“He was in a suit, walking around kind of looking at the windows. I thought he was checking out security for you. Maybe he said he was your brother-in-law and I didn’t hear him right.”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my photos until I found a shot of Khalid. “Is this the man you saw?”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not him.”
Was it Nasser? He was the person who put in the security system to start with. I pulled up Nasser’s photo from his law firm website.
“Wow, he’s cute. I’d definitely remember him,” Claudia said as she inspected the photo. “No, it wasn’t him.”
A low hum of anxiety settled in. “Maybe there’s an innocent reason that man was in my yard. It’s just that I’ve been on edge since the break-ins—”
“Break-ins?” Claudia cut in. “As in plural? Did you have another break-in?”
I nodded. “Besides the guy who went through Ali’s office, someone broke into the garage, too, but my security cameras don’t have a view of the side of the garage.”
She paused. “Mine might.”
“Yours? Since when do you have security cameras?”
“Since you came home alone and found a man in your house. Matt said we shouldn’t take any chances. Do you want to come in and see if our cameras caught anything?”
I looked at the time on my phone, debating with myself. “I’ve really got to be somewhere. Can we do it tonight?”
“Sure,” Claudia said. “When did the second break-in happen? I can look up the date and have the footage ready for you when you get back.”
I gave her the date. “I’d appreciate that.”
She shook her head in confusion. “I really thought I saw you talking to the guy who said he was your brother.”
“You did?” I was perplexed. “When?”
“The other day when I was walking Buddy, you were out by your mailbox talking to the man. We waved at each other. Don’t you remember?”
It took me a minute to place the scene she referred to. But then it hit me. She saw me talking to Bill Warren when he came to explain why he’d pretended to be Fake Jake. “Are you sure it was the same man?”
“Pretty sure. Who is he?”
“Definitely not my brother or even a friend.”
Her eyebrows went up. “OK, then. I’ll check our security cameras to see if there’s a picture of him.”
“That would be great. Thank you.” I pulled out of my driveway and set the GPS to my destination.
Normally I would have jumped at the chance to see Claudia’s footage to confirm Bill Warren had been sneaking around my backyard so I could call the detectives. But nothing felt more critical than the mission I was on.
Chapter Forty-One
I drove straight to the Meadows to see Mrs. Martins again.
There was one thing I couldn’t get out of my mind: how agitated Ali had been on the surveillance tape. In twenty-three years of marriage, I’d never seen him appear so disturbed. His demeanor unsettled me. He’d almost looked distraught. Lizzie’s explanation, that they argued over telling me the truth, didn’t sit right with me. Mrs. Martins talked to Ali on his last day. Maybe she could fill in some of the blanks.
Once I arrived, I parked and went inside, approaching a shaggy-haired young man who looked like he belonged on a surfboard rather than behind a reception desk.
“Sorry,” he said after I told him my name, “but you are not authorized to see Mrs. Martins.”
I frowned, surprised by this unexpected stumbling block. “What kind of authorization do I need?”
He looked perplexed. “Huh?”
