After dropping Daphne off at her office, I went to the clubhouse to see Byte.
“Have you found anything?”
“Not really,” he grumbled. “I do think her husband is truly missing and not hiding.”
“What led you to that conclusion?”
“I can’t find anything on him. It’s incredibly difficult in this day and age to disappear unless you’ve really disappeared. His bank account and credit cards have had no activity. Same with his cell phone. The police reports say his car has been parked in the same place since he was reported missing. If I had to guess, I’d say the dude is dead.”
“If that’s true, then who the hell is harassing Daphne?”
“I don’t know. I tried to find a paper trail from Daniel Garrison but came up empty. I really don’t know where else to look.”
“The person who burned down the dock was in a boat. Do any of our players have a boat?”
“Yes, but they don’t match the description of the one you saw,” he said and held up one finger. “Before you ask, I did a search on boats matching the description of the one you sawleaving Daphne’s dock. Here are the results from that search,” he said and handed me a thick stack of papers. “There are roughly fifteen hundred red and black bass boats registered in this area.”
“I’m assuming you haven’t looked through the list.”
“You assume correctly. I figured it would be better to let Daphne look over it. She’s the only one who would recognize any of the names as being pertinent.”
“Anything else?”
“Unfortunately, no. As far as I can tell, the husband’s mother isn’t involved. She’s got money, but most of it is tied up in investments. What she does have is accounted for.”
“Meaning she isn’t paying anyone to hurt Daphne. Any chance she’s doing it herself?”
“I don’t think so. She was at a charity event the night of the dock fire.”
“What about Daphne’s mother?”
“I didn’t see any suspicious activity on her credit cards or bank account, and she’s on week three of a month-long cruise.”
“What about the best friend?”
“His financials didn’t show anything out of the ordinary. He and his girlfriend have a baby in the NICU. When he’s not at work, he’s at home or at the hospital.”
I exhaled heavily. “Well, I guess that’s that.”
“Hang on. There is one thing I wanted to mention to you. I think there’s a pattern to this person’s behavior.”
“A pattern? What do you mean?”
“We need to clarify the order of events for the earlier incidents, but it seems like something significant happens, fails to produce significant results, and then something insignificant happens.”
My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I’m not following you.”
“After the first flat tire failed to result in an accident, her mailbox was knocked down a few days later. After she found thevenomous snake in her house, which bit her dog instead of her, her glass door was shattered by a rock. Another flat tire, and her trash can was stolen. I think whoever is behind this is lashing out in anger when their attempts to hurt or kill her don’t go according to plan.”
“Nothing happened after the attack at Irene’s house,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but she was here at the clubhouse for several days, and she’s been with you ever since.”
“By that logic, we should expect a trivial act of anger since burning her house down didn’t work out.”
“Exactly,” Byte said.
“Do you think we should have someone staying at the lake house to make it look like she’s still there?”