Chapter 19
The inn’s guest room carried a faint lavender scent, very calming after the trauma El had just experienced. Gabe put her suitcase on a bench at the end of a plump bed covered with a soft, beige comforter and holding large fluffy pillows in immaculate white cases.
Feeling very much at home, El almost sighed, but sudden fatigue took over her body, and she collapsed on the sleek sofa.
By the boxy design, she expected it to be uncomfortable.
It was. Not the entire cushion, but a hard object protruded beneath her.
She scooted down a couple of feet, and the cushion was plump and comfy.
Alert now, she got up. “There’s something hard under the last cushion.”
Gabe knotted his forehead. “None of us would put anything under there.”
She started to lift it up, but the sofa didn’t belong to her. “The room has obviously been cleaned after your last guest, but maybe the last person who stayed here hid something there. Who stayed here last?”
“Kenna and Lucy. Last weekend.” He started toward the sofa and flipped up the cushion.
A thick journal lay on the frame.
El stared at it, her heart starting to pound. “It’s green with a big black cross on the front exactly like Mrs. Z. described.”
Gabe reached for it.
“Wait.” El dug in her suit pocket for disposable gloves and handed them to him. “You don’t want to ruin any forensic evidence.”
As he slipped his fingers into the gloves, he cast her a sideways look. “You always happen to have gloves with you?”
“Once a detective, always a detective.” She smiled. “But seriously, you never know when you’ll need them, so I make sure I have a pair in all of my suit jackets.”
Gabe sat, placed the journal on his lap, and lifted the cover.
El sat next to him. “Can I make a suggestion?”
He looked at her. “I’m listening.”
“Let’s start at the back to read her final entries. That should give us her most current movements and help us find something to go on.”
“Good point.” Gabe flipped to the back and laid the pages open on his lap.
She scooted close to him so she could read the entries too.
Gabe tapped the second page under the words Safe Harbor. “She mentioned Safe Harbor. It’s a group home that she told me she volunteered at. She never said much about it other than they cared for difficult kids.”
“There was a plaque hanging in the lobby thanking the center for partnering with them.”
“That’s probably how she got involved.” He turned the page. “She worked as an admin on evenings and weekends. She says she had access to enter bills into the financial system, to vendor lists, and some internal emails.”
Not surprising,” El said. “Her house was super organized, so I can imagine her doing this.”
Gabe flipped the page again. He stabbed his finger against the paper. “Someone saw her making a copy of records. Threatened her then threatened Lucy.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Probably why she put the locks on her doors.”
“But if she was in danger for this, why hide the journal instead of coming to me? She sat right here talking to me, and she knew about it, but didn’t say anything.”
“Maybe if she stumbled onto something illegal, she thought if she reported it, she would be safe.”
“Yeah, I could see her thinking that.” He punched the arm of the sofa. “If her death had something to do with this, and she’d told me what was going on, she’d still be alive. Lucy would be safe.”
“I’m sorry, Gabe, but on the bright side, this is our best lead yet.
Stronger than your brother by far.” She regretted having to continue, but Gabe had to know where this was headed.
“If these people did indeed threaten her and Lucy, then perhaps they had second thoughts on simply making threats, and decided to kill her.”
El couldn’t think of any better place to be at the moment than the Lost Lake Locators’ office, where Gabe had zero reservations over waking his teammates at four a.m. to discuss the journal.
He’d given them a five-minute warning to get dressed and book it to the meeting room.
Five minutes later or less, they stumbled into the room, none of them grumbling.
Reece immediately started brewing coffee.
Then as everyone else sat stretching and rubbing their eyes, she pushed through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
No one questioned her actions. They must all expect her to provide food.
She’d chosen to be the mom of this group, and loved doing it.
In El’s mind, it equaled herding a group of unruly toddlers, and she didn’t envy her position.
Gabe claimed a spot standing at the head of the table and quickly shared details about the journal. “Hayden, we need you to do a deep dive on Safe Harbor. New Tide Foundation, too. They fund the home.”
“I’ll get started right away.” Hayden opened his laptop, which was seemingly always in his presence.
“You’re thinking this is the reason Kenna was killed,” Jude said. “That she saw something she shouldn’t have and got caught making copies of whatever freaked her out.”
“We do,” El said.
