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Giving Daisy a smile, Mina rose from her seat. She was motivated more than ever to find Becca and the mayor’s killer. Problem was, their conversation with Daisy now led her to believe they had to find out if Becca’s blood type meant Ernie was her father. Or had she just found out she was adopted, been lied to all of her life, and in anger, killed her father?

Mina needed to speak with Dr. Osborne to see if he could answer that question, and if not, find someone who could. But first, she needed to give Dylan a list of items they could use his help with. He’d been involved in doing something he couldn’t stop when she’d gone in earlier, and he asked her to come back later.

Hopefully, now was later enough. She entered Mayor Sutton’s office, Nolan joining her this time. Dylan, focus fixed on his computer, didn’t look up. She hoped he wouldn’t get angry at being interrupted twice in such a short time.

“Are you in a spot now where I can give you a list of items we need your assistance on?”

He held up a finger, then went back to typing on his laptop. A few minutes later, he looked up. “Had to finish that up so the final image would start.” He leaned the chair back and clasped his hands behind his head. “So what do you need from me?”

“The first thing I’d like you to do,” she said, “is to trace the IP address of the person who completed the online building lease for the escape room.”

He gave an offhanded wave. “A cinch. I’ll just need the web address for the form used to submit a reservation.”

Mina took out her notebook and wrote down the request. “I’ll text it to you.”

“So what’s next?”

“I don’t know if you can do this, but Jude French, one of the Lost Lake Locators team members, doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the mayor’s death. Since the escape room was set up with memorabilia from all team members, that makes all of them suspects. But five of them have solid alibies. Not Jude. He was alone in his car on his way back from Portland, and no one can vouch for him.”

“How can I help with that?” Dylan asked.

“He was on the phone for the entire trip,” Nolan said before she could. “Can you determine which towers the call pinged from, so we can have proof he wasn’t in town during the window when the mayor was killed?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dylan answered. “Give me his phone number, and I’ll give you a triangulation report. But…” He paused. “Here’s the thing, and I gotta think you already know this, even if I trace the call, that only says where his phone was located. Not that he was with it.”

“You’re right, we do know that,” Nolan said. “But it’ll still help to have proof that he could’ve been in his car as he says.”

Dylan picked up a pen and grabbed a notebook. “Okay, his phone number?”

Nolan shared the number from his phone’s contact list.

Dylan looked up. “So far, this shouldn’t take me long. What else do you need?”

Mina took a step closer. “We have an Instagram user who left negative comments on the mayor’s posts. We’d like to locate him, but obviously his address and phone number aren’t accessible on Instagram. He goes by Patriotic Puzzle.” She jotted @patrioticpuzzle on a slip of paper and handed it to him. “Can you find out his real name and contact info?”

Dylan tucked the paper in a file. “I can, but I have to tell you, you’re not going to like what I have to do to get it.”

“I’m good with that, if you are,” Mina said.

He chuckled. “I’m good with whatever I have to do to help locate a killer.”

“Maybe keep your procedures to yourself.” Nolan laughed.

Dylan joined in.

Mina didn’t want to waste time joking around. “Can you also look into Becca’s social media? We’ve done a review of her accounts to see if she mentioned a trip somewhere, but I wondered if you can write an algorithm, or whatever it is that you do, to see if anyone has posted negative comments. Or even if it seems like she might’ve had a stalker or someone who wanted to do her harm?”

“That’s a little more complicated and will take a little longer, but yeah, I can do that as well.” Dylan scribbled on his legal pad.

“We’ve also looked into both the mayor and Becca’s finances,” Nolan said. “We’ve learned that the mayor was selling off things through an auction house and on eBay. He’s received several deposits from PayPal, and we’re hoping to find out what he was selling. Is there a way for you to learn that?”

“Well, yeah, I can easily do it if I find his passwords and logins on his computer.” He tapped the large monitor on the desk. “I’ll start on that after the image finishes processing. If no passwords are on here, you won’t like how I have to do it.”

