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“He’d been coming to get edibles every night before bed for a few weeks, but he didn’t on Tuesday night. I asked him why on Wednesday at breakfast and he said that he’d fallen asleep on his own. He never took them the night before he drove back to San Francisco. I should have realized he planned to go out.”
“But he didn’t go to San Francisco last week,” Georgia said. “That trip he only did on the weekends and he ate dinner with us on Wednesday evening.”
Sam frowned. “I thought he didn’t eat in the dining room often.”
“He didn’t.” Eloise sighed quietly. “I could be wrong, but I think it was because he and Benny had been arguing. It was like he was keeping an eye on him or something.”
“Arguing?” Sam asked. “About what?”
“I don’t know. I point-blank asked him, because I figured that was why he was stressed, but Frankie was a closemouthed kind of guy. Unless he was yelling at me for cheating at cribbage,” she added with a fond smile, which quickly faded. “Benny had been acting withdrawn, but he got like that sometimes. He’d miss Martha and get melancholy.”
“That’s true,” Georgia agreed. “Where do you think Frankie went, Sam?”
“I have no idea, but I’m betting it was important. Give me a minute to text Kit and then we can watch the movie.”
“Kit,” Eloise stage-whispered to Georgia.
Georgia’s sigh was long-suffering. “Eloise. Leave the boy alone. He can romance Detective McKittrick without our help.”
Eloise snickered. “It’ll be more fun if we help.”
Georgia shook her head. “He might not give you any chocolate.”
Eloise gasped. “He would never be so mean.”
Sam tuned them out, crafting a group text to Kit, Connor, and Goddard. Frankie went somewhere last Wednesday, but Georgia and Eloise don’t know where. He was at Shady Oaks for breakfast and dinner so he couldn’t have gone far. Eloise says that Frankie was stressed for the past two weeks and thinks it was because Frankie and Benny were having some kind of argument. That’s consistent with what Benny told me yesterday, that he should have listened to Frankie and that Frankie had called him naive and lonely. No other details now but will let you know if they remember anything more.
Goddard’s text was the only reply. Thx Doc. Keep us up to speed.
Sam waited for Kit to answer, but after a minute she hadn’t, so he put his phone down and looked at the TV screen.
Thankfully, Magic Mike was not queued up. “The Lincoln Lawyer? I like this one.”
“She always picks legal dramas,” Eloise complained.
“You still get Matthew McConaughey,” Georgia fired back. “So stop griping.”
“But he keeps his clothes on in this one,” Eloise wailed. “You’re harshing my vibe, Georgia.”
Saying nothing more, Sam passed out the chocolate and sat back to enjoy the movie.
La Jolla, San Diego, California
Tuesday, November 8, 8:45 p.m.
“Is this the place?” Connor asked, slowing the department sedan.
Kit peered up at the mini mansion and checked the address. “It is. The residence of Chadwick Redford, president of the company that owns Mrs. Adler’s house. Hopefully he can tell us who pays her rent without requiring a warrant.”
“Don’t count on it,” Connor said glumly. “The way our luck is running tonight.”
They’d gone to Dominic Stanza’s apartment, looking for information on Archie Adler, but no one had answered Stanza’s door and a neighbor had said that Dominic hadn’t been home in weeks.
Weeks. Dammit. Kit had known that Dominic had been lying, but they hadn’t had cause to arrest him or even to bring him in for questioning. They’d put out a BOLO on him, listing him as a person of interest. Navarro had already put out a BOLO on Archie Adler and the Coast Guard was actively searching for him.
Their final lead of the evening was the man who owned the house that Mrs. Adler rented. Follow the money. It was an adage for a good reason.
They’d talk to Chadwick Redford, then call it a night. They’d been going since four a.m. and needed some rest.
