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Two streetlights at the road cast weak beams down on Mayor Sutton’s house as Mina approached. Lights didn’t shine from his windows nor was the outside one on to welcome them. The place was in direct contrast to his daughter’s home, casting a dark and gloomy feel.

“Doesn’t look like anyone is here,” Nolan said.

Meaning Becca wasn’t here either. She could be dead too.

He released the latch on his seatbelt. “You don’t think Becca killed her father, do you?”

“What?” She gaped at him. “No. Not at all. She loved her dad, and they spent a lot of time together.”

“The together thing I knew about.” He let the belt slip through his hand until it rested against the door. “That was one of the reasons Jude stopped dating her. It was hard to schedule a date because she often had plans with her dad. He found that kind of odd.”

“It is unusual, I’ll grant you that. Could be from losing her mom. They were really close. It seems as if after her mom died, Becca let time with her dad take over.”

“So on the surface, it looks like she couldn’t possibly kill her father, but as law enforcement officers, we can’t rule that out until we have a solid alibi for the time of death.”

Mina nodded but didn’t want to agree. “Believing something bad about people you interact with every day is one of the hardest parts of small-town policing.” She killed the engine. “But, as you said, as law enforcement officers, we have to keep our minds open.” She met his gaze and held it. “And that includes considering Jude as a possible suspect.”

He flinched. “I know you’re wrong about that, but I also know we have to prove that he didn’t kill the mayor or find out who did.”

She hadn’t brought it up to discuss, just to remind him that Jude was their prime suspect at this point. Reaching over him, she opened the glove compartment and handed him a flashlight. “You might want this again.”

She pushed out of the vehicle and marched up to ring the doorbell, then pounded on the door in case Becca slept inside. Tapping her foot, she waited for someone to answer. A few seconds passed. Silence and no lights turning on inside. She knocked again, harder this time, using the side of her fist.

No reply.

She put on a pair of disposable gloves and checked the doorknob. “Locked.”

“Let’s check the perimeter, and see if we can find a way in,” Nolan suggested.

“Follow me and don’t touch anything without gloves on.” She chose the easy way to go, the side of the fence that held the gate. Maybe the other side had a gate, too, but that would be unusual. Using her gloved hand, she lifted the latch and slipped into the backyard. Nolan’s body blocked light coming from the street. The gate slammed shut behind him and most all of the light vanished.

She turned on her flashlight. The beam caught on moss and small ferns in the cracks of the cobblestone walkway that led her toward the back of the house. She flashed the light up to three large and closed windows. She tugged on the first one. Locked tight.

“Partially open window over here.” Nolan stood shining the beam of the borrowed flashlight at the third window.

She assessed the window. “You’ll have to damage the screen to get in, but with the mayor’s death and blood at Becca’s house, this definitely falls under exigent circumstances.” With a quick glance at the disposable gloves on his hands, she said, “Go for it. I’ll hold the light for you.”

She took it from him. He fished a small knife from his pocket, then sliced through the screen and ripped it from the window.

“You wouldn’t be a subtle burglar,” she said, trying to add some lightness to the heavy feeling in the air.

“Trust me. If I didn’t want to get caught I could be far more subtle.” He raised the window and climbed in.

She followed, landing in the mayor’s study. Once, when Mina was here, he’d proudly walked her through his sports memorabilia collection.

A sweet aroma snaked into her nostrils. “Do you smell that?”

He nodded. “Air freshener?”

“No. Perfume. Chanel N°5, to be exact.”

He whipped his head around to look at her. “How do you know that?”

“It’s what my mom wears.”

“So Becca’s perfume, then?”

“Doubt it. It’s not a young woman’s choice. This is a classic powdery and soapy scent that I didn’t pick up on at Becca’s house. Besides, I saw a bottle of Versace Bright Crystal on her dresser. My mom gave me a bottle of that for Christmas, hoping if I started wearing perfume, I might snare a man and settle down to give her grandchildren. It doesn’t smell anything like this.”

He opened his mouth, but then he closed it and took a long breath. Did he plan to say something about her comment on snaring a man? Maybe or maybe she was still being overly sensitive to him.