“Same rules. Don’t tell us what you’re doing, and I’m good with getting the information from you.”

“I have one more thing for you.” Nolan explained about the personal items in the escape room. “Can you find out where the person who set up the room could’ve gotten our police academy graduation photos?”

Dylan frowned. “Not having any idea who the setup person was, I can’t tell you exactly where they could’ve gotten the pictures, but I can scrape the internet and let you know if I can come up with them.”

Nolan frowned. “I guess that’ll have to do until we have a better suspect for you.”

Mina wouldn’t be disappointed. Not when this guy was going to find something in all of his work, she was sure of it. “Is it also possible for you to use a sketch we had made of our suspect to search the internet for him?”

“I could do it, but I’ll only get sketches that resemble him in return, not real people.” He intertwined his fingers and cracked his knuckles. “If that’s all, take off. I’ll get what you need as fast as I can.”

Mina slipped her notebook back into her pocket. “Call me the minute you know anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Dylan said. “I’m more than glad to brag about what I find when I find it.” He laughed and waved his fingers at them, then turned his attention to his laptop.

Back in Daisy’s office, they said goodbye to her and stepped out into the darkness of Main Street, where Founder’s Day decorations had already been erected at the courthouse and were being strung up on storefronts and light posts. But it was the stars glistening overhead in the picturesque little seaside town that caught Mina’s eye.

Nolan had once been very romantic under similar skies when she was involved with him. The more time she spent with him, the more she thought that could happen again. If she would only let it. But not knowing for sure that he’d followed up, she would keep him at arm’s length. If tonight’s meeting with the team didn’t go past her parents’ usual bedtime, she would stop by their house and ask if he’d visited and they’d sent him on his way without telling her.

“Before our dinner meeting, do you want to try to question Wade about what he’d argued with the mayor about?”

Right. He was thinking about business, as she should be doing. She nodded. “I doubt that he’s still on his boat at this time of night, so let’s go by his place.”

In her car, she got them on the road heading toward the ocean.

“Where does he live?” Nolan asked.

“He has a small cottage that his parents bought when he was a kid. It’s worth a considerable amount of money now due to its location near the beach. I know the mortgage is paid off, and he only has to pay taxes and utilities.”

Nolan swiveled in his seat to face her. “If he needed money, he could’ve taken out a second or even third mortgage on the place.”

“Can you ask Dylan or Hayden to look into that?” she asked. “All of Wade’s finances, for that matter?”

“Hayden has his plate full helping with Becca, so I’ll text Dylan.”

She glanced at him. “Before you do, can you look up the registration page for the mansion and send that to him too?”

“Sure thing.” Nolan got out his phone and tapped the screen. “Okay, here it is. Sending the link and request to Dylan now.”

“Perfect.” She thought ahead. “Maybe we should hold off on visiting Wade until we’ve had a look at his finances so we know if he’s lying to us about them.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Nolan’s phone dinged. “Dylan’s on it.”

She made a quick turn and pointed the car toward the inn. She still wasn’t comfortable at the inn or with Nolan, but she was getting there. Or maybe her mind was too focused on the murder and missing woman to think about her discomfort all the time. It was only in down times, like right now, that she allowed her mind to wander.

She had to keep them talking, but about what? They passed her church, giving her a topic. “Since my church is the only one in the area with a contemporary worship service, I figured I would run into you there.”

“I remembered you said you liked to go to the early service, so I go to the late one.”

She shot him a questioning look. “You were avoiding me?”

He curled his fingers into fists on his knees. “That sounds harsh, but yeah, I guess I was. I know I shouldn’t still be bothered by the fact that you didn’t reply to my note, but I am.”

Why had she brought this subject up? She could’ve talked about anything in town. Even the weather. But now she felt like she needed to defend herself. “I’ll try to stop by my parents’ house tonight after this meeting to ask them about your visit.”

