Page 100 of Night Hawk
“Could be, but why’s his name on the envelope, and why isn’t there a picture of him dead?”
“For that matter, why the photos at all?” she asked. “Blackmail? Or maybe Sharkey worked as Hibbard’s hitman, and the pictures were proof he’d done his job.”
Drake frowned. “Naomi died a couple of years ago. Why still have her picture?”
“Maybe he takes pictures instead of souvenirs from a crime scene.”
“Could be.”
“I called Joy. She doesn’t know another Sharkey. She’ll ask her husband.”
“Let’s do some digging and see what we can find.” Drake opened his computer.
“If we could get Sharkey’s basic info, I could use one of the ancestry sites to look him up like I did when I found Lisa. It would give us his relatives right away.”
“Then let’s find that info.”
She retrieved her laptop and sat across from Drake. They worked until lunchtime, when they ordered burgers and fries sent from room service.
Joy easily balanced the large tray as she entered the room. She set the plates on the table next to their computers. “I asked Earl about another Sharkey. He said Sheldon was the only one he’d ever heard of. I did think of one other thing, though.”
“What’s that?” Toni lifted the metal lid from her plate and inhaled the savory scent overpowering the room’s air freshener.
Joy set a tall bottle of ketchup on the table. “I saw Sharkey talking to a woman one day. She had her back to me, but they were arguing.”
Toni looked up. “Can you describe her?”
“Slender. Tall. She wore a floppy hat hiding everything else, but her clothing was expensive. Designer stuff. They only talked for five minutes or so, but I saw her storm off down the beach.”
“Where did she go?” Drake asked.
“To a Mercedes idling at a boat ramp. It was black and shiny, but I didn’t catch the plates.”
“Was this before or after Lisa went missing?” Drake asked.
“Before. Earlier in the week.”
Toni grabbed the ketchup bottle. “How much earlier?”
“Maybe the day before. Could’ve been two.”
“Did you tell Raintree that?” Toni asked.
“Told him, but he didn’t seem interested.” Joy held out the bill.
Toni signed it. “Thanks again for all the information.”
Joy left the room, and Toni took a huge bite of her burger.
“Good burger.” Drake set his on his plate and swiped a fry through ketchup.
“I learned over the years that burgers are usually safe hotel food. Pretty hard to screw one up.”
“You travel a lot?”
“Some. For the job, and my dad was usually too busy to come here so I visited him.” Now that she knew about Lisa, Toni realized it could’ve been too painful for him to come to Oregon.
Drake gestured at his laptop. “Did you find anything?”
