“Anything is possible,” Casey said. “I’ll have the team take his laptop in to search it. Do you have a computer?”
Tiffany shook her head. “I just used Gil’s if I needed one but most things I can do on my iPad. Do you need that?”
Casey nodded. “I’ll need all electronics, including your phone. I have a spare I can issue you until tech has had a chance to check yours out. But since robbery wasn’t the motive and you appear to be a casualty of the break-in and not the target of it, I have to assume the perp was looking for something else.”
“I just don’t know what to say,” Tiffany said. “Except that I’m not staying here and none of you can make me. Not anymore.”
“I understand,” Casey said. “You’re free to leave. Just remain in the state and let me know where you’ll be staying when you land.”
“I need to pack some things,” Tiffany said.
“I’ll send an officer in to make a log of the things you remove and to get you that phone,” Casey said, and strode out of the room.
“They’re going to inventory my toothbrush and deodorant?” Tiffany asked.
“It’s standard procedure,” I said. And it wasn’t exactly untrue. If you felt someone was hiding things, it was absolutely standard procedure to make sure they didn’t leave the house with evidence. I just wasn’t telling Tiffany that. Mainly because I already knew she was hiding things. I just didn’t know if she was hiding anything to do with the break-in.
I waited as Tiffany packed some clothes and toiletries and then I carried her bag outside and put it in the trunk of her car, which had already been searched. Carter’s truck was no longer parked in front of the house, so I assumed he’d gone off to tackle other things. We stood in the driveway and I made a split decision…a test, of sorts.
“You’re welcome to stay with me,” I said to Tiffany. “I have plenty of room and an excellent security system.”
“Not to mention she’s former CIA and the best shot in the state,” Ida Belle said.
Tiffany bit her lip, then shook her head. “I can’t put you out. I’ll just find somewhere in the city. You know, where I can get lost in the crowd. I’m tired of being under a microscope. I always have been here, but now it’s worse. I think…I think I just need to be away from it all.”
“We understand,” Gertie said. “But if you need anything, you call us.”
I handed her a business card since Casey had taken her phone.
“Thank you,” Tiffany said. “I really appreciate everything you ladies have done for me. No one else has even called or come by or anything since Gil died. I knew everyone was mad over our marriage, but I guess I never realized just how much damage we’d caused.”
Her entire expression and body language was full of regret, but it was too late to rethink things already done that couldn’t be undone.
“Please be safe,” Gertie said.
I nodded. “Just because the cops think this all centers on Gil doesn’t mean they’re correct. You should still watch your back as if you are a target. I’m not saying that’s the case but being extra careful is not wasted action.”
Tiffany swallowed and nodded. “I will. Thank you again.”
She practically ran to her car and jumped inside. We watched as she backed out of the driveway and quickly pulled away.
“She could hardly wait to get out of here,” Gertie said.
“But she’s not as scared as she pretends to be,” Ida Belle said. “Or she would have taken Fortune up on her offer. I can’t imagine a safer place to be.”
“So either she doesn’t think this has anything to do with her, or she’s in it up to her neck and doesn’t want any witnesses when the house comes crashing down,” I said.
“We need to find out which one,” Gertie said. “Are we going to follow her?”
I shook my head. “I slipped a tracker in her trunk when I put her bag in.”
Gertie grinned. “Have I told you lately how smart you are?”
Ida Belle nodded. “So what’s on the agenda now?”
“My house,” I said. “There’s something that was bothering me about the interview with the acting people last night. I want to check on a couple things and maybe give Mannie a call. I think we might need another background check.”
Ida Belle went for the refrigerator and some of Molly’s dip as soon as she hit my kitchen. I just grinned and patted myself on the back for remembering to put another batch in the fridge to thaw the night before.
“We’re having dip for breakfast?” Gertie asked.
“We had Danish at the hospital,” Ida Belle said. “So technically, this is lunch or snack before lunch. I could put it back…”
“That won’t be necessary,” Gertie said and went into the pantry for chips.
I grinned and headed off to grab my laptop out of my office. Gertie and Ida Belle had the table ready to go when I got back. I plopped down in my chair and accessed the internet.
“What’s up?” Gertie said. “You have that look you get when something clicks.”
I nodded. “I think something did. I had this nagging feeling that I was missing something with the drama crowd interview. I think I know what it was. Look.”
I flipped my laptop around and pointed to the woman in a newspaper photo at a charity bake event.
“That’s Emilia Davis, Tiffany’s mother,” Gertie said.
I nodded. “Now give her thirty years of hard living or maybe a long illness and who does she remind you of?”
They both leaned toward the laptop, frowning. Then Ida Belle’s eyes widened.
“The maintenance lady from the theater,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Lil was her name.”
“Short for Emilia,” Gertie said. “Good Lord, I still don’t think I would have seen it if you hadn’t pointed it out. She doesn’t look anything like that photo, and it wasn’t that far back.”
“She’s definitely aged in a bad way,” I said. “But the big question is how did she come to work at the theater? Was she there before Gil showed up with the acting troupe or after? I can’t imagine that he didn’t know who she was.”
“I don’t know,” Ida Belle said. “If we’ve learned anything the past couple days it’s that Gil was even more self-absorbed than we originally thought. And she does look remarkably different. But there’s zero doubt that she knew who Gil was.”
“I agree with the self-absorption thing, but I think he knew,” I said. “Remember that Gwyn told us Gil didn’t want her working late one night and her argument was that Lil was still there but it didn’t matter to him.”
“You think he didn’t want her working alone with Lil because he was afraid Lil would spill the beans on his marriage to Tiffany,” Gertie said.
“It makes sense,” I said.
“Do you think that’s why Gil wanted the gun?” Ida Belle asked. “Could Lil have threatened him in some way?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Which is why I want to get some background information.”