Vance and I left the hospital and walked back to our cars. I knew the town picnic was in full swing, but now wasn’t the time to celebrate.
“That was unexpected,” I confessed.
“It just shows you how much the sheriff respects us.”
“And how concerned he is for his daughter.”
Vance and I stood in the parking lot between our cars. "You know, nothing about this case adds up. There are still too many holes,” I said.
"I agree."
"I'm glad it's not just me. Maybe it would make more sense if we knew how Kellan tied in with Amber. He had to have a personal vendetta.”
"The part that doesn't make sense the most is, even if we do figure out the connection, why did he kill himself? He wasn't even a person of interest."
"Maybe he figured it was only a matter of time before the case led to him?” I suggested.
“Maybe, but it seems a bit premature."
“That’s not the only thing that seems premature,” I added.
"You mean because he assumed he killed Amber?”
“Right. He first tries to poison her coffee and when that doesn’t work, cuts her break lines and just assumes it works?”
“Her car was totaled,” Vance pointed out.
“I know, but wouldn’t you wait to see if you were successful? I mean, if that was your goal?”
“You’re right. The timing doesn’t add up.” Vance looked off into the distance. A telltale sign he was deep in thought. “I’d like to find out more about what was in his note. You would think that Kellan would have at least mentioned Mr. Haggerty.”
"You would think, especially if that contributed to his guilt and why he killed himself,” I said.
“Unless he was so determined to seek revenge, he didn't care who he killed in the process?"
“I don't know. I can't get my head around the fact that Kellan, the twenty-something barista at Diane's bakery, is behind all of this. I don't see it. I know Diane doesn’t see it either. I asked her earlier before we had the footage.”
"I'm going to say this case is not closed."
"No, most definitely not."
"What do you say we get some Chinese food and head back to my place? We can dive into Kellan's background and try to link him with Amber and lay everything out. We have to be missing something."
“You’re right. We have to be. I think it sounds like a plan.”
Diane called me two hours later. Vance and I had turned his dining room into investigation headquarters. "We’re home now. The doctors released Roger after his test came back normal. He's going to have to take it easy for a bit, but other than that, everything's okay."
"That's wonderful news. I was going to call you in a little bit. Vance and I are trying to piece the case together, and it just doesn't make sense with Kellan as the killer. I mean, you knew him the most. I know I asked you earlier, but can you see it?"
"To be honest, I can't. He seemed like a good kid. He was a bit down on his luck lately, money troubles from what I understood, but instead of complaining about it, he asked to pick up more hours. I never had any problems with him calling off or not showing up. The whole case baffles me. I mean, he waited on Amber almost every morning. Why would he snap now? I don't get it."
"Yeah, that's what Vance and I are thinking. I'm not sure how he fits in if he's an accomplice or scapegoat, but I don't see him as the mastermind here.”
"I've got something," Vance said. He had been typing on his keyboard, searching all the databases to find out information on Kellan.
"Deputy Jones just emailed this to both of us. Facial recognition pulled up a hit. Only his name isn’t Kellan Mahoney. It’s Troy Darvin. He did three years in Jacksonville for carjacking.”
"I stand corrected."
"What? What did Vance say?” Diane asked.
"Did you know Kellan’s real name was Troy, and he did prison time?"
"What? Are you sure?"
I moved to stand behind Vance and read over his shoulder. "I'm looking at his mug shot right now. It's definitely Kellan, although he looks a bit younger. I’d say a teenager.”
"He was sentenced to eight years but only did three. Not sure why yet," Vance said as he continued scrolling.
My other line clicked in. It was Deputy Jones. "Hang on, Diane. Deputy Jones is calling me."
I put Diane's line on hold and answered the second call.
"I heard you're one of us now," Deputy Jones said.
"I'm not even sure what that means."
"It means the sheriff is not messing around, and he wants all hands on deck solving this case. It also means I can share information with you."
When Deputy Jones explained it that way, it didn't sound like such a bad deal. "I just emailed you a mugshot of Kellan, his real name was Troy Darvin. I don't see a link between him and Amber other than he's on the other side of the law. I thought maybe you wanted to try to work that angle. We have a lead on the sapphire that I’m trying to track down. The cases might be connected," the deputy remarked.
"Okay, we’ll keep working and let you know what we come up with."
"There's more," Deputy Jones added before I could hang up.
“More?”
“Dr. Humphrey put Troy’s time of death at some time yesterday. At least twenty-four hours ago.”
"Not today."
"No. He didn't cut Amber's brakes."
"So he was a scapegoat.”
"Possibly. I'm still not sure how it all pieces together."
"Okay, let me see what we can uncover."
I hung up with the deputy and clicked back over to Diane, putting the call on speaker so I could fill her and Vance in together.
"We were right about things not adding up. Dr. Humphrey says that Troy, a.k.a. Kellen died sometime yesterday. At least twenty-four hours ago."
"So what does that mean?" Diane asked. “Do you need me to meet you?"
"No, stay home and take care of Roger. Vance and I will figure out who set Kellan up."
"It could have been an accomplice that turned on him," Vance mentioned.
"That's probably more like it," I agreed.
"Do you know if a deputy talked to Anna?" I asked Diane. The second barista was as sweet as possible, but I wasn't leaving any stone unturned.
"No, but I talked to her. She called me when she heard about Kellan. She was at her grandmother's eightieth birthday. She doesn’t know anything about a poisoned latte. She said she didn’t go anywhere near Amber or Mr. Haggerty's drinks. She was in the back, making cupcakes for her grandmother.”
“And you believe her?” Vance asked.
“I do. She’s so upset. I guess Kellan had recently asked her out, and they had grown a bit close since he picked up more hours through the summer."