“Okay,” he said. “Could the scent still be lingering from his wife’s things?”

“Not likely. She passed away two years ago, and this is too strong, too recent.” Mina paused to think. “Unless he still sprayed it to remember her.”

“That’s possible, I suppose.” Nolan ran his light over the room. “Or another woman has recently been in his house. Was he dating?”

“Not that I’ve heard.”

“Maybe a secret relationship. An affair with a married woman?”

“I don’t think Mayor Sutton was that kind of person, but then we don’t ever know what goes on behind closed doors until something like this brings it out into the open.”

Nolan nodded. “We really need to talk to Becca, but until we find her, the next closest person to the mayor would be his assistant. If he was dating someone, Daisy would know.”

“First thing in the morning, then. We’ll interview her about that and everything else going on in the mayor’s life that might’ve gotten him killed.” And hopefully find something to go on because right now they had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Outside Becca’s front door, Nolan put on a pair of booties and gloves. Since they hadn’t found her in immediate need of assistance, they’d returned to her house to do a more thorough search. Mina gloved up, too, but she was more proficient at it, which made sense since she handled crime scenes all the time. Not murder scenes like this one, but burglaries, auto accidents, assaults, and other minor scenes.

Was she up to managing a murder scene? He would assist her, but he’d never run a murder investigation. Since he’d formed the agency, he’d headed up several missing persons investigations. Meant he would be better off looking for Becca and not working the murder investigation.

Something he felt compelled to tell Mina.

He stepped inside and waited for her to enter. “Looks like we have two investigations going on now. Murder and a missing person. I think it would be a good idea to turn Becca’s investigation over to my team.”

She cocked a hip. “I can’t turn over any investigation to a civilian team.”

Her posture was meant to reinforce her statement, but he just found it cute. “You could deputize all of the team. Or even a few of them. They could then do what we are exceptional at doing, and you can focus on the murder investigation. You would of course be in charge, and we could give you daily or even more frequent updates.”

“I don’t know.” She put her hands on her hips. “That would be like publicly declaring that my team wasn’t up to the job. I don’t want to do that to them.”

“Realistically, how many deputies can you afford to assign to either investigation and not compromise your patrols?”

“One, maybe two at the most.”

“So assign them to the murder investigation. Or you could even embed someone in our office who could be your eyes and ears.”

She tilted her head. “Embedding someone might work. Question is, who to have do it. I could assign Abe, but he’s really needed in day-to-day operations. I have one detective on staff, and I believe she would be most put out if I took her off the murder investigation. I do have a deputy who just passed his sergeant’s exam, so maybe he’s the one to include. I’ll think about it. But for now, we need to look at the scene in regards to both this murder and a missing person.”

“Agreed.”

She proceeded into the room and squatted near the pool of blood. “Footprint is small. Narrow.”

He crouched next to her. “Woman’s?”

“Could be Becca’s.”

“So maybe we’re wrong. Maybe she’s not missing, but she was shot here and her body taken.”

“Or she was standing with the mayor when he was shot. Or she simply came through the room and stepped in the blood on her way out the door.”

“If so, there should be a bloody footprint heading toward the door.”

“You’re right, and there isn’t one.”

“What if the rug suggested by the dirt outline was used for Becca? Or used for the mayor, then brought back for Becca or the other way around?” He stood. “Or if they’re both dead, both of them at one time?”

“Any of those scenarios could be possible. All we can do at this time is speculate. We don’t have enough evidence to make a determination.”

“One thing is sure,” he said, “Becca’s missing person case could also be a murder investigation, and we have to look at it both ways.”

“You’re right again.” Mina narrowed her gaze. “Maybe I should put my detective on your team after all. I can handle the mayor’s murder investigation without her, and if we do determine the mayor was killed here, then it’s likely our leads and forensics will intersect with each other.”

Nolan nodded. “First step is to find out whose blood we’re looking at. We should be able to get a sample for the mayor from his place for a DNA test. Same for Becca, but it’ll take time to get the results back, and we don’t want to sit around waiting for days.”

“Then let’s give the house a good once-over to see where we go from here.” Mina moved around the blood pool to survey the room. “Pay particular attention to locating her phone and purse.”

