Page 36 of Eden

“My bet is on Kiera being at Jessica’s,” Bethenny said, nodding, her eyes still far away. “Maybe Kiera saw something, or suspected something, and she was silenced before she could speak up. Who did you call for that information? Who is Samuel?” she asked.

Lachlan gave a small smile. “We worked on a previous case together. He works for a private security firm. They needed to cover something up, and we needed information. Our deal benefitted both parties... Before you judge, we arrested seven men due to that information.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Before I judge? You’re quick to assume I’m naïve and don’t realize these deals are done more frequently than we probably care to admit.” There was an edge to her voice that hadn’t been there earlier.

“You’re right, and I apologize,” he said, crossing his arms almost defensively. “I don’t think for a second you’re naïve; I just meant for you not to judge me like I obtain information illegally. I follow the book... in most instances.”

Lachlan didn’t know why, but he suddenly cared what she thought of him. He cared more than he wanted to admit.

“If I thought you were dirty, I wouldn’t be working this case with you,” she told him bluntly. “I’m in a position in my life, thanks to a lot of hard work and financial sacrifice, that if I don’t want to work, I don’t need to—for a while, at least. I know how the system works, and so I put things in place to ensure I had enough money to walk from any job, to quit at a moment’s notice if I didn’t like what was going on. Of course, I don’t have enough not to work ever again, but I have enough to get by until I find another job. I don’t say that to brag, because I made a lot of sacrifices to get to this point, but I won’t sacrifice my integrity. I believe in bending the rules, but you can only bend them so far before they snap and then there’s no going back from that—no sticking things back together.”

The corner of his lips turned up and he admired her even more now. But he didn’t tell her that. Instead he said, “I don’t like things to snap either.”

She nodded, seeming to indicate she was pleased they were on the same page. She returned her attention to whatever she was looking at on her computer, but his eyes remained on her for a moment. When she concentrated, her eyebrows creased together and she squinted. It was cute—and cute wasn’t a word he’d thought he would use to describe Bethenny. Strong, honest, brave, tough-as-nails: they were all words to describe her. But the more he learned about her, the more he saw the softness she kept hidden from the world. He wondered if she did that intentionally, or if she did it without thinking because her job required it.

He shook his head, needing to concentrate.

Lachlan loaded a street map of Memory Lane, wanting to have a look at the bird’s-eye view of the neighboring properties. If the killer went over the fence from Jessica’s house, what would be the most likely path to take?

He loaded the footage and identified 11 Memory Lane—a corner lot. Louise White’s house was next door, and a very old house on the other side. All houses faced onto a park.

Lachlan stared at the view, trying to work out why the killer would’ve gone over the fence into Louise’s backyard. The more he stared at it, the more it didn’t make sense. There were no alleys that ran though the block, and the properties at the back of Louise’s all had high fences and playground equipment in them. If families lived in the homes, it was more likely that someone would’ve been home and would’ve seen the killer. Whereas Jessica’s house had a low front fence and faced a park. The killer should’ve walked out the front of the property.

He sat mulling over that, trying to come up with plausible explanations, but nothing made sense.

“What’s troubling you?” Bethenny asked, and he wondered how long he’d been staring at his computer.

“I can’t work out why the killer would’ve gone into Louise White’s backyard. Look at these property borders and fences...” He angled his computer monitor toward her. “It makes no sense at all.”

She stared at the computer a moment. “You’re assuming he went over the fence. Maybe he didn’t but somehow his weapon went over the fence? Maybe he tripped and it flew through the air? Who knows?”

“I mean, we can’t rule it out, but it seems unlikely,” he said, staring at the computer once more.

“I don’t ever rule out a possibility until I know for sure. I’ve been burned making assumptions that were incorrect. I learn from my mistakes—I don’t repeat them,” she said, but she didn’t sound proud or arrogant. If anything, she sounded tortured.

He returned his attention to the screen once more, focusing on the fence. “Maybe the killer went over the fence because it was the fastest way home.”

Bethenny raised an eyebrow. “You think Louise White is our killer?”

Lachlan rubbed his jaw. “Not really; she seems a little too frail, to be honest. But maybe that was a performance? She came in here looking like a concerned citizen doing a good deed, but maybe it’s all a guise.”

Bethenny chewed on her cheek. “Something did seem off about her,” she said, but she sounded a long way from convinced.

She picked up her phone. “Jackson, while you’re looking at the phone records and movements of Jessica and Kiera, will you please also create a file on Louise White? She lives next door to Jessica Mella. Thanks.” She nodded and ended the call.

Lachlan knew they could wait for the team to put together a file, or they could do some research the old-fashioned way. Besides, he wanted to take a look at the fence.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and go and have a look around Louise White’s yard. I want to see if anything is out of place and if the fence is damaged from someone climbing over it... anything at all. Gut instinct tells me this is important,” he said.

“Let’s go,” she said, seemingly relieved to get away from the case notes in her hand.

Paperwork was important when working a case, but getting out and physically moving—investigating something—felt like taking action, like a step forward.

“I’ll drive,” he said, grabbing his keys.

“I can drive, you know,” she said with a raised eyebrow, although he didn’t think there was much behind her annoyed façade.

He grinned. “Trust me, I have no doubts about that. I just like to drive. It helps me clear my head—it always has.”

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