O’Malley and Sanchez walked with Kate to the executive conference room. “Where should we start?” Laura asked.
“Let’s start with Greg Tanaka,” Kate said. “I’ll walk you to his car and then you guys can take over.
The trio left the conference room and were joined by coroner’s investigator Bruno Oliver as they walked up the gravel path. “By the way,” Laura said. “We have six police officers interviewing all the Satori guests who were in the old conference room. And another crew took Bryn Moore’s body out of the freezer and is transporting it back to Salinas for an autopsy.
“Sounds good,” Kate said. “Here’s Tanaka’s car. I popped the trunk because I thought there was a possibility his body was inside. Otherwise, I stayed away from the car.”
Bruno used a tool to open the car doors. “There’s nothing here except for a carryall. Let’s look in the trunk.” Bruno carefully moved to the side of the trunk and lifted the lid that Kate had taped down. “A stain and several segments of clothing.” He studied the soft ground directly beneath the trunk. “Probably a footprint.” Bruno turned towards the ocean. “Here’s the track Kate talked about, probably a wheelbarrow.” He led them to the edge of the bluff. “This looks like where the assailant pitched Tanaka into the surf.” He turned to Laura. “My crew brought some climbing gear. We’ll belay down the cliff and see if we can find anything.”
The group headed back to Tanaka’s Mercedes. Bruno turned to Kate. “Do you have any idea where the wheelbarrow ended up?”
“Just east of here there’s a maintenance shed,” Kate answered. “I got close but didn’t open the doors because, once again, the ground was soft, and I worried I might inadvertently destroy some evidence.”
“Let’s take a look,” Bruno said and led the group up a small hill. When they got near the shed, Bruno laid two boards down and used them to protect the ground while he opened the shed door. “Just like you thought, there’s a wheelbarrow here.” He used a flashlight to illuminate the inside of the shed. “There may be clothing particles attached.” Bruno shut the shed door and marked it with yellow police tape.
“How far is Bryn Moore’s cottage?” Laura asked.
“Just south of here,” Kate answered and led them to Moore’s one-bedroom dwelling. Kate put on gloves and booties before opening the door. “We were careful and didn’t tough anything except the trap door.” The group walked across the floor until they came to the trap door marked with masking tape.
“Looks sinister,” Laura said.
“It reminded me of a drug den we found when I was in the Fresno P.D.,” Kate said. “Wait until you see.”
Bruno swung the door open and shined his flashlight inside.
“Whoa,” Laura said. “Serious drugs.”
“And a safe,” Kate said. “Could be the location of the missing Satori money but I suspect it’s not.”
Bruno climbed down the steel ladder and examined the safe. “I’m pretty sure I can open this with a device I have in our van.”
“That would be awesome,” Laura said.
Bruno peeled off to get his specialized device.
“While we are here,” Kate said, “I want to point out the spy camera in the bookcase.” She pointed to the northeast corner of Moore’s living room.
“I see it,” Laura said. “You saw a similar camera in Eastwick’s cabin?”
“Yes. And we found one in the room I was sharing with my workshop friend Norma.”
“Let’s take a look,” Laura said.
Kate, Laura, and O’Malley trekked south across the Satori campus and reached Kate’s room. She unlocked the door and pointed out where the spy camera was positioned.
“I see it,” Laura said. “Let’s go outside and talk about this.”
“I’m going to go up to the old conference center and see how the interviews are going,” O’Malley said. He walked away, leaving Kate and Laura alone.
“What do you think is going on with the cameras?” Laura asked.
“I think the assailant planted the cameras,” Kate replied. “After they killed Eastwick, they posted a camera to see who came nosing around. The camera likely picked up Greg Tanaka looking for Eastwick’s money. The assailant decided that Tanaka was probably the mob’s bag man and, therefore, they killed him and disposed of his body. Once the assailant counted the money, they realized some was missing. They reasoned that Bryn Moore was likely to have collaborated with Eastwick. They planted a camera in Moore’s cabin and discovered he had a trapdoor leading to a secret room. The assailant waylaid Moore, pumped him full of drugs, and interrogated him. When they realized Moore wasn’t in cahoots with Eastwick, they killed him with a drug overdose. This time, they couldn’t dump him in the ocean, so they tried to make his death look like an accident.”
