Page 71 of Nightshade

It was said with full snark, which Stilwell ignored.

“Like I said on the call with the captain, I think she was killed in the Black Marlin Club with the jade sculpture,” he said. “Her body was hidden in there somewhere until the middle of the night, when it was moved to theEmerald Sea.The next day, it was taken out to the bay and dumped.”

“In broad daylight?” Sampedro asked.

“It’s twenty-plus miles from the coast,” Stilwell said. “A lot of open water out there once you’re out of the harbor.”

“And you’re saying the current just brought her back in?” Ahearn asked. “Like some kind of underwater ghost returning to haunt the scene of the crime?”

Ahearn had dropped the snark but put in a note of disbelief.

“I don’t know about underwater ghosts, but I do think the tide brought her back,” Stilwell said. “Avalon Harbor has a wide mouth and strong tidal currents.”

“Well, I do like a wide mouth,” Ahearn said. “Okay, what else?”

“Like, where’s the jade statue?” Sampedro asked.

“Probably ended up in the bay with her,” Stilwell said.

“That was stupid,” Sampedro said. “If she was killed at the club, why wouldn’t the killer just clean it up and put it back?”

“I was thinking about that,” Stilwell said. “Maybe he panicked. It’s possible none of this was planned. Or maybe the thing broke when he hit her. Then he couldn’t put it back.”

“It’s all conjecture until we know more,” Ahearn said. “We need something solid to move on right now.”

“Her cell phone,” Stilwell said. “She had to have had one and it also probably ended up in the bay when she was dumped. But we need to get her calls, texts, and contacts. And the GPS might give us the location where she went into the water.”

Ahearn wrotecellon the board on the County side.

“We’ll take that,” he said. “What else?”

“Leigh-Anne’s friends,” Stilwell said. “Anybody she might have told who she was involved with on the island and in that club. Hopefully her phone or Galloway can lead us to her friend group over here. And I still need to find out where she stayed on Catalina. There could also be dating apps and social media to check. My office manager found her on Instagram but the account hadn’t been updated recently.”

Ahearn put it all on the board, including the first additions to the Catalina column:friendsandaddress.

“And then Colbrink, the guy who owns the boat,” Stilwell said. “He’s got an alibi for the weekend in question. Was over here in Malibu for his wife’s birthday. We need to confirm all of that, and then we need to talk to his mistress, someone named Bree or maybe Breezy, who was on the boat with him on Catalina this past weekend. Maybe she saw something amiss on the boat. We just need to cover all the bases, and she’s one of them.”

Ahearn dutifully wrote it on the board on the County side.

“That’s going to keep us busy,” he said. “You’re looking a little light, Stilwell. Anything else for over there?”

“Yeah,” Stilwell said. “I’ve got to get into the Black Marlin Club.”

“You’re talking about a search warrant?” Ahearn asked. “Good luck with that.”

“We’ll see,” Stilwell said. “I know a judge who might go for it.”

24

AFTER SAMPEDRO DROPPEDhim off, Stilwell caught the last Express back to Catalina. It was dark by the time of his arrival at the pier. He stopped by the sub to pick up the Gator and check on things. He had to use a key to enter because the p.m. watch deputy wasn’t there; he was likely out on patrol or answering a call. Stilwell checked his office and the bulletin board for messages and found none. He took a two-way out of a charger and, after consulting the personnel schedule on a separate bulletin board, radioed the deputy on duty.

“PM One, come up.”

A few seconds later Deputy Eduardo Esquivel responded.

“Here, boss.”

“What’s your twenty?”