“Morning,” I said. “You two ready to talk about the case?”
They both nodded, and Simone flipped open a notebook, though she tended not to need it. Hunter lifted a laptop out of her bag, opening it on her lap.
I walked them through what I knew about Holly’s murder so far, from Wren visiting me at the office the day before, to the shoebox and the secret adoption. I told them about my visit with Chelle Cavendish, and how she’d mentioned Holly’s birth father might be famous. Then I moved on to Roxy and Wyatt Sterling and the little bombshell they had dropped about Lenny’s recent visit.
When I finished, Simone drummed her fingers on the desk. “So, the ex-husband shows up out of nowhere, leaves after a day or two, and then the mother dies not long after, followed by Holly a month later.”
“Right, and I know what you’re thinking. I spoke to Silas, and he confirmed Celia’s death was an accident. The steps she fell from, she’d tripped over them before.”
“Still, I don’t like the timeline.”
“Neither do I,” I said.
As we talked, Hunter typed, her eyes fixed on the screen. “Do we have a last name for Lenny?”
“Cutler,” I said. “When they were together, they lived in Sedona.”
“Gives me a place to start,” Hunter said. “I’ll look into voter registration, property records, business licenses, social media … the usual, see what I can find.”
“I’d also like you to look into Celia’s friends, the ones I spoke to yesterday?—
Chelle Cavendish and Wyatt and Roxy Sterling. Start with standard background checks, and then if you can’t find anything, dig a little deeper.”
Hunter’s shoulders squared a little, the way they always did when she was in research mode. “I can handle that.”
“You think one of them might be involved?” Simone asked.
“I wouldn’t say that. I just want to kick some rocks and see how they tumble.”
Simone tapped her pen against her notebook. “What about the adoption agency?”
“Cherished Connections,” I said. “It’s been closed for some time, and no one knows where the records ended up. We need to locate someone who worked there after the owner died, anyone with access to files. I want to know why they disappeared.”
“I’ll add it to the list,” Hunter said.
“What can I do?” Simone asked.
“I’d like you to start with Celia’s neighbors. Question everyone who lives on the street, and I’d like you to spend more time with the woman who lives next door, the one who found Holly. I want to know more details about what she heard, when she heard it, if she saw anyone, if there were any unusual cars on the street, that kind of thing.”
“No problem.”
“These leads we’re tracking down may not seem like much, but sometimes it’s the smallest thing that breaks a case wide open,” I said.
Simone stood, tossing her empty coffee cup in the trash and gathering her bag and keys. “I will head to Celia’s neighborhood first and try to catch the next-door neighbor before she gets going for the day.”
Hunter looked up from her computer screen. “Do we have any camera coverage in the area? Any traffic cams, home security, doorbell cameras?”
“Chelle mentioned there are a couple of vacation rentals nearby,” I said. “Short-term guests, steady turnover, I’m guessing. Look for listings online and see if any of the owners use cameras on the exterior.”
“Will do,” Hunter said.
“Holly believed someone had been following her in the week before she died,” I said. “If she was right, we don’t know if that person lived in Cambria, or somewhere else, or if they were passing through town once, and they vanished. What we do know is that Holly tried to dig into her past, and within weeks of the start of her search, she was dead.”
Simone slung her bag over her shoulder. “Then we better dig fast.”
“And keep an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious,” I said.
Simone gave Luka a quick scratch behind the ear on her way out, saying, “Text me if you think of anything else you want me to ask the neighbors.”
