Chapter 3
In the Lost Lake Locators’ parking lot, El killed her engine but left her hand resting on the keys. She checked her watch. Nearly two forty-five a.m.
Fatigue gnawed at her, urging rest, but exhaustion wasn’t what kept her sitting there. She didn’t want to go inside. Didn’t want to see Gabe’s grief again under harsh lights with nowhere to hide.
Lucy was counting on her, though. She couldn’t waste time sitting in her car because she was afraid of Gabe’s response. Of her old memories. Of losing control of emotions she’d kept sealed for years.
She forced herself out and crossed the cracked concrete to the rundown inn Nolan had purchased as company headquarters and the team members’ home. Perched on an ocean cliff, the building sagged with neglect, its faded sign bearing the team name and logo.
The door opened. Green paint flaked loose and drifted down like insects.
Still wearing damp clothes from the search for Lucy, Reece stood in the doorway. “Welcome. Everyone’s in the conference room.”
“You haven’t changed clothes,” El said.
Way to state the obvious.
El always felt self-conscious around Reece, who somehow managed to look runway-ready even now.
El wore no makeup at work, her hair scraped into a bun, a few strands escaping.
Add to that unremarkable suits and collared blouses.
Nothing feminine enough to invite criticism or dismissal in a male-dominated profession. Especially not in a town this small.
“I wanted everyone to have something warm to drink first. Come in, and I’ll be right back.” She bolted down the hallway.
El inhaled, steadying herself, then stepped inside the foyer clinging stubbornly to its mid-century decor frozen in time.
They’d begun renovations but stopped after finishing the bedrooms. With the business off and running, investigations always took priority, and updating the rest of the inn had stalled.
She passed the dim sitting area, shadows pooling over threadbare chairs upholstered in faded orange and mustard. Down the hall, voices drifted from the former dining room, now serving as their meeting room.
She stepped inside. Old Formica-and-chrome tables had been pushed together to form a long conference table. The members of the team chatted, mugs of coffee and cocoa in front of them.
Not Gabe.
He stood at the whiteboard, marker clenched in his hand, action items scrawled on the whiteboard behind him.
She avoided looking at him, but caught the gaze of others around the table. “Looks like you’ve started planning.”
“We have,” Nolan said.
“And don’t bother trying to slow us down.” Jude lifted his chin. “We’re backing Gabe one hundred percent.”
“Of course you are.” She glanced at Gabe, but he still hadn’t looked her way. “Mind if I photograph the board so we don’t trip over each other later?”
“Knock yourself out,” Jude said.
She flashed several shots in consecutive order then stowed her phone.
Gabe finally turned, pinning her with an intense stare. “Your turn. What did you find?”
She didn’t like the edge in his voice, but she would cut him some slack due to his stress. “We have preliminary findings from the medical examiner. She…”
His expression hardened. The words she needed lodged in her throat.
“And?” His voice dropped, dangerous in its low tone.
“I’m sorry, Gabe.” She met his gaze. “The ME believes Kenna could have been strangled.”
The marker clattered to the floor. A raw, animal growl tore from his chest.
El cringed inside, his pain freezing her in place.
She’d expected a reaction, but nothing so extreme.
She wanted to do something for him, but what?
Other than a touch or hug—way too personal—and she couldn’t afford to make a single mistake on this investigation.
Touching him now would be one. A big one.
Abby Day shot to her feet and hurried over to him. Barely over five-feet-tall, she confidently circled her arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry, Gabe.”
His arms hung limp at his side, and he didn’t respond. Didn’t say anything. Do anything. Nothing at all.
“We’ll find who did this,” Abby said softly. “And we’ll find Lucy.”
The mention of Lucy seemed to pull him back. He gave Abby a brief squeeze, then eased away, his attention snapping to El. “Could have been strangled?”
“Dr. Briggs says the attack might not have killed her. She could’ve been put in the water alive. Finding the body quickly makes drowning a possibility.”
“Explain.”
El relayed the ME’s explanation.
His face drained of color, and he set his hands on his waist. “Did you locate anything to help us find Lucy?”
Oh, how she wished she had a positive answer for him.
“A toy unicorn floating near the dock. Small footprints in the sand close by and only a few headed toward the water. Then they stop, as if someone picked her up. Larger footprints were found nearby. All look like forensics will be able to make a good cast of them.”
