Page 1 of Murder in the Lighthouse

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Brogan and Lucien Sutter found themselves up to their eyeballs in other people’s problems during the run-up to Thanksgiving. They barely had time to take down the Halloween decorations before tackling Beckett Callahan’s missing person case.

Sam Heywood, a thirty-two-year-old city engineer from Santa Cruz, had been visiting Pelican Pointe two weeks earlier. When Sam stopped returning texts or phone calls, his long-time friend Lacey Jarnigan, who just happened to be Beckett’s ex-girlfriend, had reported him missing to the police. Brent Cody had already assigned Theo Woodsong, the new cop in town, to the case.

But when she dropped by the police station, Brogan discovered numerous details about Sam’s case that Lacey and Beckett had left out, either through miscommunication orhanded misinformation, they’d gotten several things completely wrong.

It came to light at the front desk when Brogan asked for the new guy, Theo Windsong, and watched Eastlyn Parker laugh at the name.

“We’ve already had several people make that same mistake,” Eastlyn explained. “Theo went out and introduced himself to the community on his first day on the job. It seems the neighbors got the name wrong. It’s Woodsong, not Windsong. When Colt and I teased him about it, Theo didn’t even know that Wind Song was a popular perfume back in the day. I had an aunt who used to bathe in that stuff.”

Brogan widened her grin. “I must’ve heard one of the neighbors referring to him as Windsong. Sorry.”

“Yeah, well, if you want to stay on his good side, I wouldn’t get his name wrong. He’s kind of sensitive about it now.”

“Woodsong. Got it. I’ll repeat the name until I get the perfume out of my head. Is he here at the station? When Beckett dropped this on us last night, he told us we should talk to Theo if we had questions because Brent would be on vacation for the next two weeks.”

Eastlyn nodded, picking up a business card with Theo’s name and handing it to Brogan. “The Chief is taking his family on a vacation to New Mexico, where River’s from. They’re participating in a tribal event for her and the boys, a ritual of sorts. The Cody family left this morning to catch a flight out of Santa Cruz. River’s idea was to take the boys camping, get them to spend quality time with their dad, and return to their native roots. As for Theo, he’s out following up on a lead, but he’s the one in charge of the case while Brent’s gone. Besides, he’s the one who found Heywood’s car parked at the lighthouse three days ago.”

Brogan studied the business card with Theo’s direct line and his cell phone listed. “I must be missing something already. Why was Sam Heywood here in town? Was he visiting a relative?”

Eastlyn swiveled in her chair. “He wasn’t visiting. That’s the weird thing. Sam initially came to this area from Santa Cruz to try and find his younger sister, a thirty-year-old records clerk who disappeared in Wilder Ranch Park six days before he went missing.”

Brogan sent the cop a confused look as she took out her iPad to make notes. “Wait a sec. Are you saying this case involves two missing people, not one? And they’re brother and sister? And they’re both from Santa Cruz? And both of them went missing a week apart?”

“It’s complicated. Bethany Heywood went missing first. She disappeared three weeks ago, and her brother a week later. He’s been missing two weeks. If you ask me, it’s a weird set of circumstances.”

“So, is Woodsong handling both disappearances?”

“Negative. The sheriff’s department is handling Bethany’s case because they believe she went missing in Wilder Ranch State Park. She told friends she had met someone online who liked to hike. She headed out to the park on a Sunday morning to meet this person. When she didn’t return home, the family sent her older brother looking for her. Now, no one can find him.”

“I get the feeling Lacey Jarnigan must’ve left out a lot of information when she contacted Beckett. It seems we got the basic premise wrong from the start. Was there a search at Wilder Ranch for the sister?”

“You bet. Massive. I took the chopper up to help out with the search. The sheriff’s department looked for three days by air using night vision, heat sensors, and drones. The ground search included dogs and four dozen volunteers. In all that time, we didn’t find squat, not even a backpack.”

“So the brother leaves his house in Santa Cruz and heads to the state park to find his sister but ends up missing in Pelican Pointe? That’s another forty minutes from Wilder Ranch.”

“For some reason, the brother’s search led him to Pelican Pointe and the lighthouse because that’s where Theo found his vehicle.”

Brogan jotted down more notes on her iPad. “What kind of car was Sam driving?”

Eastlyn flipped through several pages of the report on her desktop computer. “Sam Heywood drove a dark green 2015 Subaru Forester. It’s in the police impound lot now. Bethany left Santa Cruz on a Sunday morning driving her mother’s 2019 gray Mazda sedan because her car was in the shop.”

“What happened to the Mazda? Did they find that?”

“They never found the car or her belongings. Both Bethany and her brother are still classified as missing. Only the brother’s Subaru is listed as impounded.” She shifted in her chair. “Where’s Lucien? You two usually pair up on these kinds of things.”

“He’s dealing with a personal matter. One of Graeme’s multitude of fans keeps sending him love letters. Graeme wants to know who’s doing it.”

Eastlyn hooted with another round of laughter. “Celebrities. They live in a world of their own making, always attracting the odd stalker. Is it legit?”

“We don’t know yet. It seems this person got hold of his personal email account and began professing her love like clockwork, sending a love letter once a week for several months, usually arriving before noon every Wednesday.”

“It could be a nutcase and therefore dangerous. Best to check it out. I guess Lucien’s not taking any chances. I wish I could’ve made it to your Halloween party. Not that I’m a fan of Halloween.”

“You could’ve dropped in for a coffee after your shift.”

Eastlyn shook her head. “Turns out, we were hopping until midnight. Even Brent was still on duty. And yet he still got up at five this morning to get the whole family on the road to catch their flight. I wanted to drop by to catch up on the latest gossip. Cooper stayed home to hand out candy. What did we miss?”

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