Chapter Seven #2
“You are.” Because it hadn’t been his fault. Her issues with Sara had been bubbling under the surface for a long time. “Thank you for the candy.”
“You’re welcome. I was hoping we could come to some kind of truce.”
Elle tilted her head. “Why?”
“Because you seem like you want to do the right thing. And I want the same. Dianne was important to this community and I want to find her killer. You can help me do that, and while I sense you want to help, your boss isn’t as inclined to share. Accurate?”
“Pretty much. What are you proposing?”
“I’ll share whatever information with you about the case that I can.”
“Okay,” Elle said slowly. “And?”
“And I still have to shadow you.”
“I figured. And?”
“And I’d like to do so without hostility, at least from you. And if you find out anything important, maybe you could give me a heads-up. If I find Miller first, I’ll let you know so that you can make the bust and get your finder’s fee.”
Elle considered it, then stuck out her hand. “Truce.”
He smiled and Elle forgot to breathe. He was…beautiful. All golden blond and rugged.
This was so not fair.
She shook his hand and pulled hers away. “I’d offer you some of this candy, but I’m keeping it all for myself.”
He chuckled again. “It’s kind of addicting. My daughter would always cry when she didn’t get any in her Christmas stocking. One year I forgot to buy it and I didn’t hear the end of it till May.”
He had a daughter. Which meant he had a wife.
Because of course he did.
But it didn’t matter. He’s not for you.
“How old is your daughter?”
“Twenty. She’s a nursing student at the local college.”
“Twenty? You don’t look old enough to have a twenty-year-old daughter.”
“Thank you, Ms. Randolph. I mean, Elle. You can call me Ronan, by the way.”
“Thank you. But in front of Sara, I’ll just say Detective.”
“When we’re chatting together, we can be informal. In front of your boss—and mine, should you ever meet him—we’ll keep all the proprieties.”
“Sounds like a plan. So…in the spirit of our new truce, have you found anything tying Reece Miller to Dianne Foster’s murder?”
“Not directly. We did get a set of prints off the murder weapon, but the lab hasn’t gotten results back yet.”
Elle winced. “Okay. So…in the spirit of our new truce, I picked up the award the night we were talking to Mrs. Foster. Those prints could be mine.”
His eyes widened briefly, then narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Wow, that was a short truce.”
He sighed. “Fine. Thank you for letting me know. Why did you pick it up?”
“I wanted to see what it said. I’m too curious for my own good. Also, Sara forbade me to tell you that my prints might be on the award, but she isn’t part of our truce.”
“Fair enough. Will you submit to be fingerprinted?”
She hesitated, the lawyer in her screaming that it was a very bad idea. “Look, my prints are on file with the state. It might be faster to compare them that way. If I come in and get printed, you’ll still have to send them off for processing.”
“True. And you don’t want to volunteer to be fingerprinted.”
“Exactly.” And if there was any issue with them believing her story, she always had her body cam footage. However, she wouldn’t offer that up unless she was forced to. The footage belonged to L&F and Sara would be rightfully angry if she gave it to the cops without a warrant—or Sara’s permission.
You should tell him about Willits. This was the perfect opportunity to come clean.
And I will. After tomorrow. They were picking up a drone in the morning to do flyover reconnaissance over the growers’ property in Willits. Hopefully they’d know if Reece Miller was camping on his grandparents’ former land by lunchtime.
And if we find Miller, I’ll tell Ronan. That had been her agreement with Sara, and Elle would abide by it. For now. But she could nudge him in the right direction.
“Have you considered where he might be staying?” she asked. “He’s unlikely to be at one of the hotels since he hasn’t used his credit card.”
Ronan glanced at her sharply. “Where do you think he’s staying?”
“I’m not local. I’ve seen the campsites in the area.
There’s a big one under the bridge south of town where there are a lot of RVs.
” The RVs were lined up near the edge of the river that flowed into the sea.
The beach there was in a protected cove and, according to the company’s website, was dog friendly.
