Whisper of Bones (Widow's Island #3)(24)

Bruce and Henry left with Marybeth.

Tessa and Logan inspected the grass and surrounding area but found nothing. They went to the condo building and spoke with the manager. The surveillance cameras did not cover the jogging path, and none of the camera feeds on the building entrances showed any strangers that morning.

Logan followed Tessa back to the parking lot.

“Why do you think someone attacked Marybeth?” he asked.

“They were afraid of what she would find.” Tessa climbed into her vehicle.

“That’s what I thought.” Logan slid into the passenger seat. “So we go back to Jason’s office and turn it upside down?”

“Absolutely,” Tessa said. “We must have missed something.”

She drove to Orcas Road and parked in front of Jason’s house. Tessa put on gloves and handed him a pair. They went into the office. The cold followed them inside. Tessa rubbed her hands together and headed for the second doorway. “I’ll take Jason’s inner sanctum.”

Logan stood in front of Marybeth’s desk. Surely, she would have finished searching it the day before. Just in case she had focused only on the contents, Logan removed the drawers and checked their bottoms and sides. He crawled under the desk but found nothing. He pulled back the area rug and ran his fingers along the floorboards. None were loose or cut.

Logan moved to the other side of the room and shifted each of the filing cabinets to make sure nothing was concealed behind or under them. He checked the backs and sides of these drawers as well. The back of every picture hanging on the wall was examined.

He was scanning the room, looking for other potential hiding places, when the heater turned on with a rattle. Logan stopped. As he concentrated, he thought the noise sounded less like the rattle of metal and more like paper fluttering. He turned to stare at the HVAC wall register.

Why not?

He went to the kitchen, where he had seen a screwdriver in a drawer. He brought the tool back to the office, sat on the floor, and removed the screws from the vent cover. He worked the cover loose, then set it on the floor beside him. The fluttering sound increased.

“Hey, Tessa?” Logan called out. “Can I borrow your flashlight?”

She poked her head in the doorway. “Did you find something?”

“Maybe.”

Tessa crossed the room and crouched next to him, handing him the flashlight. He turned it on and shone it into the hole. He saw nothing. The duct ran from side to side. Logan reached his hand into the vent. He felt first to the left and then moved his hand to the right. His fingers brushed paper. He tried to tug it free but couldn’t. He ran his fingers around the edge until he found where it was taped to the inside of the duct. He worked the tape free and brought out a yellow clasp envelope. He handed it to Tessa.

She opened it, seeming to hold her breath as she drew out papers. Her forehead creased as she read them. “These are soil reports for the Smuggler’s Point Farm property.” She held two pieces of paper side by side. “One looks like a normal report with no major concerns.” She scanned the second page. “But this one indicates toxic levels of arsenic and lead.”

Logan read the sheets over her shoulder. “They have the same date.”

“Everything is exactly the same except for the levels of arsenic and lead and this summary paragraph.” Tessa looked up.

“One of these must be fake.”

“Why would Jason have conflicting copies of Roger Duvall’s soil reports hidden in his duct?”

“There are only two reasons I can think of to hide fake environmental reports. Fraud and blackmail.”

“Since Jason hid the documents rather than destroy them, I’d bet on blackmail. I need to make some calls.” Tessa pulled out her phone and touched the screen. “But who was blackmailing whom?”

“Since Roger is the property owner with financial vulnerability, and Jason is the one who is dead, I’d bet on Jason being the blackmailer.”

While Tessa made her calls, Logan went outside for some air. He walked down the driveway. Trees lined the road in both directions. Roger could have come to Jason’s house, killed him, and left without anyone seeing him. He would have returned after dark to take the body out to sea.

Logan shoved his hands into his pockets. The bright sunlight warmed his back.

Tessa joined him a few minutes later. “I spoke with the manager of the environmental testing lab. The original report showed elevated levels of arsenic and lead at the Smuggler’s Point Farm property. The second report is a fake. Apparently, high levels of arsenic and lead are common in old apple orchards from pesticides used years ago. Cleanup can cost a million dollars an acre.”

“I’d say we found a damned good motive.”

Tessa’s head tilted. She crouched low and examined one of the boulders that flanked the driveway entrance. “Check this out.”

Logan bent and studied the mark, a long scrape line of color. “That looks like paint. Dark blue or black maybe?”

“It’s metallic, like vehicle paint.” Tessa rocked back on her heels. “It would be easy to hit one of these boulders if you were rushing out of the driveway.”

Sunlight glinted on the rock.

“It’s purple,” Logan said.

“Purple?” Tessa stared at the scrape.

Logan remembered Roger’s purple shirt and purple high-tops. “What color vehicle does Roger Duvall drive?”