She pulled into the lot and shifted into park.

His gaze locked on hers. “You’re going to see them because you don’t trust me.”

She killed the engine. “Yeah, that sounds harsh, too, but I guess you’re right.”

“I can see how that could be. You’ve spent five years thinking I’m the bad guy. It’s hard to change.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Her voice was starting to give away her inner turmoil, so she took a breath. “Are you having a hard time accepting the fact that I never got the note?”

“Maybe,” he said and fell silent for a moment. “But the more time I spend with you, the more I know you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Ditto for me.” She pulled the key from the ignition. “Maybe we can get through this together.”

“I’d like that.”

She considered squeezing his hand but pushed out of the vehicle instead. By the time they reached the conference room that smelled like tangy pepperoni, the rest of the team was seated, except El, who stood at the head of the table. A whiteboard behind her held the list of suspects in the murder investigation.

El turned to Mina and tapped the marker against the board. “Has this list changed since I spoke to you this afternoon?”

“It stands for now.” Mina shared their conversation with Daisy and Dylan. “I’m hoping Dylan is as good as he claims, and by the time we end this meeting, he’ll have given us something else to go on.”

El nodded. “Help yourself to the pizza and salad while we run through the assignments from last night. Then we’ll go through the list of suspects to see what connection, if any, they might have with Becca’s disappearance.”

Mina nodded and headed for the food laid out on a credenza. She grabbed a monster-sized slice of pepperoni pizza and a plastic container holding a ready-made salad and took her food to the table. She plopped down on the open seat next to Abby. If circumstances were different, Mina thought she might be friends with the former sheriff due to their common experiences.

“Hayden,” El said. “You’re first on the list. What have you learned?”

“Before I start on the background checks, you should know that Becca hasn’t used a credit or debit card since the mayor’s death.”

“That doesn’t bode well for her going out of town,” Abby said.

El gave a somber nod. “It does make me suspect foul play or that fear sent her into hiding.”

“Her social media doesn’t show her going away on a trip either,” Hayden said. “Be it a day or a week or a month, she doesn’t mention anything. So either she’s wise on security measures—not posting when and where she’s gone for would-be stalkers and burglars—or she really didn’t go out of town.”

“Hayden gave me a list of her social media friends,” Jude said. “I was able to talk to the ones who replied to her posts most often. None of them knew about a trip. However, one of them said she wouldn’t put it past Becca to make a quick decision to go somewhere for a long weekend and not tell anyone. She said Becca had a stressful job, and she often needed alone time to recover.”

“I interviewed her supervisor and coworkers at the county,” Reece said. “She didn’t show up for work today or call in. The guy said it was unlike her to miss work. Her coworkers seconded that.”

“Did they mention her need to recuperate from work?” Mina stabbed her salad with a plastic fork.

“Not in so many words, but her supervisor did say she’s a hypersensitive individual, and she often took the plight of her clients to heart.”

“So maybe she’s holed up in a cabin or motel somewhere,” Mina said.

Reece nodded. “I’m already checking with hotels, motels, and B&Bs in the area. I’ll let you know if I find anyone matching her description.”

Mina smiled at her. “Good work, Reece.”

El dropped her pizza slice on her plate. “What about the list of people Daisy made of Becca’s and the mayor’s local friends?”

Jude held his pizza near his mouth. “That’s me. I’ve interviewed all but two of them, and they don’t know where she might be. One mentioned a spa she liked to go to, but she’s not there. I’ll keep after the friends I haven’t been able to connect with yet.”

“So we still don’t know for sure that she’s in danger.” Mina looked around the table. “But since she never misses work without calling in, that’s most suspicious.”

The others nodded.

“I still have those friends to interview,” Jude said. “But my gut says she isn’t out of town. The mayor’s a different story. Daisy couldn’t come up with many friends. He only had acquaintances. His birdwatching club would be the closest, and they didn’t have a clue who would want to hurt him.”

