Page 80 of Trick of Light
Heather’s eyes widened. “So Keith Garner was planning to be a police officer?”
“Or at least he had the t-shirt.”
After saying goodbye to Heather, he took a moment to text that tidbit of information to Gabby, along with a photo of the newsletter.
When you see Chen, show her the pic of Keith Garner. Maybe she’ll recognize him.
He stared at it for a long moment himself, searching for anything familiar in that seventeen-year-old face. If Fiona had been hanging out with him, had he ever come to the inn? Would some of the older staff members remember him? And if he had survived that plane crash and returned for some reason, would they recognize him now?
Which brought up another question. Why would he return? Was he after revenge because Amelia bought his house and kicked his family into the guesthouse? Did he want to reconnect with Fiona somehow? And how did Tamara fit into this? Those hidden cameras at her house…no police training would be needed to do that, but it might help.
Before continuing on to the inn, he decided to stop at the constable’s office and talk to Luke. He needed to let him know that Tamara was nowhere to be found. Surely that was breaking the terms of the “probationary bail” arrangement, but more importantly, she could be in danger.
He found both Luke and Detective Hooper in the office. Hooper’s big rear end was once again settled on the desk, a position that clearly irritated Luke, who had pushed his chair all the way back to avoid the hefty officer.
Luke jumped up gladly at the sight of Barnaby and came around the desk to give him a quick hug. “You’re back. How’s Tamara?”
“That’s why I’m here. I can’t find her.” He looked at Detective Hooper, who was heaving his body off the desk. “Did you take her home?”
“Yes, I dropped her off at two-oh-five pm. Noted it in the logs.”
“Did you take her all the way into the cottage or leave her at the head of the path?”
Hooper drew back with an offended stare, his eyes darkening to a hard brown. “Are you questioning my police work?”
“I’m checking on my grandmother.”
Hooper relaxed, but only a little. Touchy, thought Barnaby. “I took her into her residence. She said she was tired but offered me tea. I told her I couldn’t accept any substance from her. I reiterated the terms of her release and advised her to provide the bail money as soon as feasible. Then I left.”
“Did she say if she was going somewhere with anyone?”
“She better not. That would be against the terms of her release, which I made sure she understood. We don’t usually let people out on a provisional basis like this, but we didn’t think she was a flight risk so I personally signed off on it.”
Luke was frowning. “I hope she’s okay. I argued that she’d be safer here, with all the rumors and fears going around. But I got outvoted.”
“She was happy to be home.” Hooper hitched up his pants. “She told me she had some animals and so forth to check on. If anything, maybe she wandered into the woods, and I’m not going after her if she did. Those old southwest woods are a real jungle.”
“I’ll go check on her,” said Luke, just as the phone rang. He answered it, listened for a few minutes, then gestured to Hooper. “You might want to jump on this. Break-in at Amelia Burnhauser’s place.”
“On it.” Hooper loped out of the office, while Luke wrapped up the call.
“Was it the guesthouse?” Barnaby started to explain about Gabby searching it, but Luke shook his head.
“No, the house. The Highgroves reported it. They saw a door open and peeked inside. They think someone was looking for a safe because all the paintings were off the walls and the bookshelves emptied.”
A chill traveled through Barnaby’s body. Gabby had just been there. What if she’d crossed paths with the vandal?
“Do you think it could have been Tamara?” Luke was asking. “Amelia left the house to her for a reason, right?”
“If it was Tamara, she had every right to be there, like you just said.” Barnaby tensed, ready for battle, but Luke threw up his hands in surrender.
“I just want to make sure she isn’t in danger. I’m on your side, Barnaby. And Tamara’s.”
Barnaby heaved in a breath to collect himself. No need to bite his brother’s head off. “Sorry. Hey, before you head over to Amelia’s, do you remember a kid named Keith Garner? He would have been about Carson’s age, maybe a little younger. He went to the island high school.” He dug out his phone and showed Luke the newsletter photo.
“Keith Garner…now that’s a name from the past. I think Fiona knew him. I remember hearing the staff talk about it. She kept sneaking off the property and no one could figure out how.”
“Did you ever meet him?”
