Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sam filled his coffee mug and turned to face the squad room. The absence of Jo felt like a missing limb. Lucy must have felt it too. She padded over to Jo’s empty desk and sniffed at her chair, letting out a soft whine.
“I know, girl,” Sam said softly, his voice tinged with a mixture of frustration and determination. “We’ll get her back soon.”
As if on cue, Major sauntered across the room and leapt onto Jo’s desk. The black cat circled once before settling into a patch of sunlight, his green eyes surveying the room with regal indifference.
“All right, team,” Sam began, his voice cutting through the heavy silence. “We’ve got a lot to cover, and time isn’t on our side. Let’s start with what we know.”
Reese spoke up first. “Chief, I’ve been digging into Clara Hartwell’s background. She checks out clean and was at work at the time Garvin died.”
Sam nodded, processing the information. “Good work, Reese. So she’s not the killer, but is the information she was looking into the reason he was killed?”
Kevin leaned forward, his brow furrowed. “Why would that get him killed? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe it does,” Wyatt interjected, his fingers tapping rapidly on his laptop keyboard. “If the land has historical value, it could interfere with someone’s plans to exploit it somehow.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe. We’re missing something crucial here.” He turned to face the team fully. “When I spoke with Clara, she mentioned leaving blueprints and historical documents with Garvin. But we didn’t find any of that during our initial search of his house.”
Wyatt tapped his pencil on the desk. “We weren’t necessarily looking. We were focused on clues to the killer.”
Reese’s eyes widened. “You think the killer took them?”
“It’s possible,” Sam replied. “Or Garvin hid them somewhere we didn’t think to look. Either way, we need to go back and search his place again, this time with a focus on finding those documents. Has that bronze statue Jo mentioned turned up anywhere?”
Reese shook her head. “I’ve been searching eBay and Marketplace, called antique dealers and auctioneers, but have nothing.”
“John Dudley says the way the wounds were on the body indicate Garvin could have been killed by something like that, but he’d need the actual statue to say for sure,” Kevin said.
“I found something interesting about Marnie Wilson,” Wyatt said. “I tailed her last night, and things got weird fast.”
Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Weird how?”
“She made a late-night visit to Beryl Thorne’s place,” Wyatt explained, his words coming out in a rush. “Left with a manila envelope then drove to some place called Parker Studies. Stayed there for a couple of hours, left without the envelope.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. “Parker Studies? Never heard of it.”
“That’s because it doesn’t exist,” Wyatt said, his voice tinged with frustration. “At least, not officially. I couldn’t find a single trace of it online or in any business registries.”
Reese leaned in, her curiosity piqued. “A front for something illegal?”
Sam nodded slowly, his mind racing. “Could be. But what’s the connection to Garvin’s murder and Jo’s frame-up?”
Kevin stood up, pacing the room as he thought out loud. “Okay, let’s break this down. We’ve got Garvin, who’s considering selling his land. Then he finds out it might have historical significance and gets cold feet. Next thing we know, he’s dead, and Jo’s being framed for it.”
“And now we’ve got Marnie Wilson, who’s running for mayor, making secret late-night visits to Beryl Thorne and this mysterious Parker Studies place,” Wyatt added.
Sam’s eyes narrowed as he pieced it together. “It all comes back to the land. Whatever’s on that property, it’s valuable enough to kill for.”
“But how does Jo fit into all this?” Reese asked, her voice laced with concern.
Sam shook his head, frustration evident in his voice. “I don’t know yet. But I’m willing to bet those missing blueprints and documents hold the answer.”
As Sam spoke, Lucy suddenly perked up, her ears twitching. She trotted over to a corner of the room where a stack of old case files had accumulated over the years. With determined focus, she began to dig, sending papers flying.
“Lucy, what are you doing?” Sam called out, moving toward the dog.
The German Shepherd pulled her head out of the pile, and to everyone’s surprise, she had the station’s infamous octopus toy clamped firmly in her jaws. It was the same toy that had been the source of an ongoing feud between Lucy and Major.
Kevin chuckled, shaking his head. “So that’s where she hid it. Clever girl.”
Major, who had been lounging on Jo’s desk, sat up straight, his green eyes narrowing as he watched Lucy trot to the sunny corner of the room. The dog settled down, placing the toy protectively between her paws, looking quite pleased with herself.
Sam couldn’t help but smile at the canine’s antics but quickly refocused on the task at hand. “All right, Lucy, don’t get too comfortable. We’re heading back to Garvin McDaniels’s place.” He turned to Kevin. “You up for a second look?”
Kevin nodded, already reaching for his jacket. “Absolutely, Chief. Maybe we’ll spot something we missed the first time around.”
“Good,” Sam replied then shifted his attention to Wyatt. “I need you to keep digging into this Parker Studies angle. There’s got to be something there. Check property records, shell companies, anything that might give us a lead.”
Wyatt’s fingers were already flying across his keyboard. “On it, Chief. I’ll let you know the moment I find anything suspicious.”
“Reese,” Sam continued, “I want you to go through our records. See if there are any other cases involving land disputes or historical property claims in the area. Maybe we’ll find a pattern.”
“You got it,” Reese replied, her voice filled with determination.
As Sam and Kevin prepared to leave, Lucy reluctantly got up, still clutching her prized toy. Major watched from his perch, tail twitching in annoyance.
“Sorry, Major,” Sam said to the cat. “Looks like Lucy won this round.”