El looked at Hayden. “What did you find out on Becca’s and the mayor’s background check?”

“Both are squeaky clean,” he said. “Except the deposits and withdrawals I mentioned for the mayor. He’s definitely been selling items in an auction house and on eBay.”

Mina set down her fork. “I know he had some pricey sports memorabilia he collected over the years. He displayed it on shelves in his office, but I didn’t notice if it was missing when we were there. I’ll stop by his place on my way home tonight to see if the collection is missing.”

“But it’s odd, right?” Hayden said. “He has plenty of money. Why sell anything to get more? There has to be another reason. And why then take it out in cash?”

Jude shoved his empty plate away. “Maybe he was doing it for Becca. She told me she didn’t understand his fascination with collecting and wasn’t into it. If he took care of selling it, she wouldn’t have to deal with it after the cancer took him.”

Gabe scowled. “But she would’ve seen the items disappearing, which means the mayor would’ve had to tell her about his cancer.”

“Or not,” Nolan said. “He might’ve told her he was tired of it and wanted to get rid of it.”

Jude shook his head. “I don’t buy that and neither would she. Not based on how much of a fanatic he was about it. Or at least that’s what Becca said.”

“I can vouch for that.” Mina stabbed a juicy tomato. “He was fanatical about it.”

“Any thoughts on what this has to do with her disappearance?” El set down her water bottle.

Reece wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. “What if she was helping him sell the memorabilia, and she went to meet someone who took advantage of her?”

Mina swallowed a tomato dripping with ranch dressing. “I can’t see the mayor letting her meet some stranger alone. He would take care of that himself.”

“Not if his health got in the way.” Abby looked around the room. “He might’ve had chemo or radiation that day and was too sick to deliver the sold item.”

As if trying to recall something, Hayden cocked his head. “There’s no indication that he was selling on any sites where he would deliver the items. But I guess eBay does allow local deliveries.”

“In any event,” Mina closed her salad container, “the only thing that really makes sense is the mayor was being blackmailed. Otherwise, where would the cash be going?”

Nolan leaned back and grabbed another slice of pizza. “Maybe to Wade.”

“I suppose he could be giving him money,” Mina said. “At least both Daisy and Paisley said he gave him money, but why do it in cash? He could just write checks.”

Reece held a bite of salad midair. “Could it be payments for his cancer treatments? Paying with cash not to leave a trail that Becca might somehow find?”

Mina doubted it. “The city has good health insurance policies for their workers, so I would think most of that would be covered by his insurance.”

“Look into that further, Reece,” Nolan said. “See if it leads anywhere.”

“You got it, boss.”

Nolan grimaced, but Mina had no idea the reason for his dislike of being called boss.

“Keep both teams updated on that,” El said. “On another note, our alerts on Becca and her vehicle haven’t turned anything up, so we’re putting out an appeal to the public. Gabe and I didn’t find anything when we canvassed the neighborhood, either.”

“What she said.” Gabe chuckled, but for some reason he looked uncomfortable. “We reviewed a few security footage videos from nearby neighbors. Unfortunately, their cameras didn’t record any cars or people on foot in the timeframe of the mayor’s death.”

Nolan shot to his feet. “We have to be missing something. We’ve never had so few leads after someone’s been missing for more than twenty-four hours. We need to check and recheck everything we’ve done. Keep after it, and don’t let even the smallest detail escape you.”

He was feeling the pressure of finding this missing woman. No doubt about it. The same pressure that was eating away at Mina. Might he want to leave the mayor’s investigation to head up his team’s search for Becca?

It was becoming clear that Becca hadn’t simply gone away for the weekend. Sure, they didn’t have proof, but what they did have suggested foul play.

Should she release Nolan from the mayor’s investigation and allow him to return to his team and the search for Becca? Something she couldn’t decide right now. She would spend the evening pondering it and praying that she’d do the right thing to bring Becca home alive.