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This could be a game changer for their search. She couldn’t wait to tell Lucas.
***
Hopefully, this stop would prove more useful than the last. By the time Lucas and Vince had arrived in Tybee Island, the police had released the suspect. After talking to the arresting officer, Lucas found the guy’s alibi plausible, and he would have released him as well. Witnesses vouched for his whereabouts at the time of the murder, and it had clearly been a false arrest.He chatted with the detective for a few minutes, too, and discovered the police believed the victim had walked in on the burglar.
The Grace Adams Hill home was on Island Slipper Drive in Bluffton, and the views from inside had to be spectacular with the river on one side and the golf greens on the other, especially with the brilliant blue sky overhead and the slight breeze stirring the tops of the trees.
Lucas parked in the circle drive and got out. “This probably won’t take long. I doubt this home invasion had anything to do with Carly’s situation.”
Vince grunted as he got out of the truck and followed. “I tried to tell you.”
The sidewalk curved around the front of the house through beautifully manicured flowers and shrubs to the front porch of the two-story. Two carpenters worked on replacing the front door and jamb. They stopped and stepped out of the way when they spotted Lucas and Vince.
“The owner is around back working in her garden,” the younger man said.
Lucas thanked him, and the men went around toward the water. Lucas expected to find the woman weeding flower beds, but instead she was bent over in a vegetable garden. She appeared to be picking bugs off leaves and tossing them into a bucket.
She straightened and saw them. “Can I help you?”
Lucas guessed her to be in her fifties. Her curly dark hair, sprinkled with gray, was up in a bun, and her cheeks were flushed with the heat. The skin that showed around her tank top and shorts was red, and he suspected she’d be hurting later today.
Both men got out their IDs. “Beaufort police, Ms.Hill. I wondered if we might ask you a few questions,” Lucas said.
She pulled off her gloves. “Of course.”
Lucas glanced at the bucket of soapy water beside her. “You’re washing bugs?”
“I’m ridding the plants of potato beetles. I don’t like to use insecticides.” She nodded toward the expansive deck with its comfortable chairs and outdoor kitchen. “Could I offer you some tea or lemonade?” Without waiting for an answer, she headed for the outdoor cooler.
“Lemonade sounds great,” Vince said.
Ice clinked in glasses, and Grace brought them to the men. “I made it just this morning from my own lemons.”
The sweet tartness hit Lucas’s tongue. “Best I’ve ever had.”
She settled on a sofa and gestured to the lounge chairs. The men perched on the edge of their seats. “Well, you didn’t come here to talk about lemons and gardening. Is this about the break-in? It was an odd burglary. The thieves busted into my safe but didn’t take my bonds or wedding rings. They ransacked boxes in the basement, of all things. It didn’t appear that they took anything. I was away on a business trip and came home to the mess.”
Lucas exchanged a glance with Vince. “Any idea what they might have been looking for?”
“No idea. All that was in that basement room were old files from the orphanage where my grandmother worked a long time ago. In Savannah.”
Bingo.
“Was your grandmother Natalie Adams?”
Grace’s brows arched. “How did you know that?”
“It’s a long story about twin girls separated at birth and adopted by two different families.”
Grace leaned forward. “How fascinating. Can you tell me anything else?”
“Have you ever gone through the files?”
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Not those dusty old things. My daughter has, though. She’s working on a novel and thought the orphanage was interesting.”
“So you don’t know if the burglars took any of the files?”
“I think they are all still in the basement, except the ones my brother has.”