There were at least a dozen RVs down there.
She and Sara planned to check it out after they ruled out Willits via the drone.
“Could he be staying at a place like that?”
“He could be at a hotel using a different credit card.”
“He could be,” Elle reasoned, “but then wouldn’t he have used it at the pharmacy, too? Once might have been an accident, but he used his own card twice.”
“True enough.” He hesitated, then shrugged.
“In the spirit of our truce, we’ve checked with all the area hotels and Airbnbs, showing his photo and asking owners if they’ve seen him, but no one has.
I had a deputy go through the RV campsites and no one matches his description.
” He studied her. “You think he’s living off the grid somewhere? ”
“It’s possible. It’s likely, even.”
“I have to agree. I plan to check out all the campsites in the area, not only the RV sites.”
That made her feel better. If he was camping close to Fort Bragg, Ronan’s people would eventually find him.
She hoped. There wasn’t anything she could do until they’d flown the drone over the growers’ land, past the fence they hadn’t been able to climb.
She took one more look at the ocean. “Do I have to leave? I know it’s past closing time.”
“You’re fine. You have a police escort now.”
She laughed. “Who brought me nonpsychotropic mushroom candy.”
“Exactly. I like it here, but the headlands park in Mendo is better. Have you been there yet?”
“Not yet. Why is it better?”
“It’s more isolated. The views are better. And I can see it from my backyard.”
“Lucky you,” Elle said and meant it. “I can’t imagine having this view all the time.”
“It’s definitely a perk of living here. So…full transparency. I called Sarasota PD and asked about you.”
Elle winced. “Yay. Now you know about my scandal.”
“Well, maybe. I talked to a guy in their PR department. He spoke highly of you. Said you did some real good there.”
She was touched. “Thank you. I needed to hear that tonight.”
He studied her intently. “Why?”
“Just…second-guessing myself.”
“I think we all do that,” he said kindly. “I’m going home now. Don’t go near the edge.”
“I won’t. I can see why people want to get closer. If I lived here, I’d come and see them all the time. So different from home.”
He took a step back, then paused. “Home meaning Florida or San Francisco?”
“Florida. I was born and raised there, so I guess it’ll always be home. Why?”
“Well, you had beaches and waves there, too. How are ours different?”
That was easy. “The waves in Sarasota are like kittens. The waves here are like tigers. I love them both, but there’s a wild ferocity to these that you simply don’t get in Florida. Unless there’s a hurricane, of course.”
“Kittens and tigers. I like that. Have a good evening, Elle.”
And with that, he was gone. Elle stayed another five minutes, then headed back to the inn.
Sara might distrust the detective, but Elle…
I like him.
Which might be more dangerous than killers, growers, and the wild waves crashing below.
Willits, California
Friday, January 23, 7:20 a.m.
Elle hid a yawn behind her hand. It was too damn early and too damn cold. She and Sara had left the inn before six that morning. There was a fine layer of frost on the ground that crunched under her boots.
“Don’t touch it, Sara.” The genial order had come from Orrin Martin, one of Sara’s other hunters.
He’d driven up from San Francisco that morning, so he’d gotten up a whole lot earlier than Elle had.
“Felicia said specifically that I was to operate this drone. She borrowed it from her friend who does search and rescue. It must be returned in perfect condition or we’re all in trouble. ”
Sara frowned. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not going to break it. I want to try flying it.”
Elle chuckled. “You’d better watch that whining, Sara. You’ll teach your baby bad habits.”
“I won’t whine in front of the baby,” Sara said archly. “But I will whine in front of Orrin. I’ve always wanted to fly a drone.”
“Not this one.” Orrin placed it on the pavement of a parking lot behind an abandoned store. They could fly the drone over the growers’ land without anyone asking too many questions. If someone did, they would say they were drone enthusiasts and Orrin was giving them lessons.
Elle’s stomach growled, so she reached in her pocket for one of the mushroom candies Ronan had given her the night before. She only had three left.
But that was okay. She could buy more.