about we put all of this away? I know you trust your staff—but you never know—prying eyes and all that.”
His body tensed, and she knew he’d turned to look at her. She kept her head down. He was way too trusting. “If anyone here is guilty, it might be a good idea not to raise alarms.”
A few seconds passed before he sat back and shoved a hand through his hair, his expression worried. “You’re right.”
Dena’s heart pained for him. She knew he suspected someone in his house and yet, he cared for each one of them. Still, she had to maintain her focus and question him while she had the opportunity.
“Zeke, this is off the subject,” she said gently. “But who did you tell to cancel the phone in the casita when you locked it up?”
He frowned. “I’m not sure. I might have done it myself.”
“Well, see, that’s the thing. It wasn’t disconnected.”
Zeke scratched at the side of his neck and frowned even deeper. “What do you mean?”
“The ringer was turned off, but the jack still works.”
“Huh,” Zeke said. “So, Bob came out for nothing?”
“Yes. Um…another thing…the phone number is the same as the main house.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Not for me. I’m wondering about eavesdropping, your privacy.”
“I trust my employees,” he said, and visibly stiffened. “And I think they trust me.”
He scratched his eyebrow then stood and went to the telephone. “There’s one number and a recording for when a person calls in. It says something like for Three C’s business press one. If you wish to speak to a member of the Cabrera family press two, for the staff press three—”
“And the fourth extension…was it the casita?”
“Yeah, it used to be mine when I lived here. Zeke’s line,” he said and smiled. “When I moved out, Mom used line four for the casita, but she never listed it on the recording.”
“Like a private line.”
“Exactly. Only those who knew pressed line four.”
“So why did you think of getting rid of that extension?”
“I didn’t intend to re-open the casita. I figured just shut it off in case people called it not knowing Mom had passed away.” Zeke grimaced. “Why the sudden interest in the phone line?”
“Well, this is just an idea…a thought really, but I think it’s a clue. Both of the victims had your telephone number on their person, or in their purse, as was Carli’s case.”
“Yes,” he said softly.
“Well, Susie already knew your number, so I always thought that was odd. What if someone used the casita for trysts? What if they gave that number out as their own private number and said when you hear the recording press line four and—”
“But I would have picked up the phone at the house if the light had flashed,” Zeke said.
“If you were at home,” Dena said. “What if those trysts happened while you were away, after your staff had left for the day? Did you go out of town often?”
“I’d escape and go up to L.A. whenever I could.”
“Did you go up there the night you and Susie argued at the Sandbar?”
Zeke shook his head. “Not that night. I left the next morning, around six. I went up for a few days.”
“Did the police ask you that same question?”
“Yes.”
“What did they think about it?”
“They thought I could have killed Susie then taken off.” He pulled in a deep breath and blew it out. “They intimated it would be a natural thing. Remove myself as far from the situation as possible.”
“But think about it? It could have happened this way and—”
“Nope, no way, I’m the only one with both keys, or was.” Zeke took out his key chain from his pocket. “See, this is where I put both the key for the padlock on the gate and the one to the house. You are now the only person with keys to the place.”
“How do you know that for sure?” Dena asked.
“Mom said so. I asked her for a key when her health started to fail. I told her it was dangerous to be down there alone. She gave me the keys and told me to guard them well, that they were the only ones. So I put them on my key ring and they’ve been there ever since, or were, until yesterday.”
“And that’s why nobody went in to clean the casita?”
“They couldn’t. I let Irma in there to clean out Mom’s personal effects. We gave everything to charity. I told her to leave the paintings. I figured sometime in the