Page 59 of Tide and Seek

Royce cocked his head.“I don’t think they’d text you that info.”

“Oh, well then it’s probably just spam.”Glancing down, I saw I had several texts from an unknown number.I opened my messages and inhaled sharply as I read:

You’re a murderer.

You’re not wanted here.

Go back to Rainy Dale, or die.

Chapter Twelve

Royce

Neither Max nor I slept well after he received those threatening texts.Minutes after they’d arrived on his phone, I called Hartley.He was the lead on the murder investigation and had taken over everything potentially connected, including Max’s break-in.

When he heard about the texts, he instructed us not to delete anything and not to respond, which was fine.We wouldn’t have done either of those things.He also requested timestamped screenshots for his report.Since he was working out of the LASD Homicide Bureau, he wanted us to drop Max’s phone at the Lost Hills station, where local deputies would log it and send it downtown to the cyber unit.

I also called Deputy Gonzalez, just to keep him in the loop, which turned out to be a smart move.He sent a deputy over to do a quick on-scene copy and photograph the messages, so we didn’t have to drive to the station and Max kept his phone.

We went to bed around midnight, but a little before dawn, Max and I gave up pretending to sleep and went downstairs to make coffee.Max looked exhausted, dark shadows under his eyes, and I assumed I had the same telltale signs of strain.He moved robotically as he made the coffee, grinding the beans and pouring the water into the coffee maker.

“Let’s not stress too much about those texts,” I said for the hundredth time as I grabbed mugs from the cupboard near the fridge.

“I’m trying not to.”He glanced at me, distracted.“But I can’t stop thinking about who could have sent them.It had to be someone who knew about Lucinda Pratt, right?”

I grimaced.“Her death wasn’t a secret.”

“No.”

“Which means a lot of people knew about her death.”I leaned on the granite, studying Max.“It’s someone who has a grudge against you.”

“That’s not a short list.”He winced.

“You may have put some people’s backs up over the years, but texts like those run deeper.Whoever sent those messages wishes you actual harm.That’s different from someone who thinks you were rude to them once.So… who from your past fits that bill?”

“Besides River, the first person who comes to mind is Bethany,” he grumbled.“When we ran into her at El Mar y Sol she made it clear she had a grudge against me.”

“River isn’t involved.I called Sam last night to double-check River didn’t slip away from Rainy Dale or something.He’s still there.Sam saw him with his own eyes.”

“Okay, well, that’s good to know.”

“Bethany, however, is a different story.She’s local and obviously resents you.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh.“I’ll say.To think this whole time she’s been assuming I was the reason she lost her job at the hospital.She’s in denial about her own behavior.Of course the hospital had to fire her.She opened them up to legal trouble.How is that my fault?”

“It’s not, but she needed someone to blame.”

“I guess,” he muttered.

“Do you have the same number you had when you lived here?”

“Yes.I saw no need to change it.”

“And she had your number back then?”

“She did.”

“Okay, then she definitely could have sent those texts.We’ll let Hartley know about your run-in with Bethany.”