Gabe shoved his hands into his pockets. “Picked her up, but why? To put her in the water next to her mother or carry her away?”
“The dive team was delayed, so at this point, either is possible,” El replied. “The footprints had clear heel-to-toe impressions with even depth and shorter strides versus toe-heavy impressions with deeper toe digs and longer strides.”
“Means she was walking and not running,” Reece said as she stepped into the room wearing dry jeans and a sweatshirt.
El nodded.
Reece took a seat at the table. “Could indicate she was removed from her car seat and led away before the violence escalated.”
“And she was alive and calm,” Abby said. “Alive at the dock.”
“Which could also mean Kenna was complying,” Reece said. “Possibly with someone she recognized. Maybe Lucy recognized them, too.”
“A boyfriend?” Jude asked.
Gabe shook his head. “If there was one, she didn’t tell me about him. We need to search her house and talk to her neighbors.”
El nodded. “I’m headed to the office from here, and I’ll apply for a search warrant.”
Gabe gave her a pointed look.
“You don’t have to say it. I get it. You want to come with me for the search. That might be possible. I’ll let you know.”
He gritted his teeth. “When will divers get there?”
“They promised to arrive as close to sunrise as possible. K-9s are on their way and the ground search will resume then, too.”
“We’ll be there,” Gabe stated, his tone nonnegotiable. “We’ll revisit our search area in daylight.”
Finally, something she could say yes to. He could do that, but there was actually nothing else she could let him do.
Jude cleared his throat, gaining everyone’s attention. “One thing I haven’t heard anybody say is that abducting Lucy is our most probable scenario, but wasn’t likely the goal. She wasn’t a target, but a complication.”
“How could you know that?” El asked.
“This murder was planned. Controlled. A person who thinks ahead, not someone who snapped.”
“Controlled!” Gabe looked at him as if doubting the former FBI agent’s take on events. “How can you say that? He strangled her. That feels more like he lost it.”
“I can see where you’re coming from, but look at the scene. Remote, but not random. No signs of prolonged struggle. He got close. Close enough to strangle her. That takes time. Control. Commitment.”
“Or rage,” El said, though she knew full well that strangulation was often motivated by control too.
Jude shook his head. “Rage is most often messy. This isn’t. He chooses a quiet method. No weapon to trace. Then he disposes of her in water knowing no one comes out here this time of year, and she’d eventually sink to the bottom. Degrade. Delay your timeline.”
No one spoke, as if they didn’t buy his theory. El didn’t blame them, but they should trust Jude’s profiling experience not to lead them wrong.
Jude rested his hands on the table and leaned forward.
“The guy I described isn’t someone who snapped.
That’s a man solving a problem, to which he thought Lucy was a witness he didn’t count on.
He couldn’t panic and kill her, nor could he leave her behind.
So he abducted her, and he’s holding her somewhere while he decides what to do with her. ”
“If you’re right,” El said, “then the smarter he is and more capable, the quicker he’ll figure it out, and our clock is ticking even faster.”
Gabe sucked in a sharp breath. “Let’s hope Jude is wrong and the endgame isn’t to kill Lucy too.”
Jude challenged Gabe with a sharp look. “What other explanation can you come up with besides she wandered off or drowned with her mother, neither of which we have evidence to back up at this point?”
“None,” Gabe said, the word barely escaping his lips.
“You’ll also be looking for someone who’s fit,” Jude continued. “Someone who had the strength to move Kenna’s body from the ravine to the lake.”
“Could suggest a boyfriend,” Nolan said.
“I don’t think so,” Jude replied. “This really isn’t how the average boyfriend would behave.
If they were upset with their girlfriend, the strangulation might occur after an argument.
In the heat of the moment, but not planned.
I’m not saying don’t look for boyfriends, because you could always find one who fits this profile.
I’m just saying it’s not as likely as someone else. ”
“What motive would someone else have?” Gabe asked.
“To eliminate a threat. Perhaps she discovered something she shouldn’t have and this is the only way they could silence her.”
Gabe’s shocked look said he was struggling to find a response. “I know you could be right, but I just can’t see where she would learn something so serious that someone needed to murder her.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“He’s right,” El said from experience as a homicide detective. “People see things they shouldn’t all the time, and it has nothing to do with their lives. Wrong-place-wrong-time kind of thing.”
“Then how do you ever find out why they were killed?” Abby asked.