AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucien leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the desk, and studied his wife’s face. “I guess people change as they get older. Love makes you do strange things. Maybe Jack and Maeve want more out of life.”
“I guess so. Unless it’s an emergency, I say we let them enjoy their vacation without asking them for stuff. I can’t wait to see Maeve in a hiking getup carrying a backpack.”
She let go of her misgivings and booted up her laptop. “That didn’t take long. There’s an email in my inbox from Vollaway Holdings. A woman responded by the name of Miriam Rigmor, spokesperson for corporate communications. Not bad. And she speaks fluent English. Miriam confirms their interest in the neighborhood started with the purchase of the Lynley Circle house. They liked the location near the beach, so the company started looking around for more property they could develop. They struck a deal with the state of California last year to buy that backend strip of the State Park, which Miriam describes as leftover remnants. The deal went through without a hitch, without approval from the legislature or the public. That’s interesting.”
“Sounds like Vollaway Holdings greased some palms in all the right places,” Lucien concluded.
“Miriam goes on to say that their goal is to build houses on that stretch, one hundred and twenty minimum, make it a subdivision with prices starting at $980,000. She says the state of California gave its overwhelming approval. Is she the perfect PR person or what?”
“What else does she say?”
“As I suspected, Ms. Rigmor isn’t thrilled that we wanted access to look for bodies. I can’t say that I blame her.”
“I bet. But she eventually gave in, right? I mean, you got permission, right? Please tell me you got permission.”
“Rigmor agreed after I pointed out that it might be bad press if the company started bulldozing the land only to discover the bodies of two children. I’m forwarding the entire email exchange to Beckett and Kelly.”
“Now all we need is to get lucky and find Bryan Sutherland living somewhere in Oregon.”
“Do you honestly think finding a grown-up twelve-year-old boy who used to own that Huffy bike in 2001 will give us a lead?”
“No, but it’s something to follow,” Lucian muttered as he dived into the search engine on his laptop. “We need to keep this case moving. We can’t let it languish like it has for twenty years. Hence, we follow every tidbit down to a nub until it yields nothing of value.”
“The bike is a tidbit,” Brogan assessed as she clicked out of her personal inbox and refocused her attention on running the corporate conglomerate Brinell Steel. “I have work to get done, contracts to review, a stack of papers to sign, and another Zoom call with Delia scheduled for noon.”
“Aren’t you glad we share an office?” Lucien joked.
She looked around at the two desks facing each other. “It works most of the time if you’re not too chatty.”
“Want me to leave you alone so you can concentrate on work? I could always walk over to the studio.”
“No way. I’d miss your smiling face sitting across from me. Besides, I want to know how your online searches go.”
Hours into their work, Lucien yelled loud enough to bring the dogs running up the stairs. “I did it. I found Bryan Sutherland. Believe it or not, he’s living in Scotts Valley. That’s basically one community over from San Sebastian. We could interview him after your Zoom call with Delia.”
“Should we show up and surprise him? Or give him a heads up?” Brogan wondered.
“Basic protocol would dictate we call first. But get this. Bryan Sutherland has served time in prison for distributing cocaine. He’s only been out of jail for three years.”
“But we know Bryan wasn’t the killer.”
“Even so, we don’t know what kind of a guy he is now.”
“When did he start going down a bad road?”
“His rap sheet from the age of eighteen reads like a patchwork of stints in jail for B&E, burglary, assault, and theft.”
“Maybe you should take Beckett with you.”
“That’s not a bad idea, considering this dude might have a long list of issues going back to childhood. Let’s hope Beckett’s available for a short road trip.”
“If Beckett can’t get away, I’ll go.”
“I’m about to find out,” Lucien said, dialing Beckett’s number. “I wonder if taking the dogs would help?”
Brogan burst out laughing. “There you go. Stella can watch Poppy snarl and bark at him. Who knows? You may get there and find Bryan is a changed man.”
Lucien sent her a sidelong stare. “Sure. Always optimistic. Anything’s possible.”
