Shabina snapped her fingers. “You just named Craig Barker a criminal. He was seventeen. Lawyer was sixteen or seventeen when he robbed his high school coach. What age was Lucca when he confessed to the grocery store theft? He had to have been underage. I don’t know how the murderer would know if the others had juvenile records, but Miguel told stories about Lucca and himself getting into trouble all the time. We laughed at the fact that Lucca sleepwalked and confessed everything to his mother.”
Raine’s fingers hovered above her keyboard. “And Lawyer felt pressured to give an interview to a reporter since he wouldn’t cooperate with Bale. Not that anyone paid attention. But maybe the murderer did.” She began searching for a tie.
“Charlie Gainer had a juvenile record,” Raine said. “He didn’t have it sealed when he was old enough. He and two friends stole a car and went joyriding. They crashed into a guardrail and Charlie suffered a broken arm. No one died as a result, but the car was totaled.”
“That’s four of our five victims with juvenile records,” Stella said. “Who’s left?”
“The first victim, Deacon Mulberry,” Shabina said.
“I’m not getting a hit, but I’m looking into his hometown and news around the time he would have been sixteen or seventeen. Once I establish where he was living, I can hack into the juvenile records. It’s possible he had one and petitioned the court to seal the record,” Raine said.
“If he’s got one, and it was sealed, either the murderer knew him or they’re good with a computer,” Vienna said.
“This is interesting,” Raine said. “I recognize the name of this town. Deacon Mulberry is originally from Galaxy, Maine.”
Shabina looked up quickly. “That’s the same place Emilio, Freda and their little girl, Crystal, lived.”
“Are you certain?” Harlow asked. “That’s too big to be a coincidence.”
“I agree,” Raine said, her voice taking on that note that told Shabina her brain was already analyzing data and possibilities.
“Let’s say this Deacon had a juvenile record,” Vienna ventured. “How would that tie him to Felicity and Eve’s family?”
“They said they didn’t like Emilio initially, remember? It was only after Crystal came along that they accepted him,” Shabina pointed out. “Emilio and Freda met through their jobs. What did they do? I don’t think either of the sisters told me.”
“There was a write-up in their hometown newspaper when the family died,” Raine said, frowning at her screen. “Emilio worked as a juvenile correction officer. He was upfront about his concerns for youth. He’d been in the system when he was fifteen and again when he was sixteen. According to the write-up about him, he devoted his time to helping juvenile offenders turn their lives around. Apparently, he gives credit to a corrections officer for his turnaround.”
“What did Freda do?” Harlow asked.
“She was a juvenile probation officer,” Raine replied. “It seems that the two worked closely together for a year before they began dating.”
Zahra drummed her fingers on the coffee table. Her dog pushed her nose into Zahra’s other hand. Automatically, she slipped down to the floor so Misty could climb into her lap. “Emilio had a juvenile record when he was fifteen and sixteen.”
“What are we saying here?” Vienna asked. “That we suspect Eve and Felicity of these murders? That would be insane. Whatpossible motive could they have? And how could they pull it off? They’re just learning to hike and boulder.”
Shabina stood up to pace. She thought better when she was moving. “Maybe not. Looking back over things they’ve said to me, I think it’s entirely possible they aren’t amateurs when it comes to hiking and bouldering.”
Harlow slid to the floor beside Zahra. She rested her head against the seat cushion as she watched Shabina pace the length of the room. “Like what? I just can’t picture either of them bashing in someone’s head with a rock.”
“Felicity told me the triplets did everything together,” Shabina explained. “She didn’t just imply they were inseparable, she stated it. They went to the same schools, and they had the same hobbies. They were always together until Emilio came along.”
“That doesn’t mean they know how to hike or climb,” Stella said. “Those are specific hobbies. I thought maybe Emilio got Freda into hiking and climbing, and that was part of the reason Felicity and Eve felt left out.”
“They hired Miguel to help them learn to climb,” Vienna pointed out.
“True,” Shabina conceded, “but that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re doing. It only means they’re clever. They used the termhighballwhen talking to Theresa and the others about a certain boulder. Most people would think in terms of drinks, not climbing, when someone drops the wordhighball. Theresa sounded as if Felicity and Eve explained what a highball is and did so thoroughly enough that the women were aware they couldn’t boulder that rock.”
“The two women could have had Miguel explain it to them,” Vienna said. “I just can’t see them doing this. It makes no sense. They’dbothhave to be a little insane.”
“Let’s, just for the sake of argument,” Raine said, “put them as our number one suspects. What motive could they have? Why would they go on a killing spree a year after their sister died?”
“Preparation. Thinking of a plan from every aspect,” Harlow said. “If we’re going there, the two of them are intelligent and personable. They get people to talk to them.”
“We know Felicity is a hacker. She tried hacking Raine’s computer,” Shabina said.
Raine nodded. “She tried, and then she apologized and made the whole thing into a prank. One hacker to another to see who could come out on top.”
Zahra rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? She just came out and admitted she tried to hack you?”
