Page 48 of Murder in the Lighthouse

“I’m with Lucien on that,” Birk noted.

“I know. I’ll make a deal with both of you,” Trish stated. “You let me contact Theo Woodsong and find out what progress he’s made on Sam’s murder. Let me feel him out by bringing him here to sort through what Bethany put together. If he’s any kind of detective worth his salt, he’ll want to see this.”

“Fine,” Lucien mumbled. “But don’t be surprised when he blows you off.”

15

When Lucien pulled into the driveway at their house, he was surprised to see Theo leaning up against his squad car, arms crossed, waiting.

“How did you know we were on our way back?” Lucien asked.

“I had a lengthy conversation with Sergeant Trish Vosberg from the sheriff’s office. I didn’t join your little band of merry men, so you enlisted another cop to play your games. Very clever of you.”

“We wanted results and found someone willing to listen,” Brogan said, standing her ground. “Did Trish happen to mention her sister’s murder? Did she happen to say how she had been leaving posts on blogs for the past ten years, hoping she’d come across someone who knew about Jill Vosberg’s murder or a clue to solving it herself? We realized she might possess insiderinformation that could help us. At the time, we didn’t know Trish worked for the sheriff’s department…not until later when we met her in person. That was a plus. For us.”

She hesitated to go on, not wanting to let on that Birk had been the one to discover Trish’s occupation. She didn’t want to drag him into a messy predicament with the cops. Instead, she chose her words carefully. “Have you seen the storage locker?”

“I’ve studied the photos Trish sent me. Yes.” Theo let out a sigh and shoved off the car. “And no, she didn’t mention the blog posts. Her call was more about joining forces, hoping we might turn up something more serious than switching labels on a bunch of wine bottles. Your escapades weren’t enough to locate Bethany. But your venture did lead us to suspects.”

“And you’re here to rub our faces in what we didn’t get done. Is that it?” Birk replied. “At least we’re doing something to find Bethany. She’s out there somewhere, and the people she trusted the most are letting her down.”

Lucien spoke up, his voice firm. “With all due respect, Theo, we’ve seen the slow progress from law enforcement. It’s tough to watch from the sidelines with nothing getting done. And we weren’t sure what we’d find when we decided to check out the winery.”

Theo held up a hand. “I’m not here to rub your noses in anything. I’m here to help. After speaking to Trish, I’m convinced you’re on the right track. I discovered a lead that came in on another missing person that ties back directly to the Shepherd brothers. Something that happened more recently, back in 2023, when a man went missing after visiting Noir Hills Estates. In fact, the person who called in the missing person report lives here in Pelican Pointe. Savannah Quinn has been looking for her brother, Owen, for almost two years.”

“Wait a minute,” Jade said, snapping her fingers. “I know that name. Savannah Quinn is the person who bought Tazzie’shouse on Beacon Lane, the person Nick had already approved for the loan.”

“That’s weird,” Brogan stated. “Where did she move from? And why is she moving here now?”

Theo shifted his posture. “She filed the report from San Diego when her brother failed to show up for their parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary party, a party scheduled for months. She probably wants to be closer to where he disappeared. And Pelican Pointe is far more affordable than Santa Cruz.”

“Hmm. Under what circumstances did Owen go missing from a vineyard?” Brogan asked. “Did he drop in to pick up a case of wine for his parents, and the Shepherd brothers killed him?”

“Who knows? Maybe,” Theo responded. “The report says that Owen Quinn is a wine connoisseur and a freelance journalist who writes for a wine magazine calledCork & Yield. He did wine reviews on the side but mostly featured local wineries up and down the California Coast that specialized in making red wines.”

Lucien exchanged a look with the others. “Maybe Keith and Kenneth didn’t like Owen’s review of their precious Pinot Noir. The entire staff seems convinced it’s the best wine since the dawn of mankind.”

“Again, all I know is what’s in the report. Owen’s last stop before he quit answering his phone was Noir Hills Estates. I confirmed that. I know that because he texted his location to his partner in Cupertino. After that, nothing, no texts or messages or phone calls of any kind. It takes his partner and his sister eight days to convince law enforcement that something is wrong before two uniforms go to the vineyard to talk to the staff. They all say the same thing and stick to their stories. Owen left around six o’clock after spending most of the afternoon in thetasting room. They don’t know where he went after that. Law enforcement never located his Acura SUV. With no way to prove they were lying, the sheriff’s department decided that Owen had disappeared voluntarily.”

“They do that a lot,” Birk complained. “Have you noticed? They love to use that as an excuse.”

“Yes, but Cupertino is only fifty minutes away,” Brogan reasoned. “Could Owen have returned home to where he and his partner lived, and the partner did something to him later that evening?”

Theo shook his head. “His sister hired a private investigator. The PI used GPS data. It said Owen’s phone never left the area around the winery. The device was still working until it ran out of juice around midnight that evening.”

Brogan nodded. “If the sister is serious enough to hire a private investigator, she must not believe her brother left on his own.”

But Lucien had something else on his mind. “If the winery only makes one kind of wine, though, why does it take all afternoon in the tasting room?”

“I can answer that,” Jade provided. “Noir Hills makes different blends using the same red grapes. They use six different processes to make wines for different palates. Some are more acidic than others. Some sweeter, some with less tannins. I still have the brochure Maryann handed out. It explains the different varieties in detail. It’s reasonable that this guy would spend all afternoon tasting all the blends, especially if he considered himself a wine connoisseur.”

“That’s the same thing I thought,” Theo reasoned.

“Are we allowed to ask if you’re making progress on Sam’s murder investigation?” Lucien prompted.

“Let’s just say I realize the two cases are connected. I also realize the benefit of pooling my resources with Vosberg. And she believes you guys offer a layer of technology we could use.”

“Like syncing Keith Shepherd’s cell phone with Bethany’s,” Birk offered. “The only problem is a warrant. While Keith Shepherd is living under an alias, Bethany’s disappearance is handled by another investigator, who is not Trish Vosberg. And that investigator has zero interest in pursuing Shepherd as a suspect.”

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