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Nearing seven a.m. and a large cup of steaming coffee in hand, Nolan paced the inn’s conference room behind Hayden. As the team’s IT expert, he created a map of properties surrounding Anderson’s cabin. Their theory? Whoever took Becca tossed the phone out the car window on the way to their property or on their way back.

Mina and El were sitting at the table, ready to access DMV records. The moment Hayden located the owner’s name, they would search the database for anyone who might own a white Ford Explorer like the one Anderson claimed to have seen on the road. Not that this person was a suspect. Just driving on the road didn’t mean they’d tossed the phone out earlier, but if not a suspect, they could’ve witnessed something important.

Meanwhile, Abe was booking Anderson in jail and getting the warrants for his Portland addresses. Reece had seen the light on in the conference room and had come by to bring coffee, muffins, and fruit. She’d always been the mother of the group, if anyone filled that role, and it wasn’t unusual for her to do such a thing.

“Map’s done,” Hayden called out. “Putting it on the screen now. Properties are labeled one to five. I’ll start looking up property records.”

“I’ll take the first one.” Mina sipped on her coffee, then poised her fingers over the keypad.

El sat forward. “I’ve got number two.”

“Okay, good,” Hayden said. “Just one listing for all of the houses on this road. It’ll be quick to get to them.”

“We should watch for Wade’s name,” El said. “With the will change, he’s a good possibility for abducting Becca.”

“He’s so broke I don’t see him as being one of our property owners,” Mina said. “But he could be squatting with her in one of them.”

“He’s not the guy on top of the list.” Hayden called out the first name.

Mina’s fingers flew over the keyboard of her department-issued computer.

Hayden yelled out the second name.

El typed, her speed slower than Mina’s, but her concentration was unwavering.

Nolan had suspected Mina would have a top-notch team working for her, and he’d seen evidence of it many times.

“Next up is Lawrence Osborne,” Hayden said.

Mina’s and El’s hands stilled, and their heads popped up.

Nolan looked at his teammate. “Say that again.”

“Lawrence Osborne.” Hayden narrowed his gaze. “Isn’t that the medical examiner’s name?”

“It is.” Mina sat back and stared at Nolan. “There could be other Lawrence Osbornes. Is there a different mailing address from the cabin for correspondence?”

“Let me see.” Hayden checked his screen, then rattled off a Seaside Harbor address.

Nolan’s gut cramped. “Is that the doc’s address?”

Mina didn’t answer right away, but rubbed a hand over her face. “He lives in Seaside Harbor. I’ve been to his house, and that’s his street, but I don’t remember the exact number. Can you pull the address up on a map program?”

“On it,” Hayden said, and the words had no more than left his mouth when the map appeared on the big screen.

Mina studied it far longer than Nolan thought was needed. This had to be a mistake. The good doctor couldn’t be involved in the murder, could he?

“That’s his place.” Mina’s tone had taken on an edge of resignation.

“This has got to be a coincidence, right?” El asked.

Nolan gave it some thought. “I don’t know him like you all do, but he did mention in the autopsy about serving in the Army Medical Corps. So he’s probably familiar with weapons.”

Mina sat up straight. “But that doesn’t mean he shot the mayor. What motive would he have? And why would he be out to get you and your team?”

Yeah, why? Nolan ran through everything he knew about Osborne. “He said he was glad we were restoring the building. What if he really resents us owning it after his parents lost it to the bank foreclosure?”

El rested her hands on the table. “That was years ago. Why wait to do something about it now? And why not target the bank? It’s not like you’re doing anything wrong by owning it.”

She had good points. Ones Nolan might not be able to refute. “Maybe he had hopes of one day getting the property back, but now that I own it, he realizes that’s not going to happen.”

Mina let out a long breath. “Again, why target you? It’s not your fault.”

“What if that realization is what caused him to act now?” El looked between them. “Making you the scapegoat of killing the mayor, you’d go to prison and lose the property leaving it for him to buy again.”

“Okay, say that’s true,” Nolan said. “Why kill the mayor? Why not just kill any old person and try to pin it on us?”

“I can’t believe we’re even having this discussion about Dr. Osborne.” Mina got up to pace. “I honestly don’t buy the suggestion that he killed the mayor and abducted Becca.”

Nolan could understand her disbelief. He was nearly on the same page. Nearly. “I don’t believe Anderson abducted her either, but you have him behind bars. The very least we can do is dig deeper into Dr. Osborne.”

“He’s right.” El pinned her focus on Mina. “We need to forget that we know him, that we don’t believe he’s capable of this, and scrutinize him just as we will the other property owners in the area.”

