She’d ask Sheldon’s advice later. Right now, Sheriff McCabe was pacing the lobby. He had a phone pressed to his ear, but when he saw Nora, he wrapped up the call and shoved the phone into his pocket.
“What can I carry?” he asked.
Nora passed him a coffee cup. “Your latte with an extra shot of espresso. I figure we need all the caffeinated help we can get today.”
McCabe rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Today, and every day. Let’s go to my office.”
Nora followed the sheriff down a carpeted hallway into his cluttered office. His desk, which was always fastidiously organized, was a mess. Papers, file folders, empty mugs, and food wrappers completely covered the wood finish.
“Have you been sleeping here?” Nora asked.
“Pretty much. I’ve only gone home to shower and feed Magnum and Higgins,” he said, shoving a pile of paper aside. “I’ve never had cats before, so I didn’t realize that they might act out if they felt neglected. Well, my twin terrors are acting out. My favorite chair is now a scratching post.”
A giggle bubbled out of Nora’s mouth. “Your curtains could be next.”
McCabe cleared off one of the guest chairs and sighed. “I thought my blinds were safe, but they’ve already chewed through two of the cords. Aren’t kittens supposed to be cute, snuggly, purring pets? Mine are demons with fur. I might have to baby proof the whole house.”
McCabe pulled out Nora’s chair before dropping into his. Nora passed him a breakfast sandwich and fruit cup. While the sheriff unwrapped his sandwich, she took in the contents of the whiteboard attached to the opposite wall.
The board had been divided into three columns. One for Bren, one for Celeste, and a third called Persons of Interest.
“Wolf Beck.” She gestured at the board with her coffee cup. “What do you know about him?”
“For starters, he’s a major supporter of the Pine Hollow Sheriff’s Department. Contributes to every fundraiser and the sheriff’s reelection campaigns. Which is why their department won’t give us anything useful on the man. As far as they’re concerned, Mr. Beck is an ideal citizen, and it’s their job to protect his privacy.”
Nora ate some of her sandwich while formulating her next question. “What about a photo? I couldn’t find a thing online.”
Since McCabe’s mouth was full, he held up a finger and reached for one of the many files on his desk. Opening it, he showed Nora the driver’s license photo clipped to a printout from the DMV. The printout included VIN numbers and the make and model of several vehicles, but Nora couldn’t focus on cars. Not when she was about to see an image of Wolf Beck.
Beck had a close-trimmed beard and nut-brown hair that fell to his shoulders in thick waves. His eyes were dark and bearlike, and his gaze was intense. This was softened somewhat by the upward curve of his lips. He looked like a man enjoying a joke at someone else’s expense. Nora found his stare unsettling. She’d come across his age in an article but had since forgotten what it said. His weathered skin and omniscient expression made it difficult to judge.
“How old is he?”
McCabe glanced at the photo. “Thirty-eight.”
“Married?”
“Never.” McCabe reclaimed the folder. “Deputies Fuentes and Wiggins will be in Pine Hollow by lunchtime. We obviously can’t rely on the locals, and we have to get a read on Still Waters and Mr. Beck. The artists might live in primitive cabins deep in the woods, but they must come into town to use the library computers, buy supplies at the grocery store, et cetera. Someone will talk. Someone will tell us what things are really like.”
Nora sipped her coffee and continued to examine the photo of Wolf Beck. She could imagine Bren falling for such a man. He was authoritative and compelling. And though he was far from twenty, he wasn’t old. He could have played multiple roles for Bren. From confidante to lover to father figure. Bren wouldn’t have been the first young woman to lose herself to an older man promising the world.
Nora shared these thoughts with McCabe.
“Father figure? It’s possible,” he said. “We got a copy of Ms. Leopold’s birth certificate, and the mother is listed as Cecily Leopold. The father’s name was left blank. Did Celeste ever mention him?”
“No. All she said was that Bren grew up in Still Waters, and that it was a good childhood.”
McCabe contemplated this for a moment. “Maybe it was. If the community functions like a big family, then Bren had plenty of adoptive grandparents, parents, and siblings.”