Jude eyed Gabe. “You’re usually the devil’s advocate, but since this is your investigation and you’re too close to it, I’ll step in.
We’re talking about a group home here. A place where struggling children found a safe harbor, just like the name suggests.
Whatever Kenna discovered wasn’t likely a reason to commit murder. ”
“You could be right.” Gabe returned his teammate’s penetrating stare. “But if you read the journal entry, you’ll see she’s very convincing about this being a big deal.”
“I agree,” El said. “And we should treat it as such unless we find evidence that disputes it. After Hayden does a deep dive, we’ll begin by interviewing people involved in both organizations.”
Hayden poked his head up for a moment. “I can already tell you both organizations are very well thought of in the social services community. Silas Tinsley is the director of Safe Harbor, and local philanthropist and entrepreneur, Jonas Trent manages New Tide.”
His findings further raised doubts that these men could be involved, but El agreed with Gabe. They couldn’t let this slide.
“We can’t go see them before business hours.” Gabe picked up a marker. “Now would be a good time to review our suspects and set priorities accordingly.”
“Wait,” Hayden said as his fingers continued to fly over the keyboard.
“I need a little more direction here. We know Mason’s murder is connected to Kenna’s through DNA, and his granddaughter was enrolled at the center where she worked, plus he had the encounter with the guy in the black van, but I’ve failed to find anything else.
Do you want me to include them in the Safe Harbor/New Tide search? ”
“He could be linked to them,” El said. “Even Bonnie could have more of a relationship with these organizations other than supporting them through her daycare.”
“Okay, I’ll look for that.” Hayden typed something into his computer. “And while I’ve got your attention, I’m getting close to obtaining a call log from Mason’s phone and finding real names for the buyers on Craigslist. I should be getting Mason’s bank statements sometime today, too.”
“Thank you,” El said. “Anything we can—”
“Hold up! Breaking news coming in.” Hayden’s eyes lit up. “There are rumors that Bonnie had an affair with one of the center’s parents, ending her marriage.”
“Who?” El asked.
Hayden kept his gaze pinned to his computer.
“Guy’s name is Carl Acosta. He’s been flirting with the edge of legal since he got divorced a couple of years ago.
Been pulled in for questioning on two burglaries but never charged.
No consistent address. No consistent job.
No custody of his daughter and has no planned visits.
It’s up to the wife to grant them. And by the way, the big news is his kid attends Little Pines Daycare. ”
“I don’t suppose it says whether he owns a Ford Transit.”
Hayden shook his head. “Easy enough for me to find out while you all plan.”
Gabe looked at El. “You think he was watching the daycare to get a glimpse of his daughter?”
“Seems possible to me. That means Bonnie knows him, and we need to question her again.” El glanced at her watch. Five a.m. “It’ll have to wait until the center opens.”
“If it helps you decide what to do,” Hayden said, “Acosta does own a Ford Transit from a carpet cleaning business he couldn’t make a go of.”
Before El could reply, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and then at Gabe, who was sitting across from her. “It’s Ulrich. Has to be important if he’s calling this early.”
Gabe rushed over to sit next to her. She tapped the speaker button. “I’m with the Lost Lake Locators and have my speaker on. I can find a private location if you want.”
“No need,” he replied with certainty. “They should hear this, too. A credible witness called in to say she just saw a man with a little girl who looked like Lucy.”
“Where?” The word erupted from Gabe’s mouth.
“At the entrance to Silver Mist Trail. They were starting down the path, and she was coming back from her morning run. The man pulled his stocking cap down lower and glared at the woman, so she slowed to take a good look at the child. The child whined and said she wanted Mommy, but he shushed her, saying they were going to Mommy now. Then they took off down the trail.”
“Dispatch SWAT,” El said with no hesitation. “I’ll meet you at the trailhead.”
“Already done. Mina deployed them as soon as we verified the legitimacy of the call.” Ulrich’s tone rose. “Caitlyn Armstrong’s the witness’s name. She’s waiting for us there.”
“We can be there in ten minutes.” She ended the call.
Before she could even look Gabe in the eye, he was on his feet. “C’mon, let’s move.”
“Not so fast. This is a law enforcement op. I can’t have you in the middle of it and risk not being able to prosecute this guy because we allowed a civilian to participate.”