Abbie shrugged. “I might as well know what got her so upset, but I’d prefer for you to open it.”
She handed it over, and this time Terra took it. Abbie stepped back as if holding out hope that nothing incriminating was inside.
Terra opened the envelope and pulled out two photographs.
Abbie gasped.
Jim stood with a blonde-haired woman in her forties. Terra wasn’t sure the photograph revealed the two were together romantically. “Have you seen this woman before?”
Abbie stared intently at the image as if trying to comprehend that her father would actually have an affair. “Not only do I not know who she is, I don’t think Mom took these pictures.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They’re too good, for one thing.”
Terra eyed Abbie. “And she never said anything to you about this?”
“Before you arrived at the hospital, she’d been in and out of consciousness and mumbled that he’d been cheating on her. I don’t think anyone else heard her. I can’t fathom that my father would cheat on Mom. He loved her too much. Maybe she misunderstood what these pictures meant.”
Exactly what Terra was thinking. “Can I hold on to the photos for now?”
“Sure.”
“What about your father? What were his hobbies?”
Abbie moved to sit on the edge of her parents’ bed again. “He worked in insurance. Was gone a lot. Mom was a secretary at the school. Occasionally they’d go out for dinner. It’s not like he painted or crafted fishing flies or built model trains.”
Terra blew out a breath. “I’d wanted to talk to your mother about what we discovered at the cabin, but that can’t happen now.”
Abbie rubbed her arms. “I’m here to help. I want whoever killed my father—if it’s this woman in the picture—I want this person found and to get what they deserve.”
Terra grabbed her cell and swiped over the screen a few times. She turned her phone so Abbie could see the images. “Ever seen any of this before?”
Abbie’s pupils dilated, and she pulled the cell closer. She shook her head. “It just looks like pottery to me. Where did you find it? What does it have to do with what’s happened?”
“The pots are artifacts.”
Abbie shrugged. “So? What are you saying?”
“It looks like your father might have been trafficking these pieces.”
“And you think this might have something to do with his murder?”
“It’s too soon to know for sure, but I’m looking for his connections regarding the pottery he kept at the cabin.”
Terra showed her the picture of the headdress. Abbie shook her head, clearly stunned.
“I can’t believe this.” Abbie pressed her face into her hands. “I didn’t even know about that cabin. I didn’t know he was keeping artifacts. It’s like I didn’t even know my father. Maybe he was having an affair too.”
Anguish pinged Terra’s heart. She hated being the one to deliver the painful news. She hoped she would learn that Jim wasn’t having an affair. Terra left the room to give Abbie time alone and found Jack standing in the center of the living room on his phone.
He shook his head, staring at the floor as he listened. While she waited, Terra mentally listed everything she would need, including Jim’s phone records. Maybe obtaining Pauline’s phone records would be necessary too.
Terra moved to look out the window at the backyard.
Jack joined her at the window. “You look like you’re a thousand miles from here.”
She’d been about a thousand miles away in her mind, for sure, remembering something she’d learned in the sting operation with the NPS. “Did your guys bring shovels?”