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“I’m assuming you’re referring to this case and not our longstanding relationship from childhood.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Our relationship is what keeps me sane. You’ve always kept me grounded. If not for you, I’d probably be the druggie son of legendary Graeme Sutter, probably dead by now.”
“If you hadn’t come into my life, I’d be a boring CEO standing in my grandmother’s shadow without any chance at true happiness.”
“Aren’t we a pair?”
“That’s just it. We are. Look at us. We’re a pair of websleuths, occasionally solving murder cases.”
“Yeah? Well, we may have found an unsolvable one.”
She tugged on his hair. “You’re down now. I get it. But you won’t quit on this. You’ll hang in there until you find something that clicks. Trust me. Have I ever let you down yet?”
“There was that time you promised to help me pass geometry.”
“I got you a C in that class, didn’t I? It wasn’t my fault you chose to go to a basketball game instead of studying for the final.”
“I love you,” Lucien whispered.
She took hold of his jaw and tipped it closer to her level. She stared into his eyes. “Right back at ya.”
11
After grabbing burgers to-go at the Diner, the two spent the next three hours huddled over the kitchen table going through the crime scene photos. They even used a magnifying glass to scour every inch of the pictures.
“This can’t be all of them,” Lucien grumbled. “Nothing here points us to the killer's identity.”
“Not so fast,” Brogan cautioned. “What do you see on the bedroom floor? Are those bootprints left on that dark bamboo flooring?”
He stared at the photo. “How do you know that’s bamboo?”
“I know bamboo flooring. Dad loved the look so much that he used that same color throughout the beach house before I redid the first floor. Remember? It’s called dark honey. Look at the outline of that perfect boot print. It was left in what looked like a combination of sand and dust. What shoe size would you estimate that is?”
“Looks like at least a thirteen.”
“And what size shoe did Trey wear? You saw his most recent school photo. Trey barely stood five-five and probably weighed no more than a hundred and ten pounds. Did he have boots that match this print? No way. His feet couldn’t have been size thirteens.”
“Good point. But let’s double-check with Susan to be sure. In the meantime, we should look for other prints on the floor. Go through the photos a second time.” Lucien stood up and began to pace. “What’s the first thing you’d do if you showed up to kill someone?”
“First, I’d have done my homework by surveilling the family, knowing how many people would be in the house. And that’s before I ever set foot inside. What would you do?”
“I’d know my escape routes and the best time to hit. Why would the killer have picked so early in the morning?”
“Maybe they didn’t get off work until then and had to make the drive up the coast from the Valley. That takes time.”
“Exactly. This means if Mack and Anna were both having affairs, that’s where we should look first. I don’t think we’ll solve this thing by looking for Trey and Elliott. We’ll only find the kids if we connect to the killer. We need to think bigger, broader.”
Brogan continued examining each photograph through a magnifying glass. She held up another one. “In the kitchen. Another size thirteen boot print. Maybe the killer entered through the back door. It says there was no sign of forced entry. Could Mack and Anna have left the back door unlocked? Maybe they let their guard down during vacation in relaxed mode.”
“We should focus on discovering more about Dr. Aaron Deming, Anna’s buddy at the hospital.”
“We know the guy was nearby already because he showed up at the crime scene that afternoon. Detective Rivkin mentions how weird it felt in the police notes. So that’s our primary suspect.”
“But not our only suspect. We should learn more about Mack’s two hundred phone calls to the New Jersey mobile number. Whoever owned that phone is Suspect Number Two.”
“And Number Three?”
“We go back to Chad Pollock. I still want to know how he manages to become the executor of the Dolworth estate. Jack sent me an email with a deep dive into Pollock’s movements that summer after Anna died. First, he cashes in on several life insurance policies, sells the couple’s house in Canoga Park, keeps the proceeds, and cashes out their stock portfolios.”
