Marcia Ball let Sanchez and her partner, O’Malley, into Malcolm Eastwick’s bungalow. It was a spacious one-bedroom dwelling with a luxurious bathroom and book-strewn sitting room.
“If it wasn’t for the suitcase on the bed,” Detective Sanchez said, “I’d think Eastwick hadn’t been here for weeks.”
“It looks like Eastwick unlocked the front door, threw his suitcase on the bed, and left,” O’Malley said. “Probably walked to the old conference room to meet someone.”
Sanchez and O’Malley put gloves on before conducting the search. “Eastwick threw his keys on this counter,” Sanchez said. “One of them probably works with the Tesla parked outside. Let’s look around and see if we can find his phone.” O’Malley scanned the bedroom while Sanchez moved to the sitting room.
After a few minutes, O’Malley called out. “I found his laptop in his briefcase but no phone.”
“There’s something in the sitting room I want you to take a look at,” Sanchez said.
O’Malley moved to the doorway.
“Notice how all the pictures have the same wooden frame?” Sanchez said. “Except for this one.” She moved to a picture over the couch and grabbed hold of it. “It has a thicker frame and different orientation to the wall.” The detective grabbed hold of the frame and tugged it. “Voila.” The frame swung out revealing an inset safe.
“Now all we have to do is find the combination.”
“Did you find anything, Bruno?” Sanchez asked the coroner’s assistant, who was sitting at a table inside the old conference room, writing notes.
“It’s difficult terrain,” Bruno Oliver said. “The tide washed in and out several times after the body fell. There’s nothing on the beach or on the rocks where you found the handkerchief.”
“Can you tell if Eastwick was struck before the fall?” O’Malley asked.
“No. We can’t determine that,” Bruno said. “The only thing we can do is provide the toxicology report. That might determine if he was drugged before the fall.”
“There’s one more thing,” Sanchez said. “We found a laptop in Eastwick’s cabin. It’s password protected. If you could open it, we can look at his schedule to determine if he planned on meeting anyone here on Saturday night. Or if there are recent emails about a meeting.”
“Tell him about the safe,” O’Malley said.
“Thanks for reminding me.” Sanchez turned to Bruno. “We found a wall safe in Eastwick’s residence but, of course, no combination. When you examine the laptop, see if you can find the safe combination.”
“When do you expect to have lab results?” O’Malley asked.
“Possibly Wednesday. It depends on how busy we get.”
“Bruno, do me a favor.”
“Sure, Laura.”
“When you talk to me you look at me, but when you talk to O’Malley you look away. Try to look at him; he’s actually a nice guy.”
“That’s good to know.” Bruno slowly moved his eyes to O’Malley’s face.
“I can’t believe no one was around Saturday night,” Sanchez said to O’Malley. They had just finished the last of eight staff interviews.
“Well, we did learn that Eastwick was a womanizer,” O’Malley said.
“And that no one on the Institute staff liked him because he was difficult and bossy,” Sanchez said, before lowering her voice to add, “Unlike managers at the Sheriff’s Department.”
O’Malley looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Attitude, Sanchez. Attitude.” He looked at his list. We’ve got a couple of people to interview that are in the ‘Transitions’ workshop; they’ll be around at lunch time.”
“Here’s an interesting item,” Sanchez said. “There’s a US Marshal in the workshop; a woman.”
“What’s she doing here?”
“I have no idea, but it’s possible she may know something. Her name is Kate Swift.”