“You could try calling her again,” Nolan said. “See if her phone rings here or even vibrates.”

Mina got out her phone and tapped the screen. “It’s ringing. Hear anything?”

“Nah, nothing. The phone’s likely with Becca.” He approached a small entryway table where someone might drop their belongings on the way into the house. “No purse on the table, but there’s a set of keys.”

Mina studied the table. “Could be a sign that she left involuntarily.”

“Or we could go with Occam’s razor and look for the simplest answer.”

She transferred her gaze to Nolan. “Which is what, in your opinion?”

“That she’s out of town, and her father was housesitting. Perhaps he surprised an armed burglar who thought the place was empty and was attempting to enter, and the burglar shot him.”

“That’s a plausible theory and one we need to pursue. Maybe the review of the property will answer our questions.” She continued on the same path they’d taken earlier.

He trailed her. “FYI, Sierra mentioned arriving by helicopter to save travel time and to move samples back to their lab faster. She said they would touch down around ten a.m. I told her they could land on the old airstrip on my property. It’s technically designated for helicopter use, or at least it once was, so it should meet Oregon law.”

He waited for her to argue about the airstrip not being current, but she really couldn’t protest. They’d used it for medivacs lately, and if she argued today, they wouldn’t be able to use it to save lives in the future.

“Let me know when they arrive,” she said. “And I can supply an unmarked vehicle or two for use.”

He gave her a tight smile for her easy agreement. “They’ve got that covered. Their assistants will leave early in the morning to drive their vans down here with all of their supplies and equipment.”

“Ah.” She sighed. “Assistant. I could use one of those.”

He hated to see her so stressed, but he suspected that’s how she was going to be until they concluded both of these investigations. “Sierra did say they would need six rooms reserved for the night, though they might not all stay over. All depends on how fast things go.”

“I’ll check with the hotel to see if they can handle it.”

“If not, the rooms we aren’t using at the inn still have beds in them, and we could work something out, though I’d hate to take the time to clean right now.”

She nodded. “It’s off-season, so the hotel should be fine.”

“Let me know if it isn’t.”

“Let’s finish our review of this place, get over to my office for the electronic sketch of Smythe, and call it a night. I can make that call to the hotel first thing in the morning, and we’ll meet at the mayor’s office at eight to interview his assistant.”

Her phone rang. She looked at the screen and frowned but answered. “Sheriff Park.”

She looked at her feet and paced. “So she hung up before you could triangulate the call, and we have no idea who the caller might be.”

What in the world was she talking about? Did it even relate to their investigations? He moved closer in hopes of picking up information, but all he heard was a muffled female voice.

“Right, yeah.” Mina blew out a frustrated breath. “Considering the murder and missing person investigation you were right to call me. Thanks for letting me know.”

She hung up and looked at Nolan. “That was the 911 dispatch supervisor. They had an unidentified female caller at 4:07 who ended the call within ten seconds and before they could get a location.”

Becca? Nolan’s heart skipped a beat. “What did she say?”

“‘He’s gone crazy. Has a gun.’” She shook her head. “That’s all. Nothing we could act on. Still, the dispatcher shouldn’t have kept the call to herself instead of notifying her supervisor. She’s already on probation, and this will be the end for her. I feel bad about it, but we have to make sure patrol is notified in the future of even an abbreviated call like this.”

“So you’re thinking this could’ve been Becca calling in her father’s murder, and she really was present to see it.”

“Could be. If so, she knows who the killer is. Finding her is already our number one priority in case she might still be alive, but this makes it even more important, if that’s possible.”

“What’s your decision on turning Becca’s investigation over to us?”

“Let me talk to my detective. If she agrees to be embedded with your team, then I’ll approve it.”

“And my role? Are you still wanting me to work the murder investigation with you?”

She nodded, but her sour expression said she would rather shake her head. “You can help me figure out what your team’s past has to do with the mayor’s death. Because, honestly, Nolan, I don’t have any idea where to begin on that.”

“Then I’m glad to help you.” He gave what he hoped was a confident look when he had no clue why someone would kill the mayor and try to pin it on him or one of the people he cared most about in this world.