Jo was sitting on the edge of her desk, studying the corkboard with the pictures of Lynn’s belongings. She looked over at him, one brow raised. "Did you find Lucy?"
"No, but I found something else," Sam said.
"At the antiques store?"
"No. Well, I did discover that no one came in looking for marbles that day. Then, when I left the store, I noticed the sign on the ugly concrete building." Sam jerked his chin in the direction of the end of Main Street where the building jutted out from in between two others. "Richard Bannister. He does investment funding for small companies."
Jo crossed her arms over her chest. "The R. B. from her calendar?"
"One and the same." Sam told her about the conversation he’d had with Richard. "Turns out they’re old friends from college, so when Lynn needed money, she looked him up."
"That’s why she insisted on having the camping trip here," Jo said.
"Yep."
"So she really did have an appointment. Amber wasn’t lying."
"Not about that."
Jo frowned. "But if Lynn was meeting with Richard, how could she have been in the alley with Noah?"
"It’s possible. They were in town for an hour, and the meeting with Richard only lasted forty-five minutes, according to Richard. What I want to know is why didn’t anyone else in the company know that she was going for funding? I think we need to ask a few more questions of our friendly campers." Sam looked around. "Where’s Reese?"
Jo pointed at the door. "She stepped out to meet one of her classmates. Said he might have information on that fingerprint."
Sam frowned. "And where’s Kevin?"
Jo made a show of looking at her watch. "It’s six p.m. He’s already gone home."
The door opened, and Reese breezed in. "I have some good news and some bad news."
"Give me the good news first," said Sam.
"The good news is my classmate was able to take your prints from the glass and run them against the partial that we found in the stolen car without logging it in officially. He logged the use in along with one of his class assignments."
"And the bad news?"
"Bad news is none of them were a match."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sam and Jo had a lot to discuss with the new information and the disappointing results on the fingerprint. But Tyler’s empty desk sitting in the corner was too depressing. They headed to the bar.
It was a weeknight, so Holy Spirits wasn’t as crowded as it would be on the weekend. There was plenty of room up at the bar, and Jo slipped into a seat on the corner, with Sam to her right.
They ordered beers and fries. Jo thought about her fish. She’d named him Finn, and so far, he’d seemed quite happy in his little glass-bowl world on her counter. Luckily, she didn’t have to rush home to feed him or let him out, as she would’ve if she’d had a dog.
Her chest tightened with thoughts of Lucy. Hopefully, she was doing okay out on her own. There was no way Jo could handle having a pet that required that kind of commitment right now. Having a dog would be almost like having a person that counted on her, and Jo didn’t want that. Finn was plenty of responsibility for now.
"Have you looked at any of those resumes that Dupont brought over?" She dragged a french fry through a puddle of ketchup and popped it into her mouth.
Sam took a swig of his beer. "You know, I don’t really feel much like hiring someone. I mean, who could replace Tyler?"
"I know what you mean, but we are shorthanded. Kevin doesn’t want the job." Jo picked at her beer label and looked at Sam out of the corner of her eye. "If you ask me, it might be a good thing he didn’t want it."
Sam leaned back in his chair, his brows tugging together. "Why do you say that?"
Jo didn’t know how much she wanted to reveal. Just seeing Kevin come out of Lago when the mayor and Thorne both were inside didn’t prove a thing. But she couldn’t help the strange flutter in the center of her chest. It was a warning feeling that told her to be cautious around Kevin. Seemed like he was hiding something.
Then again, Jo had her own things she was hiding and wouldn’t want Sam digging too closely into them. Maybe she shouldn’t raise his suspicions about Kevin. His secrets might have nothing to do with their work, just as Jo’s didn’t. "He’s just not as enthusiastic about police work as we are, or as Tyler was."
Sam nodded and hunched back over his beer. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
Mick slipped into the seat around the corner of the bar next to Sam. No sooner had his butt hit the leather chair than a drink appeared in front of him. He really had Billie trained.
Mick leaned toward Jo and Sam. "Did you run the print?"
"Yeah. Bad news. It didn’t match."
"It didn’t?" Mick pressed his lips together and shook his head. "I know there’s something funny going on there. It just adds up. The woman has a grandson into drugs. Drugs are found in the car. There’s got to be a connection." He downed his drink in one swallow. "What about your other case? You guys look pretty down in the dumps. Things not going good?"
"Got a few new leads. But they’re confusing." Sam took another swig.
"Anything I can help with?" Mick reached across Sam and snagged a fry. Sometimes they used Mick when they needed to get information that they couldn’t acquire in their official capacity, but with the Palmer case, Jo knew they couldn’t risk anything that wasn’t on the up and up. Not at this point.
Sam shook his head.
"What about your girlfriend?" Mick asked.
Jo almost choked on a fry. Sam had a girlfriend? She coughed and punched her fist in the center of her chest where a strange pang had surfaced.
"When did you find time to get a girlfriend?" She hoped her voice sounded casual. It wasn’t that she minded Sam having a girlfriend. Not as if she was jealous or anything. But, somewhere deep down inside, she was afraid a girlfriend might change their work friendship. And her work friendship with Sam was about all she had in the way of human relationships. She really needed to get out more.
Mick stood and slapped some money on the bar. "Yeah, she’s a real looker too. Brown eyes, black-and-brown hair, four nice legs. She could use a little shave, though."
"Oh, you mean Lucy." Jo laughed. "Have you seen her tonight? She ran off from the police station earlier today."
"Haven’t seen her, but I’ll keep an eye out," Mick said. "In the meantime, I’m going to dig a little further into this Bartles kid. I know there’s a connection."
"Thanks, Mick," Sam said as Mick sauntered out of the bar.
Sam finished his beer and signaled for another. Jo pushed the basket of fries to him and swiveled her chair to face out into the bar, her elbows on the bar top, feet swinging slightly in front of her.
The bar was mostly empty. Two couples sat in the pews at one of the long tables near the door, burgers loaded up with specialty fixings in front of them. Jo could smell sautéed onions and figured one of them must have ordered the Alps Burger. It was her favorite, smothered in sautéed onions and Swiss cheese.
A couple sat at one of the round tables, their chairs pushed close together. Two tables over, four local guys sat with beers in front of them. Jo knew them all.
"The Palmer case is getting stranger and stranger. Why didn’t Lynn tell anyone she was meeting with Richard? And what about her phone? Did the killer throw that in the river because there might be evidence on it, or did it fall in by accident?" she asked.