by. It seems she and her purse got separated when she was checked in downstairs in Emergency and we haven’t located it yet.”
“Valuables?” Colin questioned.
“We women keep our entire lives in our handbags,” Emily said, thinking about all the things she had stashed in her own.
“Yes,” the nurse agreed. “She said it had her cash and credit cards, the keys to her Mercedes—family photos.”
“We’ll be back to see her another time,” Emily told the nurse as she and Colin walked to the elevator.
The doors opened and they stepped inside.
“What now?” he asked, taking her hand as he watched the numbers descend. “Check in with Ernie? See if they’ve searched the office again?”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
CHAPTER 21
“Hey, Ernie.” Colin gave a friendly clap on the older detective’s back, catching Ernie standing in the office building’s main hall, staring into the taped-off crime scene. “We hoped we’d catch you here.”
Ernie turned and noticed Emily coming up behind Colin. “Hello, Emily. You’ve been with this clown all day?” Ernie asked with a smirk, hiking up his pants.
“We were wondering if you found anything new,” she said, staring up into the face of the tall, burly detective.
“Like a bloody paperweight?” Ernie asked. “Sorry, no. I had the CSI team comb this place from top to bottom.”
“What about the dumpster out back?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Under the stairs?” Colin asked.
“Got it covered.”
“You went through Fiona’s desk, too?” Emily questioned.
“They did.”
“That could only mean one thing,” she said.
“What’s that?” Ernie asked, rubbing his chin.
“The killer took it,” she answered.
“No, really?” Ernie asked sarcastically, raising his eyebrows and dipping his chin. “Nothing like the obvious.”
“So who are you going to search next, Detective?” she asked.
“I don’t want to say just yet, but I have a search warrant in the works. It should be ready within the hour. If nothing turns up at the first place, then we’ll go down the list.”
“And what list would that be?” Emily arched an eyebrow at him.
Colin seemed amused by the banter between the two of them.
“Well, little lady, who do you think should be on that list?”
“As much as I hate to say it, I think you’ll have the mayor at the top of that list.”
“Well, yes. He is Maggie’s brother and he might have been defending her honor,” Ernie agreed. “Then again, he was the first to invest in the new resort, and we know he was here about the time Josh was.”
“How do you know that?” Emily asked.
“Turns out, he was on the security tape coming in, but not leaving.”
“Did you interview him?”
“Not yet. I’ve left messages at his office and his home, but no response. I even stopped by his house, but no one answered the door. I won’t need his permission to search his house, though, once I get the search warrant.
“Okay, then there’s Fiona,” Emily added to the list.
“Fiona? The assistant?” Ernie’s voice rose with surprise. “Why would she be on the list?”
“When Colin and I interviewed Josh he said he heard her coming down the stairs as he left. He hid under the stairs over there,” Emily motioned down the hall toward the alcove under the central staircase, “and watched her pass by and go into the office. Josh said he made sure Lucas was still breathing before he left, so she would have been the last one to see Lucas alive.”
“That’s assuming he was telling the truth,” Ernie shot back.
“Did he tell you about Fiona when you questioned him?” Colin asked.
“He did, but I figured he was just trying to cover his six, you know.”
“His butt, Emily. It’s a military term,” Colin explained.
“Yes, I know. You use it all the time.” She grinned at him. “Are you already forgetting all the time we spent together?”
She turned back to Ernie. “Well, Ernie, did you know Lucas and Fiona were having an affair?”
“I might have heard something about that. Doesn’t mean she killed him. Besides, she never showed up on the security video,” Ernie said.
“You do know there’s a back door to this building, right? And there’s no camera out there?” she asked. “Anyone who knew that could have come and gone without being caught on tape.”
“Yeah, but I can only work with what I have. Josh Sullivan is who I have admitting he was in a knock-down, drag-out fight with the victim and he’s on tape coming and going around the time of the murder.”
“Doesn’t mean he killed him.” Emily used Ernie’s words against him and he winced. “Fiona could have been jealous of Maggie,