“It’s possible.” Sam tucked away that thought for later. “Did you notice anything unusual around the property? Strange activity?”
Clara thought for a moment then shook her head. “Nope, just the normal property map. Garvin was fine when I left.”
“What time was that?”
“Four o’clock.”
Sam nodded, making a mental note. “Thank you, Ms. Hartwell. This has been helpful.”
She walked him to the door, giving Lucy a quick scratch behind the ears. “Let me know if you need anything else, Chief.”
Back in the car, Sam’s mind raced. If those blueprints and documents were missing, it could mean they held the key to the motive behind Garvin’s death. He’d have to recheck the house, this time with a sharper eye.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sam filled his coffee mug and turned to face the squad room. The absence of Jo felt like a missing limb. Lucy must have felt it too. She padded over to Jo’s empty desk and sniffed at her chair, letting out a soft whine.
“I know, girl,” Sam said softly, his voice tinged with a mixture of frustration and determination. “We’ll get her back soon.”
As if on cue, Major sauntered across the room and leapt onto Jo’s desk. The black cat circled once before settling into a patch of sunlight, his green eyes surveying the room with regal indifference.
“All right, team,” Sam began, his voice cutting through the heavy silence. “We’ve got a lot to cover,and time isn’t on our side. Let’s start with what we know.”
Reese spoke up first. “Chief, I’ve been digging into Clara Hartwell’s background. She checks out clean and was at work at the time Garvin died.”
Sam nodded, processing the information. “Good work, Reese. So she’s not the killer, but is the information she was looking into the reason he was killed?”
Kevin leaned forward, his brow furrowed. “Why would that get him killed? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe it does,” Wyatt interjected, his fingers tapping rapidly on his laptop keyboard. “If the land has historical value, it could interfere with someone’s plans to exploit it somehow.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe. We’re missing something crucial here.” He turned to face the team fully. “When I spoke with Clara, she mentioned leaving blueprints and historical documents with Garvin. But we didn’t find any of that during our initial search of his house.”
Wyatt tapped his pencil on the desk. “We weren’t necessarily looking. We were focused on clues to the killer.”
Reese’s eyes widened. “You think the killer took them?”
“It’s possible,” Sam replied. “Or Garvin hid themsomewhere we didn’t think to look. Either way, we need to go back and search his place again, this time with a focus on finding those documents. Has that bronze statue Jo mentioned turned up anywhere?”
Reese shook her head. “I’ve been searching eBay and Marketplace, called antique dealers and auctioneers, but have nothing.”
“John Dudley says the way the wounds were on the body indicate Garvin could have been killed by something like that, but he’d need the actual statue to say for sure,” Kevin said.
“I found something interesting about Marnie Wilson,” Wyatt said. “I tailed her last night, and things got weird fast.”
Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Weird how?”
“She made a late-night visit to Beryl Thorne’s place,” Wyatt explained, his words coming out in a rush. “Left with a manila envelope then drove to some place called Parker Studies. Stayed there for a couple of hours, left without the envelope.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. “Parker Studies? Never heard of it.”
“That’s because it doesn’t exist,” Wyatt said, his voice tinged with frustration. “At least, not officially. I couldn’t find a single trace of it online or in any business registries.”
Reese leaned in, her curiosity piqued. “A front for something illegal?”
Sam nodded slowly, his mind racing. “Could be. But what’s the connection to Garvin’s murder and Jo’s frame-up?”
Kevin stood up, pacing the room as he thought out loud. “Okay, let’s break this down. We’ve got Garvin, who’s considering selling his land. Then he finds out it might have historical significance and gets cold feet. Next thing we know, he’s dead, and Jo’s being framed for it.”