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After glancing out the window, he decided the weeds won the toss-up. He went out to the big porch and down the steps to his grandmother’s prized rose and camellia garden. Though she’d passed twenty years ago, the family had worked hard to preserve her legacy. He and Ryan had such crazy schedules, they sometimes had to hire out the gardening, but he could knock this out in an hour.
The physical effort felt good as he worked on his task. He quickly had a pile of weeds beside him, and he straightened to move to a different section. Someone moved in the shadows, and he looked up into the face of a drooling infant. The baby’s mouth lifted in a toothless grin, and he found himself smiling back. He glanced at the mother’s face.
Carly Harris wore a frightened expression, and she shifted her baby boy to her other arm. “Um, do you have a minute?”
She sure was a looker, even with a newborn in tow. He’d always understood her appeal on a purely physical basis. A guy could lose himself in her large brown eyes, and her long dark hair invited a man to plunge his fingers into it. She wore shorts that highlighted her showstopper legs and a pink top with the wordtattarrattatacross it. But he disliked women who knew they were beautiful and used it. She’d reeled in Ryan first and then his friend Eric.
He wiped his muddy hands on the grass. “Sure. Let’s get out of the sun, though.”
“Thank you.”
She followed him up the wide staircase to the big porch and settled in a rocker. When the baby started to squawk, she rocked him gently until he settled. He waited for her to speak, but she rocked without a word for several minutes.
Awkward.She was the one who had initiated the contact, and he couldn’t figure out what she’d want to talk about. It wasn’t like they were friends. Their last conversation had been fiery, with her bursting into tears at its conclusion.
He took a surreptitious glance at his phone. The afternoon would slip away quickly at this rate. “Sorry about Eric.” He’d gone to the funeral but hadn’t spoken to her. And though she’d lived next door for months, he’d managed to avoid her.
She looked down and licked her lips. “Thanks.” Her long hair swung against her cheek, obscuring her expression. “Eric’s death is why I’m here. I discovered something that might have played into his murder.”
He shifted on the Adirondack chair. “Shouldn’t you be talking to the detective in charge of the case?”
He didn’t want to step on the lead detective’s toes. Though the murder had occurred on Pawleys Island, it wasn’t good police etiquette to go poking his nose in another officer’s case.
“I tried, but with his reaction, he might as well have patted me on the head and said, ‘There, there, little lady.’”
Lucas’s lips twitched. He’d dealt with some boneheaded men himself. No one looking at Carly’s intelligent eyes could think she would be bringing baseless concerns. “What did you find?”
“My sisters and I inherited our great-grandmother’s belongings. I hadn’t had a chance to go through them and get them ready for sale. They’d been in my shop, and Eric had a day off. He promised to organize them for me and start taking pictures so I could list them. He’d been poking around them for a few weeks. That’s where he was killed. After his death, I didn’t have the heart or energy to get that big job done, but I started it today. I discovered some papers in an old chest. It appears Gram was adopted and didn’t know about it.”
He listened to her story of a missing twin and the accompanying notes Eric had left. His interest tingled when she mentioned Eric had picked up a tail after the call to the nurse’s grandson. “Did you try talking to Eric’s partner? She might be more invested in getting to the bottom of his murder.”
“I did. Kelly is on maternity leave, and I don’t know when she’s going back to work. She sounded vaguely interested and told me she would try to get the information to the chief. She has a new baby, and I think she was overwhelmed.”
At least Carly had hit all the right places first. He and Ericwent way back. They’d met at a basketball camp, and they’d gone to police academy at the same time. The bond they’d shared from their teens had deepened over time, and he’d been grieved at Eric’s death. Didn’t Lucas owe it to their longtime friendship to do what he could to bring Eric’s killer to justice?
His gaze landed on the infant. A baby with Eric’s nose and chin. Justice was what had always driven Lucas, and while Carly wasn’t his favorite person, Eric had loved her. And he’d lost out on the chance to raise his son.
“Did anyone search his work computer for something about the things in the shop?”
“I don’t know. My questions were dismissed immediately.”
“I’ll run up to Pawleys Island to take a look at the evidence, see what I can find out.”
“Thank you. I know I’m asking a lot, but you and Eric were tight. I didn’t know who else would have the contacts to help.”
True enough. He fidgeted in his chair waiting for her to leave. Did she expect him to say something else—maybe promise results? She should know it didn’t work that way. Any police department had cases that landed in the cold files. Usually the murder of an officer took high priority, and he had no doubt this one did too. Maybe they had a suspect and were gathering evidence. He could call, but an in-person visit might tell him more.
“I’ll go Monday after I get off. I don’t work tomorrow, but I’d like to talk to the chief and get the green light to look at Eric’s work computer.”
She finally stirred and rose. The baby had fallen asleep in her arms, and she moved carefully so she didn’t awaken him.Ryan would have a field day when he found out she’d talked him into this.
***
Carly shooed a fly away from Noah in his bouncy seat on the porch. He loved sitting in it and facing the honeysuckle, but the insects loved him as much as the hummingbirds loved the blossoms.
Her phone rang, and she saw it was Eric’s partner. Carly hadn’t expected to hear back, though Kelly had said she’d call.
“Kelly, good morning.”
