“Thanks for that,” Spenser said and gestured to the big wet spot on her shirt. “You just can’t take me anywhere, I’m afraid. I usually end up wearing half of what I’m eating or drinking.”
“I can relate to that,” she replied. “That’s why I have so many stain sticks on hand. I’m always cleaning my shirts.”
“So, anyway, just to pick up where we left off before my accident, you weren’t aware of the recordings Seth was making?” Spenser asked.
“I didn’t,” she replied softly. “I… I don’t want to believe it’s true.”
“I’m sorry you have to find out this way. But it’s probably better you hear it from me than for it to come out another way.”
Layla’s gaze fell, and fresh tears raced down her cheeks. “Do you think one of these women had something to do with Seth’s death?”
“I’m not sure just yet. We’re still chasing a number of leads.”
“Then… what do you think happened?”
She looked up and Spenser met her gaze and held it. She could see the discomfort in Layla’s face, but the woman was making a concerted effort to not turn away. The air between them crackled with a nervous energy, and Layla seemed to be growing edgier by the minute.
“Like I said, we’re still piecing some things together,” Spenser said. “But I’ve found that most of the time, the simplest answer—that thing that’s staring us right in the face—is the right one. When I have something definitive, I promise that you will be the first to know, Layla.”
“I can’t believe we missed it,” Amanda said. “How did we miss it?”
“I missed it,” Spenser corrected her. “And I missed it because I wanted to believe her grief was real. I empathized with her loss a little too much and it blinded me.”
“Don’t beat yourself up for having a heart, boss. You’re human, just like the rest of us, and none of us is perfect. I think it’s understandable that you’d relate to her, and I don’t think anybody blames you,” Jacob said gently.
“I appreciate that. But I blame myself for not maintaining my objectivity and looking at her with a more critical eye early on. I could have let a killer walk free,” Spenser replied.
“But you didn’t let her walk free. You figured it out,” Amanda said. “And all that matters now is that you’ve found Seth Hamill’s killer.”
“Knowing it and being able to prove it are two very different things. We need actual evidence we can use to get an arrest warrant,” Spenser said.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t snag what you found in her trash can,” Amanda said.
“Yeah, those pesky laws are a real thorn in my butt sometimes.”
Amanda and Jacob chuckled together.
“How did you figure out it was her?” Jacob asked.
“I wasn’t sure. I just had a hunch.”
“And what led you to that hunch?” Amanda pressed.
“Passion,” she replied. “What I told you about passion making people do awful things sometimes. It made me rethink how I viewed Layla. When I sat with her and looked at her through that new critical lens and listened to the things she was actually saying, I was sure. Finding the box for the eyedrop bottle and the syringe wrapper in her trash can only reinforced what I was already certain of, if only in the back of my mind.”
“That’s some serious police work right there, boss.”
Spenser shrugged. “Not really. It was just circling back around to something I should have been able to see from the jump.”
“One of these days I’m hoping you’re going to learn to take the W and pat yourself on the back, Sheriff. None of us saw it from the jump. And we’d still be chasing down dead ends if you hadn’t played your hunch,” Amanda said.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I agree with my sister, boss.”
The corners of Spenser’s mouth flickered, their kind words warming her heart. She appreciated it. But she was also self-aware enough to know that she would continue to flog herself with her failures for a little while yet. Spenser took pride in being professional and doing things by the numbers. But she’d let her personal feelings interfere. But she’d learn from it.
“Okay, so we’ve got our suspect,” Amanda started. “How are we going to prove it?”
“Actually, I think that’s something I might be able to help with,” Jacob said.
Spenser looked over at him. “Go on.”
“Well, like you, I came up with something I should have seen from the start,” he said. “But unlike you, I am going to take my victory lap for figuring it out.”
Spenser looked at him with a wry expression. “What did you do?”
“I did what you asked and worked my magic.”
“Oy. Could you get on with it already?” Amanda teased.
He glanced at his sister, his face a mask of smug triumph. “I realized that most people have their phones and computers set to automatically back everything up to the cloud. And since we’ve got access to his computers, I was able to get into it and found some things you might find interesting.”
“If you’re not too busy taking your victory lap, would you mind showing us?” Spenser asked.
A laugh bubbled out of Jacob’s throat. “Well, the first thing you might find interesting is a short video clip taken from one of his internal cameras—turns out, the one in his bedroom wasn’t the only one he had in his house.”