“I buy all that,” Laura said. “Why do you think that they placed a camera in the cabin you shared with Norma?”
“Because they wanted to watch me?”
“If that’s true, then there should be another spy camera in Tom’s room,” Laura said.
“You’re right. We should take a look.”
Kate led Laura to Tom’s suite.
“Very nice,” Laura said. “Do you mind if I stay here for a couple of days?”
“That wouldn’t work out.” Kate laughed. “The unit next door is vacant. You can rent that.”
“I’ll consider it.” Laura chuckled. “But I hear the neighbors are very noisy.” She walked around the suite. “I don’t see a camera in your bookshelves.” She pointed to loft area. “Take a look up there.”
Kate climbed up the wooden ladder and found a spy camera lodged between the top rung and the wall. “Here it is.”
After Kate climbed down, Laura suggested they walk outside to talk. “I don’t want to take a chance that someone will overhear us.”
They walked down a gravel path and found two weathered Adirondack chairs looking out over the ocean.
“What do you think?” Kate asked.
“One possibility is that someone viewed your active sex life as a business opportunity. They captured it on video, and they plan to sell it via pay-per-view.”
Kate chortled. “Exciting new internet portal: the ‘bang-of-the-month club.’”
Laura laughed so hard she started coughing. “For a US Marshall, you have a twisted sense of humor.”
When the laughter abated, Kate asked, “Seriously, why do you think the assailant planted the cameras?”
“I think they are after you.”
“Why?” Kate asked. “Why come after me?”
“I don’t think you’re the target; I think they’re planning to kill Tom.”
“Oh my god,” Kate exclaimed. “That never occurred to me. Why are they after Tom?”
“My guess is that the assailant believes that Tom knows something that will reveal their identity.”
Kate thought for a moment. “The assailant must know that Tom and I are in a relationship. This didn’t make any difference to them until Thursday morning when the fire shut down Highway One and I had to temporarily take over the murder investigation. Then the assailant had an ‘oh shit’ moment when they realized Tom knows something important. So, then they decided to go after us.”
“They decided to break into your suite and kill Tom, and you, too, if you happened to be there.”
“Only my security was too good so they couldn’t get in,” Kate said.
“What security?” Laura asked. “Your suite looked pretty insecure to me.”
Kate got up from her Adirondack. “Let’s go back to the suite and I’ll show you.”
When they entered, Kate pointed out a black door guard on the floor. “Every access is protected by locks. I’m a little paranoid about being assaulted during the night, so whenever I travel, I always bring door and window guards with me.”
Laura raised her eyebrows.
“When I was with the Fresno P.D., I worked on a horrific rape case. A woman was asleep in bed when an intruder came through the patio sliding glass door; he tied her up, raped her, and cut her.”
“Did she survive?”
“Barely. She was severely damaged.” Kate growled. “Fortunately, we caught the guy and sent him away.”
“I can see why you’re so careful. Do you mind if I look at the doors and windows in this unit.”
“Be my guest.”
Laura walked around the suite and checked the five windows and the sliding glass door leading to the deck. “Pretty impressive security. Do you mind if I remove the sliding-door guard?”
“Go ahead.”
Laura removed the door guard, slid open the door, and checked the area near the exterior handle. “There are pry marks here. Someone tried to get in but failed to open the door. They were stymied by the steel door guard.”
“Fuck,” Kate exclaimed as she bent over to examine the area where the wood was fractured. “Sometimes it’s good to be paranoid.”
“For sure.” They went back inside the suite and closed the door.
Kate repositioned the door guard. She growled and banged her right fist into her open left hand.