The fact he didn’t see the irony in his statement after complaining about his treatment in high school was not lost on me.
“I’ll never forget Rayna’s parting words to Reed as he walked away after their breakup,” Sasha said. “She told him if he ever thought to open his mouth about what had happened, she’d make sure he had the same sort of accident as Eliza.” Sasha snorted. “Truth is, she told me the same thing.”
“And Mari and me,” Hunter said. “She said we’d end up like Eliza.”
I thought back to Rayna’s veiled threat to Mari in the back alley. She’d told Mari keeping her mouth shut would be best for Mari’s family, especially Jayla. Was that her way of threatening the young girl? And then what? Rayna had decided to silence Mari before she could tell anyone?
“What’s going to happen now?” Sasha asked.
“I’m not sure,” Zane said.
“Can I go back to my store?” Sasha asked. “Are we done?”
“For now,” I said.
I watched Hunter and Sasha hurry away from the table and shook my head. “Well, Rayna’s motive to kill Mari just became clear.”
Zane stood and gathered our empty coffee cups. “Let’s go pay Reed a visit.”
15
“What do we do with this information?” I asked as Zane pulled out of the resort’s parking lot. “I mean, they admitted to causing physical and irreparable harm to another supernatural.”
“I know,” Zane said. “I’m just not sure what can be done fifteen years later,andI’m not sure if they were all adults when the accident happened. They could have still been minors. I think we need to call the sheriff. Let him contact the district attorney and see what he says.”
“So we’re not going to the lab now?” I asked. “Didn’t you say Doc Treestone texted and said the autopsy was finished?”
Zane smiled. “I actually lied. That was Rota who texted. She said she heard back from Parker Harrington, the attorney, regarding Mari’s will. Rota said she has some information for us when we come in for backgrounds.”
I laughed. “Nicely played, Fallen Angel. Made Hunter talk.”
“What’s Reed’s address?” Zane mused.
I pulled out my phone and pulled up the PADA app and entered Reed’s name. “Looks like 3902 Wharf Way.”
Fifteen minutes later, Zane pulled onto Wharf Way, and I suddenly realized why the warehouses looked so familiar. My first case with Zane had brought us down this way. The road followed the ocean, making it easy for trucks to load and unload. It was also where Gadray Sandu lived. He’d been the brother to the murdered victim in my first case.
“I haven’t been down here since the Sandu case.” I leaned forward in my seat and peered through the windshield. “Isn’t that Gadray’s barn?”
“Sure is.”
Gadray Sandu was a boat builder. He’d built a beautiful two-story wooden barn with a skylight roof. The first time I’d ever seen something like that before. He also lived on one side of the barn and used the other side to hand make his boats.
“Looks like he’s working today,” Zane said.
The bay to Gadray’s barn was open, and when he heard us approach, he looked up and waved. Zane and I waved back as we slowly made our way along the rutted lane.
“It’s mostly commercial property,” I said. “Why would Reed live here?”
“Easy access,” Zane said. “He makes his living fishing, so why not live along the wharf?”
“I think I see him on his boat,” I said as Zane slowed down.
“I’ll park in the drive, and we can walk down.”
Reed Masterson’s cottage sat at the end of the rutted road overlooking the water. It was a small, weathered house with cedar shingles and very little adornment. A rusted weather vane shaped like a selkie spun lazily atop the chimney. A cobblestone walkway led to the back of the house, and Zane and I followed it around back.
A narrow wooden dock extended from the rocky shoreline behind the cottage, and a fishing boat sat in the single slip,rocking gently with the tide. Crab pots were stacked along one side of the dock, and coils of line hung from cleats.