Nolan appreciated that El could put aside her trust in Dr. Osborne. “He’s the only one with a connection to the case thus far. So I say we put him on the top of the list. If we discover the other property owners have a better connection, then we move them up the list.”

“Agreed,” Mina said, but her face had paled. “Which means we visit his property.”

Nolan hated seeing her reaction. Hated causing her discomfort. Hated to put a man with a solid reputation on the suspect list, much less at the top of it.

Didn’t matter what he liked or didn’t like. He—they—had to do the right thing here.

Becca was counting on all of them to save her life and bring her home.

Mina sat back in her chair, the muffin and coffee roiling in her stomach. Even the smell of the nutty, fresh-brewed coffee filling the air made her want to hurl. A deeply intense desire to pick up the phone and call Dr. Osborne to resolve this issue had her reaching for her phone.

No. She couldn’t and let her hand fall. She couldn’t violate the oath she’d sworn to the people. She couldn’t talk to him or give him a heads-up or even an inkling of the fact they were going to visit his property.

Not only did he own the home closest to the tree where the phone had been found, but he also drove a white Ford Explorer, and he could have been in the area yesterday. First, she would find out if he was in the office today. If so, they would be free to visit the cabin without raising any suspicions.

Preparing what she might say, she dialed his cell phone. It rang and the call went instantly to voicemail. A reprieve. For now. She didn’t leave a message but tapped the number for his office instead.

Her call connected and his receptionist Nora’s sweet voice came over the phone.

Nora was known for gossiping, a perfect person to answer as far as Mina was concerned. “This is Sheriff Park. I have some questions for Dr. Osborne. Is he available?”

“I’m sorry, Sheriff,” Nora said. “He’s taking a few days off this week.”

Oh no. Did that mean he was occupied with Becca?

Mina relaxed tense neck muscles to keep her anxiety in check. “My mistake. I must’ve misunderstood him at the autopsy on Monday.”

“Or not,” Nora said. “This was an unexpected vacation.” She took a long pause and came back with a lowered voice. “Between you and me, something had him so stressed he couldn’t even think. Lots of appointments and angry patients left for me to deal with, I’ll tell you.”

“I’m sorry,” Mina said sincerely. “He must’ve really needed the time. Did he say where he was going?”

“No, and that’s odd. He usually tells me, but he must really not want to be disturbed. He made a point of saying not to call his cell phone. He also arranged for the doctor who handles calls for him when he’s out of town to take over.”

“Thanks for the information, Nora,” Mina said, but wished she hadn’t called.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Nora’s soft voice nearly had Mina in tears. “If he checks in, do you want me to tell him you called?”

“No, let’s not stress him out more. I’ll just check the autopsy report and maybe my answer is there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

If Dr. Osborne turned out to be a killer and kidnapper, Mina could easily imagine Nora’s resulting distress. The woman had worked for him for years and would be devastated. As would all of his patients. As would Mina.

Hah! What was she saying? She was already close to crying. Breaking down. Right here. On the job.

Unacceptable.

She took a moment. Flexed her fingers. Released. Flexed and released. Cleared her mind, then turned to the others. Focused on keeping a flat emotionless tone, she reported the information Nora shared.

“That makes Osborne sound even more suspicious,” Nolan said.

Mina didn’t want to admit it. To say the words aloud, but… “It doesn’t sound good.”

Nolan moved closer, almost forcing her to look at him. He’d been watching her, but she’d ignored him. If she looked at his face and found one of his compassionate gazes pinned on her, she would lose it.

“This might be a long shot,” he said, “but our team shoots at Gunner’s Haven to keep our firing skills up.”

Where was he going with this? She looked up at him. “And?”

“Has Osborne ever mentioned going there? If so, we could get information about the type of gun he likes to shoot. Maybe it’s chambered for the same caliber as the bullet that killed the mayor.”

Mina thought back to her conversations with the doctor. “He’s never mentioned shooting at all. In fact, he seems adverse to weapons of any kind. But I can call them.”

“Got their phone number for you,” Hayden said, working at lightning speed. He shared it.

Mina dialed and half hoped no one would answer.

No such luck.

“Gunner’s Haven,” the man said.

“This is Sheriff Park.” She steeled her brain to think of this as a lead like any other lead in the investigation. “I’d like to speak to someone who knows about your membership list or regular customers.”

“I’m the manager,” the man said. “Roger Springer. I can help you.”

She swallowed and forged ahead. “I’m hoping to learn whether Dr. Lawrence Osborne from Seaside Harbor is on your membership role or if he’s a regular shooter.”

