Page 238 of It Happened on the Lake

Rand ignored her comment. “You remember Janet Van Arsdale?”

Harper shook her head, so he added, “Janet married, so her name is Collins now.”

Harper was still confused, but Levi was picking up on what he was saying. “She went by Moonbeam back in the sixties. She lived for a while in the house at the end of the street. With a bunch of college students.”

Harper repeated, “Moonbeam,” as if she’d heard it before.

“She’s dead, too,” Rand said.

“Dead?” Levi repeated.

“Looks like homicide,” Rand said. “Still waiting for the ME to confirm the cause of death.”

“What does she have to do with us?” Harper asked. “I mean it’s sad and all, but I don’t see how it affects us.”

“Indirectly.” Rand explained about finding her body at her home after she’d called in with information about the night Chase died. He left out details the police would want to keep from the public but did explain that though there were no official suspects, he was looking into Tristan “Trick” Vargas aka Larry Smith. The guy’s name, or names, just kept coming up.

“Trick,” Levi said, questions in his eyes. “You found him?”

“Wait—you know about this?” Harper said as she read Levi’s reaction.

“Only that he was a scumbag drug dealer.”

“And blackmailer, we think,” Rand added, not bringing up the fact that, according to Gerald, Levi’s dad had been on the take for years. “We’re just scratching the surface of the crimes he might be involved in. He maybe escalating.”

“To murder?” Levi asked.

“Possibly. We think he was afraid that Janet would spill what she knew about him, dealing and blackmailing, that she was a liability. So we’re looking for him, want to bring him in and see what he has to say.” Rand reached into his pocket and withdrew the color print of the latest driver’s license issued to Tristan Vargas. He handed the picture to Levi, and both he and Harper studied it. In the shot Vargas sported a dark blond mullet and oversized glasses, his slight smile showing off uneven teeth.

“Be on the lookout,” he said. “And if you see him, let me know. Don’t approach him.”

“Armed and dangerous?” Levi asked.

Rand nodded. “Dangerous at the very least. Just give me a call.”

Levi asked, “You think we’ll see him?”

“I don’t know. But there’s a chance he might show up in the area. He left a lot of his cameras and equipment in the attic of the house at the end of the street.” Rand pointed through the windows and across the lake to Fox Point. “He probably doesn’t know what happened to it, but he might get nervous if he killed Janet because there could be evidence linking him to her.”

“After all this time?” Harper asked skeptically.

“Right. The attic has been sealed for years. We’re banking that he might panic and return. You and I,” Rand said to Levi, “we live right down the street, so we can keep an eye out, and you?” He turned to Harper. “You’ve got this.” He touched the telescope. “Looks high-powered. So if you see him or anyone around that cabin, let me know. It’s empty, not rented currently, so no one should be there. Got it?”

“Right,” she said.

“Good.” Rand checked his watch, saw that he needed to get back to the station and promised, “I’ll keep you posted.”

Chapter 60

Rand’s news about Chase had shocked her.

Why? Harper had no idea. She’d known that Chase was probably dead, that if he had been alive, he would have contacted someone somewhere or there would have been “sightings” of him.

Even though Elvis was dead and buried for over ten years, there was always a rumor that someone had caught a glimpse of him.

Of course Chase wasn’t a music legend.

She could hold out hope, she supposed, as there was still no real evidence of Chase’s death. Just a troubled mother’s cryptic note and an ex-cop’s side of an unconfirmed story.