Page 9 of Lost Truth
“Which is why we need to do a deep dive on him.” Hayden noted the item on the board. “I’ll get some algorithms running, and I should have basic background information soon.” He looked at Cady. “I’m kind of the computer geek of the team. Need anything done related to computers, and I’m your guy.”
She tilted her head like a confused little puppy. “Not something I would’ve guessed.”
“He hides his geekiness quite well.” Jude grinned.
Hayden rolled his eyes at his teammate’s joke and kept his gaze on Cady. “I’m sorry, but I also have to do a background check on you and your father. We did a cursory look at you both during the mayor’s murder investigation, but I’ll go much deeper this time. If there’s anything you think we should be aware of, now would be the time to tell us.”
He didn’t know if she quite understood her life was about to become an open book within the LLL team.Dear God, don’t let me find anything in the search to put her on our suspect list.
Her breath was long, controlled—forced calm. “I’ve got nothing to hide, but you’ll discover my finances are a disaster at the moment. I wiped out my savings to pay for Dad’s caregivers. I exist on Ramen noodles and pray my Model T of a car doesn’t bite the dust.”
Hayden had heard many times over the years how medical expenses had destroyed families, leaving them vulnerable and in need. He hated this for her. “Since there’s been no ransom demand for Kai, I don’t think your lack of money will play into his disappearance.”
“Wait…” Her gaze lifted skyward for a moment, then she blinked long eyelashes as she glanced at the team, stopping to linger on each person’s face. “You all aren’t considering me a suspect in Kai’s disappearance, are you?”
“Not really,” Nolan said. “But we can’t ignore your unauthorized entry into his home to search his personal possessions. It appears as if you have a solid reason for being there, but we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t perform our due diligence.”
“Oh, right.” She sagged as if deflating in her chair. “That makes sense, and I guess it’s why you’re so good at finding people.”
“Not good.” Gabe puffed up his chest. “Great.”
“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but we are good at our jobs.” Nolan caught Hayden’s attention. “Will you be able to obtain Kai’s phone records and financial information?”
Hayden shrugged. “I can’t answer that until I look into it. What would help most is if there’s action on his credit or debit card since he’s been gone. I wish I could obtain up-to-date phone records and financial transactions, but it’s tricky without a warrant.”
“There’s no way at all you can do it?” Jude aimed a pointed look in Hayden’s direction. “I mean, you’re the IT wonder boy of the team.”
He resisted sighing or pointing out that he didn’t have an official background in IT, it was just an area he spent a lot of time dabbling in. “I won’t hack a bank or phone company, but it’s possible we can locate the financial information in his home or business. And if we’re lucky, we might find online banking passwords, giving us access to his accounts and his real-time data.”
“When Rocco gave me keys to Kai’s cottage and the surf shop, he also gave us full permission to search both of them,” Nolan said. “We should do a detailed search first thing in the morning. In addition to the financial records, it could turn something up to change our priorities.”
“Count me in on that.” Hayden added the item to the board.
“Me too?” A gleam shone in Abby’s eyes. “I’ve done my share of property searches in my sheriff days and got to know where people hide things.”
“Thanks.” Hayden made a note on the board.
“We need to talk to Kai’s staff and fellow store owners. Neighbors too.” Jude leaned forward to peer at Hayden. “I suppose you’ll want to do that so you can also ask about Percy.”
“You know it.” He made sure his tone brooked no argument. “In addition to questioning them, we could ask for any video footage of Kai’s movements. We should also talk to the mayor’s former assistant to see if she learned anything new about Percy’s secret. Or even if she’s heard anything about Percy at all.”
Cady scratched her cheek. “Not that I’m questioning your logic, but why would she have heard anything about my dad?”
“Daisy was Mayor Sutton’s assistant for years, and she’s basically the local 411.” Jude chuckled. “She stayed on with the new mayor and is still the numero uno source for everything going on in Lost Lake.”
“We need to talk to Mayor Sutton’s daughter, Becca, too,” Nolan said. “She might’ve learned more about the secret. Plus, we never figured out what her dad did with the big cash withdrawals from his account after selling off his sports memorabilia. Maybe the secret is related to that.”
Cady perked up. “Then for sure I’d like to talk to herandDaisy. And I want to talk to my dad’s birdwatching group. It’s questionable if they can give us any info to locate Kai, but I think it could help find my dad’s killer.”
“Do you have a list of the group members?” Gabe asked.
Cady nodded. “In one of his journals. Unfortunately, that particular journal is a few years old. I figured I’d start with the first name on the list to see if that person could give me the names of current group members.”
Nolan cleared his throat and looked at her. “I hope we’ve made it clear that we want to help you figure out who killed your father.”
“But?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed. “But Kai’s disappearance is top priority. If he wasn’t involved in birdwatching, I don’t want any of our resources allocated to investigating that group.”