“Oh, Larry, yeah,” he said fondly. “He’s a regular all right. Been a member here for years. I always found it interesting that a man who served as a medical examiner wouldn’t be anti-gun. But he’s a real enthusiast and comes in often.”

Mina’s heart sank. Could he really be their killer? It was seeming more and more like it. “Does he have a favorite weapon?”

“Say.” His tone rose. “What’s this about, anyway?”

“Just following up on a few outstanding items,” she said, trying hard to sound off-hand when her gut was as tight as a pair of handcuffs. “Do you think he has a favorite weapon?”

“Hmm.” Silence followed. “I guess I’d have to say he fires his Glock 9mm more often than anything, but he really loves his HK MP5.”

“So a submachine gun. And the ammo he uses for that? Anything special?” She held her breath and hoped he didn’t mention copper-jacketed bullets like the one found at Becca’s house.

“His go to is +P ammo, but it’s a bit more expensive, and he doesn’t waste his money on exclusively firing those here at the range.”

“Doesn’t the ammo change the way the weapon fires?” she asked.

“Yeah, but knowledgeable shooters like Larry will shoot primarily the less expensive ammo to familiarize themselves with their weapon. To get a track on where the firearm is shooting and its general ‘feel’. In other words ‘sight in’. Then they close their shooting session with several rounds of the higher pressure ammo to ensure they have the feel and sight of the better rounds.”

“So in other words, he would do both.” She thought for a moment. “Any way we can retrieve the bullets fired or casings ejected from his weapons?”

“There might be some in the trap from his last time here, but they’d be mixed in with others. No way I could tell you which ones came from his weapon.”

She figured that was what he would say, but she still had to ask. “Do you know when he was there last? And did he bring his MP5?”

“Well, let’s see. Yeah. Yeah. The last time he was here, he fired the MP5, but which day? I dunno. Last week though. I’m sure of that. If it’s important, I can go back through the records and see when he signed in.”

“I’ll let you know if we need the information. Thank you for your help.” Mina hung up and reluctantly shared the results of her call. “With that additional information, I have no choice but to consider Dr. Osborne a suspect in the murder of Mayor Sutton and the abduction of his daughter.”

“I’m sorry, Mina,” Nolan said. “I know you care for him and have worked with him for some time. It’s got to be hard to think he could be behind any of this.”

She lifted her shoulders, trying to make it seem like this wasn’t a big deal to her, but it was. She never imagined someone she respected so highly could possibly do something like this.

She turned to El. “Call Abe. Share our details with him and have him get an emergency warrant to search Dr. Osborne’s house and cabin. Until they come in, I want you and Ewing to watch his place. Nolan and I’ll take the cabin. No one moves in until we have eyes on him.”

“Do you honestly think he’s our killer?” El asked. “I know several factors point to him as being our prime suspect, but still, he’s a respected member of the community. A member of our crime-fighting team. So he could very well be innocent.”

“As Nolan said, so could Knox Anderson, and he’s behind bars.” Mina rested her hands on her hips. “We can’t treat Dr. Osborne any differently.”

El gave a reluctant nod and pulled her phone from a cargo pocket. “I’ll call Abe.”

Nolan took Mina’s arm and led her to the far side of the room. Not good. She expected his kindness as he tried to comfort her in this unusual discovery. He was very intuitive—especially for a guy—and willing to support her. He’d proven that when they were together before and now.

Could she ask for anything better in a man? She didn’t think so, and she really needed to resolve her issues with him as soon as possible.

He let go of her arm and made eye contact, that compassion in his expression where she expected to find it. “How are you feeling about this?”

She took a breath before speaking. “I can’t pretend I like it, but part of me hopes that Dr. Osborne is our guy because we’ll have solved the murder and perhaps found Becca too.”

“You said you don’t expect him to be holding her at his house, though.”

“No, but I do think we could find something that might help tie him to the murder. Like the murder weapon and ammo. Maybe even bloody clothes or a rug.”

Nolan continued to look at her. “Is there anything I can do to help until we depart?”

“Do?” She glanced around the room as she considered his question. “Just keep Hayden searching for information that might help either clear or convict Dr. Osborne.”

“I can do that. But also know that I’m praying for a resolution and, for whatever we find, that you can accept it.”

She clasped his hand and squeezed it, all the while looking into his eyes. “You really are as great of a guy as I remembered, aren’t you?”

His eyes darkened, and he leaned closer. “And if you’ll let me, I’d like to show you how great we could be together again.”

She’d opened her mouth to reply when El called her name. Mina released his hand. “To be continued.”

“Promise?” he asked.

“Promise,” she said and hoped she wasn’t letting the day’s emotions get to her and wasn’t leading him on.