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Kit glanced in the side mirror, stiffening when she saw a familiar figure approaching them on the sidewalk. Sam Reeves had left his office and was walking home. His shoulders were hunched, his head down. He looked tired.
He looked sad.
Her chest tightened painfully, hating the thought that someone as kind as Sam Reeves was hurting. She wanted to make him feel better, but she didn’t know how. Not without raising his hopes for something more. Because that would be too cruel.
“Kit?”
She looked over at Connor, who was watching her with a frown. “Sorry. Yes, you’re right. The knife doesn’t fit the circumstances of the crime.”
Connor checked the rearview mirror, then sighed. “Sam. He looks wrecked.”
“He really cared for Mr. Flynn,” Kit said quietly.
Connor shrugged. “That too.”
Kit shot Connor a harsh glare, hearing the censure in her partner’s tone. It wasn’t the first time Connor had criticized her avoidance of the psychologist. The two had become friends over the past six months. “Stop.”
He sighed. “Your reasons are your own, Kit, but Sam Reeves is a nice guy. Several women in the department would grab him up in a heartbeat.”
They can have him was on the tip of her tongue, but she was taken aback at her intense flare of jealousy at the thought. She was forced to admit, at least to herself, that giving him up wasn’t what she wanted. But it was what he needed.
“I hope he finds someone to make him happy,” she said quietly. Which she really did want. It was the whole reason she’d told Sam Reeves “no” six months before. He might be sad now, but she was sparing him a shitload of heartbreak later. Abruptly, she changed the subject. “We need to ask Georgia Shearer or Benny Dreyfus if Mr. Flynn had a Wüsthof, and if he didn’t, do a search of the kitchens at Shady Oaks and find out if anyone’s missing a pricey knife.”
“We also need to find out if the gun that killed Kent Crawford was his or if his killer brought it with him.”
Kit added it to her list, mostly so that she wouldn’t look for Sam Reeves in the side mirror, because he was coming closer. She exhaled quietly when he walked by them without seeing them. Thankfully, Connor kept his mouth shut. She’d halfway expected him to roll down the windows so that he and Sam could chat.
Back to work, McKittrick.
“We also need to talk to the IT guy.” She checked the notes she’d taken that morning. “Archie Adler. He could tell that the camera was disconnected by checking remotely. We need to make sure that Crawford also had that capability—and that he could control them as well, not only see their active status. Even cheap home security systems can be controlled remotely, so Shady Oaks’s system must have the capability, especially if it’s as fancy as Sam said.”
“What about Miss Evans?” Connor asked. “Involved?”
“Oh, she’s definitely a person of interest. I didn’t completely believe her this morning.”
“Neither did I. She knew about the cameras being out well before she told us. Probably even before I arrived, since that was the first thing she’d checked.”
“She also wasn’t keen on our taking over her computer server.”
“No, she wasn’t. Have you heard from Ryland on any of the evidence that CSU gathered?”
Kit checked her email. “Not yet.” Then she noticed the time. “Damn. It’s almost five thirty. I have to meet the family for dinner at six. It’s a celebration for Rita because she started adoption proceedings today.”
“Where do you need to go?”
“Mateo’s Place a few blocks over. You wanna join us?”
“I’d really like to, but I have a date. I’ll drop you off.” He changed lanes abruptly, earning him blaring horns from the cars he narrowly missed hitting.
“What about Crawford’s friends in Palm Springs?” he asked, seeming oblivious to the angry drivers behind them.
“They might not be there any longer. If they heard about Crawford, they might have cut their golf trip short. I’ll check with Mrs. Crawford after dinner to see if she told them. If not, we can leave early in the morning and catch them before they tee off. I want to know who the other woman was.”
“It could be a number of women. It didn’t need to be an actual relationship. Crawford might have hired prostitutes. The motel where he died was the type hookers like to use.”
“True. But even that would be useful information. If the golf bros are already on their way home, we can talk to them tomorrow. I’m not missing this dinner.”
Connor smiled. “Look at you, putting your family first. Go, Kit.”
