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Silence.
“I thought you’d found the engineer alive,” Phil says. “That’s why April was sent in.”
I bring them up to speed on yesterday’s events.
“So while we don’t know who the mystery woman is, we do know what happened to the architect,” Isabel says. “She was in cahoots with the engineer and pushed him off a cliff and then went into hiding.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“That’s the most likely scenario, Casey. At the risk of sounding heartless, I’m not sure solving this man’s death matters. He died because he went to meet someone who tried to kill him. Someone who is almost certainly our missing woman.”
“But the killer came back to town, and Penny isn’t here.”
“Diversionary tactics. Even if it’s not her, though, is solving this man’s murder a priority over getting the town ready to receive victims in critical need of refuge?”
“It is if the killer is someone who doesn’t leave town with the others. Penny is a prime suspect. So is Yolanda.”
Isabel swears softly.
Phil cuts in. “I would never tell you how to do your job, Casey, but you need to consider reprioritizing. Yes, look for this architect. Yes, try to find out who the engineer was working with. Even try to identify the dead woman. But if you are hitting dead ends…”
“You may need to drop it,” Isabel says. “Let this one go and get the town ready.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
We’ve barely hung up when someone raps on the door.
“Go away!” Dalton shouts.
The door opens, and Yolanda walks in.
“That isnotgoing away,” Dalton says.
“It’s my personal translation,” Yolanda says. “When one door closes… you kick it back open. So you got the message from on high, then. Abandon the investigation and help me get this town open.”
“We got the advice from on high,” I say carefully. “But this is why we’re the bosses now. So we don’t have to obey orders from anyone, even our primary stakeholder.”
“Good.” She plunks onto the sofa. “Because if you abandon this investigation, I’m abandoning this job.”
I arch my brows at her.
“One of my crew is missing,” she says. “One is dead. You think someone on my crew is responsible for one or both. Yes, Bruno dropped onto that branch himself, but he wouldn’t have been in that situation if someone hadn’t tried to kill him. That’swhat you’ve been suggesting, right? That someone from town pushed him over that cliff? That’s why you wanted their records.”
“That’s the working theory.” I take a deep breath. Then I say, “Bruno said he was pushed.”
“What?” She stares at me. “You didn’t tell me—”
“My investigation. My choices. If you’d care to discuss why you were in the forest that night, maybe I’d be a little more forthcoming.”
“And if I was the actual killer, I’d lie, wouldn’t I? Make up some bullshit story like Bruno did, about needing to walk it off?”
“As you are not my superior officer, you are not entitled to details of my investigation, except when they may endanger your crew.”
I expect her to pursue it. Instead, she waves a hand. “Fine, whatever. But I’m serious. If you abandon my people, I abandon yours.”
“We aren’t abandoning your people,” I say. “However…” I glance at Dalton.
“We can’t abandon ours either,” he says. “Ours being the new residents. If your grandmother says it’s urgent, then we trust it’s urgent. You agree?”
