2. Need to get hold of Nigel Frost. He may be withholding information from ten years ago.
3. Is what happened ten years ago related to what is happening now?
4. Events around start of incidents, accidents, and fires:
a. Willa, Margo, and Rad begin looking into ten years ago.
b. June and Carmen arrive in Sandpiper Shores just before first fire.
c. Holt arrives in Sandpiper Shores on day of first fire.
He had become so focused on fitting the information neatly, legibly, and in the right order that he did not notice the room’s silence deepen until he turned around and found every face fixed not just on the boards, but on him.
For a second, no one said anything.
Then Harvey spoke first. “You need to add something.” He pointed at the board.
“Do you have some new information?” Holt looked at him, and Harvey nodded.
“Clive’s getting a new car soon. He messaged me to let me know his mother got the insurance to pay out for a brand-new one.” Harvey shifted in his chair and pointed toward the board with the suspects.
“What?” June was the first to react.
“According to him, the tow company that took the blue sedan to the junkyard also does auto repairs. Apparently, they backed Victoria up when she claimed the car was stolen in transit.” Harvey nodded.
“Why would she do that?” Carmen asked immediately. “Why not just get the bumper fixed?”
“She had the car crushed as soon as it got to the junkyard.” June glanced at her sister. “Now I know why. With it crushed, no one will be able to find it.”
“This makes Victoria and Clive look very guilty,” Zane said. “She has the car crushed almost immediately after Lacey is run off the road, and now she lies about it?”
“Is it true she was driving the car?” Carmen asked, glancing from June to Holt.
“Yes,” Holt and June answered in unison.
“So she gets the car crushed and then deemed stolen before anyone can find the damage and question what happened,” Zane clarified.
“She says she hit a tree,” Harvey told Zane and Carmen.
“Then why go to all the trouble to hide it like this?” Carman asked, looking at Harvey. “If she really did hit a tree, why was the car crushed and then deemed stolen. Just come clean and say I hit a tree?”
“Well,” said a voice from the doorway, “if Victoria were driving, that would be a problem.”
Every head turned.
Ace leaned against the doorframe, looking entirely too comfortable for a man who hadn’t been invited.
For one sharp second, Holt didn’t even understand where he had come from or what door he was standing in.
“Didn’t we close the door?” Carmen said exactly what Holt was thinking.
“You did,” Ace said. He lifted a thumb toward the back corner of the room. “The one that leads into the hall. You didn’t close the service door that goes into the kitchen.”
“Ace. What are you doing here?” Willa’s eyes widened as she asked the question.
“I was looking for you,” Ace told her. “Three of the day camp counselors can’t make the overnight camping trip tomorrow, and I don’t think it’s safe for just you and me with all those kids.”
“I can help,” Rad said immediately.
