“Maggie, you may have solved the mystery,” Camille congratulated her.
“Not so fast, Cam,” Emily cautioned. “That still doesn’t clear Josh. There was no paperweight on the desk. I was in there for a while, I never saw one, and I would have noticed it. The police will say Josh used it, took it when he left, and then disposed of it.”
Maggie’s face had held the briefest of smiles for the first time since the murder, but it quickly faded to a frown.
“We have to find the second paperweight,” Emily stared directly at Isabel.
“But where?” Isabel asked.
“First thing we have to do is let Detective Kaufman know, get his people to go over Lucas’s office again with a fine-tooth comb. This time they’ll know what to look for. Let’s pray it doesn’t have Josh’s fingerprints on it,” Emily said, hoping it didn’t have Sully’s prints on it either. She wondered if it might have Fiona’s.
“Shouldn’t you call him tonight?” Maggie asked.
“It’s late, Maggs. They won’t do anything about it until tomorrow. I’ll fill Alex in and we can get a hold of Ernie first thing in the morning.”
“Fill Alex in on what?” Alex asked as the men sauntered into the room.
“Somebody’s ears were burning,” Camille joked.
“On what we’ve discovered in Josh’s case. Why don’t we step out to the deck and talk?” Emily suggested. She assumed Colin would have refrained from sharing information in front of Jonathan the way Emily just did in front of the girls.
“We’ll start dishing up dessert while you talk,” Camille offered. “Peach cobbler a la mode.”
“You tryin’ to make me fat?” Maggie laughed weakly.
The girls got up to head for the kitchen, and Isabel leaned over and whispered to Emily. “Don’t forget we need to talk. Jethro?”
“I haven’t forgotten. After I brief Alex.”
CHAPTER 19
Colin drove Emily home from Maggie’s after Emily and Isabel had a chance to talk about Jethro on the front porch. She was quiet on the drive home, lost in thought about what Isabel had disclosed to her.
Colin walked her to the front door, the interior lights giving the porch of her bungalow an inviting warm glow.
“Would you like to come in for a few minutes?” she asked as she unlocked the door.
“I’d better get going. It’s getting late and I still have to pick up my gear from Ernie’s house. I don’t want to wake them.
“I thought you drove directly to see me.”
“I stopped at Ernie’s first, I had brought something for him. It was in my bag and I accidentally left it at his place.”
“I wanted to go over what Isabel told me tonight.” She moved in close to Colin, placing her hands on his muscular chest.
He responded by sliding his hands around her waist.
“Aren’t you even a little curious?” she asked.
“I’m very curious, but—”
“You have a funny way of showing it,” she cut him off, her lips forming a pout. “Besides, I thought you’d want to stay and enjoy a little private time with me.” She did—he would be gone back to California soon. “But, I guess you don’t.” She let go of him and started to turn away.
“Hey, don’t be like that,” he said, catching her by the hand. “If I can finish up with Ernie quickly, I’ll come back. Otherwise, I’ll just head to my apartment and see you tomorrow, then you can fill me in on all of it. Okay?” His lips curled into a sexy smile, and before she could answer, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
She felt the warmth of his body as she pressed against him. He kissed her thoroughly and removed any doubt that he truly wanted to stay. She would have to settle for this one satisfying kiss to keep her until tomorrow.
He stepped off the porch and waved good-bye as he got in his car and drove away, only waiting long enough to make sure she had gone safely inside.
Kicking off her shoes, she headed to the bedroom to slip into her pajamas, then to the kitchen for a cup of chamomile tea. As she waited for the tea kettle to whistle, she thought about what Isabel had told her. Jethro had put out feelers, he said, asked around and showed the photo to a few colleagues. One man thought that maybe he recognized Evan, but not the girl.
He did say, Isabel recalled, that when he had another friend run Evan’s photo through facial recognition, there seemed to be a match, for a different name, but access to any