“Maybe he planned the whole thing,” Kara said. “And is now on a beach in the Caribbean drinking mai tais.”
“He’s listed as missing and presumed dead, but if they don’t find his remains, they’ll change it to missing and he might make the Top Ten Wanted list,” Catherine said.
“Was the information he shared helpful in finding Becca’s body?” Kara asked.
“I haven’t heard back from Ventura County yet,” Catherine said. “Ryder would know more, since he’s been coordinating with law enforcement from other jurisdictions.”
Catherine rose, said, “I like your house. It has a lot of potential.”
“Thank you,” Kara said. “It’s going to be a work in progress, but being chained to the desk for a week or two means I can spend some time figuring out what to do first. And thanks for the dishes. I really like them.”
“Matt said you were eating on paper plates. You can trade the plates in for any of the colors they have, the gift receipt is in the box.”
“I like the white. It’ll go with whatever color I decide to paint the kitchen.” The kitchen had god-awful wallpaper andwhile Kara didn’t cook much, she liked to eat, so wanted her kitchen to be comfortable.
Chris and Lizzy were coming up the walk, so Catherine hugged Matt, then Kara. “This could have been so much worse.”
“We know,” Matt said. “But it wasn’t.” He took Kara’s hand.
An hour later they were showered, dressed, and about to head to the grocery store when Jim, Michael, and Ryder showed up together in two cars.
“Sloane wished she could be here,” Michael said, “but she flew out early this morning for Montana. Her parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary party is tonight.”
“I completely forgot,” Matt said.
“It’s not like you had anything else on your mind,” Jim said. He hugged Kara. “It’s so good to see you, kid.”
They hadn’t actually seen each other after the rescue. Jim had stayed in Georgia to help process the factory and only returned late last night.
“I don’t have a lot of furniture yet,” Kara said.
“You don’t have any furniture,” Michael muttered.
“Hey, I literally moved in one week before we went on assignment in Florida. Cut me some slack. I have a table and a bed. All I do is eat and sleep here anyway.”
She gave Matt a sly glance. They did a lot more than sleep last night in the bed.
She led them to her large ugly kitchen, where they sat at the country table that had been left with the house. It had been built for the space, and the previous owner had asked if Kara wanted it. Big yes, since as Michael said she had no furniture.
Michael looked around. “I can help with any DIY projects.”
“I’m holding you to that,” Kara said. “The floors are in great shape, but need refinishing. The walls are yuck, so that’s probably my first thing. The kitchen needs updating, but I saw somethingon this home and garden show where you can refinish cabinets pretty easily and fairly cheap.”
Matt offered coffee. Jim and Michael accepted. Jim took one of the last donuts from Catherine’s box.
“You actually watched an episode of home and garden?” Michael said with a smirk.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“I have some news,” Ryder said. “Ventura County Sheriff’s Department found female remains in the area Garrett indicated. They’re exhuming them now and we should have a definitive answer in a few days.”
“At least her family can have closure,” Kara said.
“Los Angeles FBI spoke to the Masters family. We’re having local offices reach out to all the victims’ families to give them a status report on the investigation.”
“Has any other motive been uncovered?” Matt asked. “She targeted Emily Masters Henderson because she knew her, but what about the other two couples?”
“None have surfaced. They don’t appear to have ever met,” Ryder said. “But we’re continuing to look. Catherine believes that the other couples were targeted partly to mask her motive for killing Emily, but also because the women reminded Clara of Emily and her success, or because the women reminded Clara of Becca. Clara hasn’t talked. Catherine is going to have a sit-down with her on Monday. I’m sure you can observe,” Ryder added.
