Page 24 of Murder in the Lighthouse

“He gave off that kind of vibe that says he’s a ‘by-the-book’ kind of cop. That’s probably why Brent hired him.”

Brogan nodded. She couldn’t argue with that assessment as she climbed into the truck.

Back at home, they realized they couldn’t wait around for Theo to get back to them with information about Keith Shepherd. They needed to keep digging, following any lead they could find that pointed to an alternate theory.

While Brogan scoured the internet for any details about Jill Vosberg’s murder, combing through newspaper articles, looking for any overlooked detail that could shed light on Keith Shepherd’s involvement, Lucien sat in front of his laptop, taking another look at Sam’s personal life. He tried to find anything that might throw up a red flag: Sam’s workload, his day-to-day relationships at his job, including his movements in the days before his murder.

Lucien couldn’t find anything that stood out, so he emailed Barry Heywood to ask a few more questions.

As Brogan delved deeper into Jill Vosberg’s death, she stumbled on a forum post from a few years back that caught her eye. It was from a user dubbed “TruthSeeker22,” who claimed to have insider knowledge about Jill’s case. The post mentioned the string of unsolved murders in the area dating back to 1999. The poster also referenced Connie Upland’s murder.

And then it hit her.

She had the best source right here in town, a person who knew Santa Cruz crimes better than anyone else, second only to Brent Cody. But Brent was on vacation. On the other hand, Jade Weingarten had just moved to Pelican Pointe. The woman had written lengthy blog posts to bring attention to bizarre murders that had been unsolved going back decades. She had exposed crooked cops, detailed their habits, and sometimes captured serial killers firsthand like no other blogger or podcaster in the area. The self-described true crime junkie had her own sources and a history of not pulling punches. Oh, yes, Jade could be instrumental in helping them crack the case.

Thrilled by this potential breakthrough, Brogan shared the information with Lucien.

“Way to think outside the box. Maybe Truthseeker22 has posted on her blog before,” Lucien supplied.

“Let’s have them over for dinner and find out.”

“Sure. But we could find out for ourselves by cross-referencing Truthseeker22’s profile, especially if they used the same name across all their posts.”

They spent hours researching the name. Their efforts led them down a winding path of cryptic messages left on other sites where the poster claimed several key players had gone missing under suspicious circumstances, further fueling their belief that this person might have inside knowledge.

“According to the first post Truthseeker22 made, he began posting ten years ago,” Brogan provided. “Is there any way to track down a poster?”

“For that, we’d need to use Jade’s analytics from the company that hosts her website. That might give us a starting point as to location. But it won’t ID the poster, especially if they use a Virtual Private Network.”

“So we’ve hit a dead-end,” she concluded. “I’ll call Jade and see if she and Birk are free for dinner.”

“Maybe we can put Birk’s tech skills to good use. Did you know he asked Jade to move in with him?”

“Jade mentioned it. I take it that Birk must’ve mentioned it during the search?”

“After we’d finished, yeah, he told both of us. Beckett seemed surprised.”

“All I know is that it comes at a time when she’s ready to buy a house. Why now, I wonder?”

Lucien shrugged. “Men do strange things when they think they might lose the woman they love. Has she decided to do it? Move in with him?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out over dinner. I need to come up with something that isn’t boring?”

“Whatever it is, it won’t top your tamales.”

Time became adeciding factor when throwing together an impromptu supper on short notice. Brogan fell back on one of Maeve’s tried and true dishes—roasted bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin served with baked apples and a hearty salad.

When the doorbell rang a few minutes before seven, the house smelled like a mix of sweet cinnamon and savory bacon.

Brogan answered the door to see the couple nicely dressed: Birk in a sports jacket and khaki pants and Jade wearing a long black dress with a floral print. She’d let her hair down and left it flowing and curly. She promptly handed off a bottle of wine.

“I wasn’t sure what we were having, but this red goes with almost anything.”

“How thoughtful,” Brogan cooed, wrapping Jade up in a welcome hug. “But we should probably be bringing you a gift. We’re about to ask a favor, a big one. We need your expertise in tracking someone down off your blog.”

“How thrilling,” Jade returned. “Do you hear that Birk? They need my help. Whatever you need, I’m more than willing to do whatever, as long as I don’t have to cook.”

“Is this about Sam Heywood?” Birk wanted to know as he stepped into the entryway.

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