"Would it be okay if I talked to her?" I asked. If she was close to Kellan, she might know more than she realized.
"I don't see why not. Let me send you her contact information. I'll let her know you might be calling."
"Okay, thanks. If you hear of anything else, call me immediately." I hung up with Diane and sighed.
"How do you want to do this?" Vance asked.
“I think I should talk to Anna, and you keep trying to figure out how Kellan fits in. What do you think?”
“That’s as good a plan as we have. From what I can tell, looking at his record, Amber didn't put him in jail. His arrest and conviction all happened in Florida."
"Nothing to do with Silverlake whatsoever?"
“Nothing,” Vance continued reading his screen.
"So why get involved?"
"Maybe he was being paid? Diane said he had some money troubles."
"You mean he could be like a hired hitman?"
"It’s one option.”
"I wonder if Deputy Jones found any cash in Kellan's house." Instead of wondering, I went ahead and called the deputy back and put my cell phone on speaker. "Hey, did you find any money on Kellan? Vance and I are wondering if he was a hired hit man."
"No, I haven't found anything of value yet, but that's not a bad theory."
"Does he have a safe in the closet or something?"
"Not that we’ve found, but we're just getting started here. If I find something, I'll let you know."
"Thanks, appreciate it." I clicked off with Deputy Jones and looked to Vance.
"If somebody paid you money and you wanted to hide it, where would you put it?" he asked.
“I’d probably hide it somewhere in my house unless I didn't think it was safe."
"I wouldn't put it in the bank," Vance thought.
"No, bank deposits can be traced, but what about a safe-deposit box?" Silverlake had only one bank in town. It wouldn’t be hard to stop in to see if Kellan had a safe-deposit box on my way to talk with Anna. I decided I wanted to speak to her in person. I found I could tell a lot about a person by not only what they said but how they acted. I wanted to get a visual read on the young woman. It took me a minute to remember that it was Sunday, and the bank was closed. The day was slipping away. We’d completely skipped the town picnic, and it would be too late to do much of anything soon. And did I really want to crash Anna’s grandmother’s eightieth birthday?”
“What’s wrong?” Vance asked.
“Hmm?”
“You’re frowning.”
“I was just thinking that maybe instead of running here and there chasing down leads, I need to sit and think for a minute.”
"That's not a bad idea."
"I feel like I'm missing something in plain sight. Let me think here." I left the kitchen table and moseyed into the living room to sit in the quiet for a minute.
It turned out that sitting and thinking for a few moments translated into me falling asleep on Vance's couch and taking a nap. That was unexpected.
When I woke, it was just before nine o'clock. I heard the shower running upstairs, so I knew Vance was taking a research break.
At least I didn't have to feel bad about skipping out on interviewing Anna because when I checked my phone, I saw that she had tried to get ahold of me.
After getting a drink of water, I sat comfortably back on the couch, tucked a blanket around my waist, and gave Anna a callback. "Sorry, I know it's getting late, but I just saw that you called," I explained when she picked up the line.
"No, that's all right. I'm glad you got back to me tonight. I've been thinking about Kellan, and I might know some things to help the case." My ears perked up at that. "Is now a good time to talk?"
"Yeah." I cleared the remaining sleep from my voice. "Right now is great.”
I could hear Anna take a deep breath on the other end. "The thing is, Kellan did some time in prison. Diane never knew about it, and he made me promise I would never tell her."
I tried not to be disappointed, but Anna wasn't telling me anything I already didn’t know. "We found out about his prison stint a little bit ago,” I confessed.
“You did?"
"Uh-huh. We know Kellan Mahoney was a fake name. Kellan's real name was Troy Darvin."
"I knew that, too. Kellan told me he changed his identity for protection. He never told me who he was hiding from, only that he came to Silverlake to start over. He thought he would be safe here."
"He never said why he was hiding?”
Anna was quiet; I felt she knew more than she let on. "I get that you're scared."
"They're not my secrets to tell, and what if they come after me too?”
I wanted to promise Anna that I would protect her, but I couldn't make that promise until I knew who she was hiding from. Even if she told me, I couldn’t guarantee her safety. I was just one witch with magical abilities that occasionally went haywire. "I understand keeping quiet, but if you decide you want to tell me more, I'm here."
Anna seemed to have an internal struggle, but then she said, "I am pretty good with protection charms. I offered one to Kellan, but he thought he didn't need one."
"You did all that you could." I didn't want Anna beating herself up over Kellan's death. He was obviously involved in something he shouldn't have been.
"What I mean is that I can protect myself." Something about the strength in Anna's voice made me long to have that much confidence in my magical abilities. "He snitched on someone in prison. That's how he got out early. Once out, he decided to make a new life for himself, and I thought he was on his way until a week ago."
"What happened a week ago?"
"I don't know. He seemed jumpy, on edge. He was always laughing and joking around with me, and then he flat out stopped. I could tell something was on his mind, but he didn't want to talk to me about it, and I didn't push. I wish I had now."
"Please, don't blame yourself."
"I'm not. I know it's not my fault, even if it feels that way. I'm not sure what happened, but I can't believe Kellan tried to kill Amber. If he poisoned that latte, it wasn't because he wanted to."
"You think he was coerced?"
"He would've had to have been. The Kellan I knew wasn't a murderer. He wouldn't have taken his own life, either. He worked hard to start over. He was excited about the future. We talked about traveling together. Both of us wanted to see the world." Anna's voice grew strained, and I could tell she was crying.
"I'm sorry that he's gone."
Anna caught her breath. "I hope you can find out what happened.”
“I know. So do I.”