Page 45 of Crash and Burn

“There’s no name,” Sebastian pointed out.

Maggie pointed to the photo of the napkin. “Right, nothing printed, but there are two signatures at the bottom. And this signature—” she pointed, then flipped to another image, “—matches the one over here.” She flipped the screen again. “And this one back here.”

She was having to remember where in the grouping each picture was. They weren’t in chronological order, because Abbie’s records hadn’t been. Had she and Sebastian had time to go through them carefully, Maggie would have arranged them by date. When she had a chance, she’d duplicate the file and sort everything. Maybe it would reveal something else.

“The signature looks the same,” she said, still pointing and popping through the images. “And the names on the first two are the same, as well. Merrit Geller—always in room number five.”

Though she’d said it before, this time Sebastian frowned, and stared at her. “How would he always get the same room? Wouldn't he sometimes want it and someone would be in it?”

Maggie shrugged. “I didn't see any documentation where she moved somebody out of five for him. But if she occasionally ran at as low volume as the paperwork and as your mother suggests, Abbie might have been leaving that room open for him whenever possible.”

“Which would indicate—” Sebastian offered, “that maybe she’d liked the guy … At least professionally.”

Maggie thought about it. What if Aunt Abbie had liked him more than professionally? She'd never married or had kids of her own, but to think that she'd never gotten involved with anyone would be ridiculous. It would be easy enough to have a romantic relationship with one of the boarders. No one would accuse her of having a man over when she wasn’t married. They could keep it all hush-hush. And Maggie suspected that would have been necessary then. It would hurt her business to have an affair that people knew about.

Sebastian seemed to see what she was thinking. “If she was involved with him, he may have had special privileges.”

Nodding along, Maggie flipped through the pictures again. “When we were photographing her records, I noticed a couple copies of a list of rules.” She found one and pointed to the old mimeographed copy. “They had to be inside by eleven pm though. And they weren't able to leave before five in the morning. The Blue River murders are all estimated to have taken place late at night.”

She was thinking out loud now. “Were all the men inside every night, did she check that?”

“Or—” Sebastian proposed, “did Sabbie just lock the doors at eleven? I mean, I've stayed at hostels before when I traveled. They had very similar rules, but they didn’t corral you. If you weren't in by a certain time, you simply weren't allowed back in until they opened in the morning. It didn't mean you were always there.”

“If someone was her favorite, he might have gotten a key.”

Sebastian nodded along and Maggie didn't know if it worried him as much as it worried her that Aunt Abbie might have been involved with a killer. She'd loved her aunt fiercely. Even now, she missed Aunt Abbie more than anything, but—as she’d recently had the harsh lesson—other adults weren't the heroes they'd been held up as when she was a child. Even her parents hadn’t come close.

It was looking more possible that her Aunt might have had some relationship with a murderer. The thoughts were turning in Maggie’s head and she didn’t like any of them.

Whoever had broken into her house had left no trace of a break in, even though she was certain she’d locked the doors. The police had assumed she was mistaken. Now Maggie was more confident that Aunt Abbie likely hadn’t reclaimed all the keys. It had been stupid of her to move in here without remedying that immediately. Once again she’d been trusting and look what she’d gotten.

“Sebastian, I need to get the locks changed as soon as possible.”

The dawning expression in his eyes indicated he’d put together the same problem she had.

He picked up his phone and was talking to someone in just a few seconds about getting her locks changed out. While he lifted that weight off her shoulders her thoughts tumbled randomly.

Was Merrit Geller the Blue River Killer? Or was he the La Vista Rapist? Or was he just a random boarder Abbie liked?

When a knock came at the front door, Maggie turned to look at Sebastian, but he was still on the phone. Craning her neck to see out the front window, she realized whoever was at the door was close enough she couldn't see them.

But in her driveway sat a police car.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sebastian trailed Maggie to the front door. He, too, had seen the police car but not the officer.

It didn't surprise him though that Maggie opened the door and Marina Balero stood there. It did surprise him that she was alone.

“Officer Balero,” Maggie said, and Sebastian could hear the question in her voice.

“Marina, please,” she corrected, looking between the two of them, and offering Sebastian a “Hello … This is a bit of a personal visit.”

Marina looked wary as though the two of them might turn her in for showing up on Maggie's doorstep.

But Maggie was generous with her wide smile and open gesture. Despite the wild kiss, Maggie didn’t seem to have any issues with the officer being his ex. That shouldn’t make him like Maggie even more than he did, but it did.

“Come in,” Maggie led them all into the living room.

---