Laura ate the last bite of her sub while looking at the results on her cell phone, barely remembering the taste of the food once it was gone. When she was on a case, food became a secondary consideration. She had to focus on the task at hand.
“Right,” she said. “Got it. He’s registered as the owner of a number of vessels in the area under this company—Jones Harbor Tours Inc.”
“Imaginative name,” Nate snorted. “Let me search that.” He threw the last bite of his own lunch into his mouth and started typing, while Laura searched for Dina Grey’s profile on social media.
She found an account easily: the young woman had set it up in her own name and with only a couple of symbols added to the end to make her username more unique, and the profile picture showed her beaming and smiling. Spookily, it was a photograph that Laura remembered seeing on the walls of the Grey family home. They must have had a family portrait session, and Dina liked the photograph so much that she used it to represent herself online.
“Look at this,” Nate said, showing her his screen. There was a website open on it—the banner proclaimed JONES HARBOR TOURS INC with a graphic of an old-fashioned ship cresting a wave—and below were images of the various tours the company offered.
One of them was a boat Laura recognized well. She’d seen it in the crime scene photographs they were given as part of their briefing.
“That’s Elias Makks’s boat,” she said, grabbing his cell to bring it closer to her face.
“Correct,” Nate said. “No one we’ve spoken to mentioned that he didn’t own it. The way they talked about him getting it refitted, I assumed that he was the owner.”
“Me too,” Laura said. She looked down at her own screen and scrolled down only slightly—then paused. “And look at this.”
She showed Nate a photograph from Grey’s feed, a picture of herself wearing a pirate wench-style costume and holding a tray in the air as if to demonstrate her waitressing skills. Beside her was an older man with an arm around her shoulders. His name was tagged.
Theo Kelleigh.
“I think we just found our first viable suspect,” Nate said, dusting the crumbs off his hands and stuffing the wrapper from his sub down into the sidepod. “His office is right over there. We going in?”
“We’re going in,” Laura confirmed. There was no way they were going to let this one slip through their fingers. It could be the easiest solve they’d had in months—a man who so clearly provided a connection to both of the victims and had a good reason to feel a deep connection to the boats as well. Namely, that he owned them.
“What’s our strategy?” Nate asked, getting out of the car.
Laura got out, too, looking at Nate over the roof. “We go in talking about Dina first and see if he brings up Elias on his own. If he does, we can dig deeper into that. Casual information gathering at first. Then when he gives us what we need, or doesn’t, we can go harder and start asking for alibis and looking for motive.”
Nate nodded. “I’m there with you,” he said. They walked across the parking lot and up to the front of the tour operator’s office together.
It was small inside: three desks and a rack of brochures, each of them apparently pertaining to a different tour operated by the company. Two women were sitting at each of the desks near the front of the office, but at the back behind a much bigger desk, Laura immediately recognized Theo Kelleigh from his photograph.
There were no other customers in the office, which was a stroke of good luck. He wouldn’t have any excuse not to talk to them.
“Theo Kelleigh?” Laura said loudly, ignoring the efforts of the nearest worker to get her attention. The boss himself looked up immediately, then stood from behind his desk.
“Can I help you?” he asked, doing up his suit jacket.
Laura pulled out her badge. “We’re with the FBI,” she said. “Do you mind if we have a quick conversation?”
It was a ploy, of course. He had no choice. If he said he didn’t want to talk, then he would quickly find himself at the Sheriff’s station in handcuffs.
“Of course,” he said, all politeness and business, steadfastly retaining his smile and not looking at his employees. “Please, take a seat. What is this about?”
Laura could almost see his racing thoughts. He was probably telling himself right about now to stay calm—that they hadn’t come to arrest him, but only to talk. He was probably thinking that he wasn’t even a suspect yet.
“The two murders that happened in the last week here in town,” Laura said, sitting down and folding her hands in her lap with diffident confidence, staring him in the eye.
“Oh, thank God you’re here,” Kelleigh said, lowering his voice and dipping his head. He dropped down into his seat and leaned forward, as though he didn’t want the other two in the room to hear. “What’s happening? Do you know who did it yet?”
Laura was beyond puzzled by his reaction. He was acting like he was in fear for his life, like he thought he was going to be next. Why would he think that? Or was he just trying to mislead them?
“We’re pursuing several lines of enquiry,” Nate said smoothly. “You seem very concerned about the attacks.”
“Of course I am—I’m the target!” Kelleigh said, loudly enough to make his other employees look in his direction—and completely knocking Laura sideways. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“You’re the target?” she repeated, hoping it would prompt him to give more of an actual explanation.