We can’t rule anything out at this point. We need to follow every lead and see where it takes us.”

As they continued to discuss their strategy, they knew how high the stakes were. They also realized that time was running out for Bethany if she was still alive. As the evening wore on, they wrapped up their meeting and said their goodbyes, each lost in their own thoughts. Lucien and Brogan cleaned up the kitchen and headed upstairs, the weight of the investigation heavy on their minds.

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