A car waited on the other side of the gate.
A dark SUV without any plates visible.
Valentina climbed into the passenger seat and took one last look at the house before closing the door.
Then the vehicle pulled away.
Sutherland leaned closer, squinting at the screen. “Can you get a better shot of the SUV?”
“That’s the clearest angle.” Frustration tightened Caleb’s jaw. “The camera doesn’t reach that far down the drive.”
“I’ll see what we can pull from traffic cams in the area.” Sutherland jotted something in his notebook. “We’ll track the vehicle. Find out who picked her up.”
Caleb nodded, but his chest felt tight.
Valentina had planned this. She’d packed her things. Called someone to get her.
And no one had noticed.
“What about the man you found dead? Ed Lowen?” Caleb shifted gears. “Any updates?”
Sutherland exhaled slowly. “I was going to tell you this earlier. We talked to this man’s friends and colleagues. He mostly worked insurance fraud and background checks, that kind of thing.”
He furrowed his brow. “So why was he here?”
“That’s the question.” Sutherland flipped a page in his notebook. “No one knows exactly who he was working for. He kept his client list confidential. But one colleague said Lowen mentioned he was on a surveillance job. Didn’t give details.”
Caleb’s mind raced. Surveillance.
Someone had hired a PI to watch the Refuge.
Or watchsomeoneat the Refuge.
“Any leads on who might have killed him?” Caleb turned toward the sheriff at the table.
Sutherland met his gaze, his expression grim. “After today? It looks like Valentina—or whoever she really is—just became our number one suspect.”
chapter
forty-two
Millie couldn’t helpbut think that the dining room felt too quiet.
Everyone had eaten baked chicken, roasted potatoes, and green beans. But no one seemed to have much of an appetite.
The tension in the house was thick enough to choke on.
Millie pushed her food around her plate, her stomach too knotted to eat.
Across the table, Sissy sat with one hand wrapped protectively around her belly, the other gripping her fork like a lifeline. She kept rubbing small circles over her stomach, her face pale and drawn.
She looked terrified.
“It’s going to be okay,” Millie said softly, though she wasn’t sure she believed it.
Sissy’s eyes lifted to hers, wide and glassy. “What if Valentina comes back? What if she—” She stopped, her voice breaking. “What if she brings trouble? Or if she tells people we’re here?”
“She won’t,” Naomi said firmly from the end of the table. “Caleb has security measures in place. The sheriff is looking for her. We’re safe here.”
