Bad Break by CJ Lyons Page B

His head was obscured by the top of the cabin, so I’d guess he was close to six feet or taller. He wasn’t black, but wasn’t pale. Either very tan or brown-skinned.” She thought for a moment. “I’m not sure if he had dark hair or if he was wearing a dark colored ball cap. I just saw a flash of black when he leaned forward.”
    Gant took notes, stopped when Megan went silent, and turned his glare onto Lucy. “And you? Sounds like you got fairly close to the boat.”
    “Too close—all I could see was the hull, I couldn’t make out the man at all. Does it have GPS we can track?”
    “Already checked. It’s turned off.” He narrowed his eyes. “Go change into dry clothes. The chief wants you both down at the station for formal interviews.”
    Lucy fished her car keys out of her sodden messenger bag—thankfully, she’d had all the compartments zipped shut before her unscheduled swim. The only thing that might be permanently damaged was her phone. “We’ll be there.”
    Mateo’s uncle followed them to the parking lot. “Thank you for trying.”
    “I only wish I’d been more help.” Lucy thought for a moment. “Are you going back to the house?”
    “Yes. The police want us there in case—” He faltered, obviously thinking of the worst reason on earth why the police would want a family handy.
    “I’m sure Mateo’s all right,” Megan said, touching Jorge’s arm.
    His worry didn’t ease. “They were talking like he might somehow be involved. When I gave them his phone, they said it was evidence.”
    “That doesn’t necessarily mean evidence he committed any crime,” Lucy hastened to reassure him. “But he worked at the Flemings’ house on a regular basis. He might have seen something before today and not even know it was important.”
    Jorge frowned. “I guess. Maybe.”
    “I know you said Mateo didn’t have a computer, but what about social media? Did he have any favorite sites?” Usually, kids Mateo’s age, their online activity provided a more complete picture of who they were and what was really going on in their life than any interview with parents.
    “He posted photos—loved taking pictures with his phone, especially of houses. Wants to be an architect some day.”
    Photos often had geotagging embedded in them. Which would give some idea of Mateo’s movements. Not much to go on, but in a case like this, you never knew what might help. Jorge gave Lucy Mateo’s access codes, so she should be able to take a look at his emails, texts, and any remotely stored images even though his phone was in evidence. After all, he’d already given her permission to go through everything on the cell. She made a note to grab her laptop from their hotel room. She had a feeling they’d be doing a lot of waiting as the night went on and she could work from the police station as well as anywhere.
    “Thanks,” she told Jorge. “I’ll call if I find anything helpful.”
    She and Megan got into the car and headed past the shopping center to their hotel. “He’s right,” Megan said. “They think Mateo might be involved, don’t they? Some kind of inside man?”
    “Why do you think that?”
    “Well, his mom and aunt told me there was a lot of money in Pastor Fleming’s safe. I mean, a whole lot. Tens of thousands of dollars from these church loans he was going to pay back. Makes it easy to blame someone like Mateo who knew the money was there and had access. But,” she twisted in her seat to face Lucy, “I know he didn’t do it. He’d never have tortured Pastor Fleming to get the combination to the safe. He had the keys to the house—he could have easily have gotten the combination without resorting to violence. And why would he take both the pastor and the money? If he did do it, why not just run?”
    Lucy noticed Megan didn’t bring up what was really bothering her. “If he is guilty, would he be foolish enough to set up an alibi with the daughter of a FBI agent?”
    “Right. We would