17. Jayne

Knowing that part of the reason we were going out was to track down Charlie's friend, Molly, Matt gave us the use of his SUV. It was awfully nice of him. It was very comfortable, and I liked being in it better than being in the random car of a stranger when we used a Ryde.

Our first stop was the real estate office where Molly worked. We knew she was in, because we'd called ahead. Sin had made an appointment to see her, and because she sounded very friendly, he'd let her know this wasn't about a property but the death of Charlie Frett.

I had high hopes.

As Sin parked, my phone went off. "Birdie," I told Sin before answering.

"Hey, there," I said. "Do you mind if I put you on speaker so Sin can hear, too?"

"No, go right ahead."

I tapped the speaker icon. "Okay, you're live. Good morning, Birdie."

"Morning, kids! I have some news. The file on Charlie was updated late last night and again this morning. The most important bits are this: Two of the three unidentified sets of prints in the apartment have been matched. One belongs to Molly McAndrews and one?—"

"We're about to go talk to Molly, as it happens."

"She was interviewed by police yesterday, just so you know. None of the notes from that interview make me think she's anything more than a friend. The second set belongs to a Theresa Uba, who has not yet been interviewed. Also, her phone had nothing of use on it. Seems like most of her texts had been deleted. It'll take a court order to get them from the phone company, and I'm not sure that's going to happen, with her death being ruled a suicide."

"Still?" I said. "No one thinks Charlie was capable of that. Nothing in her house made it seem like she was, either."

"So you were at … You know what? Don't tell me," Birdie said. "The fact that texts were deleted only adds to me thinking she was murdered, but the local police hadn't gotten there yet. Doesn't help that the autopsy report shows no clear evidence as to what caused her death."

"How about an overdose of GHB?" I asked. "I did some research on substances that kill without a trace, and that one was high on the list. It's undetectable in the blood after eight to ten hours, and if she was killed at night?—"

"And not found until…" We could hear keys clicking. "Here it is. Discovered by a neighbor at 7:03 a.m." Birdie sighed. "That is definitely enough time for the GHB to leave her system. The thing is, how did it get into her system?"

"There was evidence she'd recently had a protein shake. The blender pitcher and lid were upside down on a drying rack near the sink. There was a glass there, too. Can GHB come in a powdered form? Could have been in the protein powder."

"That's possible," Birdie said. "But it's usually a liquid."

"There was almond milk in the fridge, something that she could have definitely used in the protein shake."

"Also a possibility. Hmm." After a few moments of silence, Birdie said, "I'm thinking. I looked through the crime scene photos, but I missed the blender on the drying rack. I'll have to go back through them."

"I could send you the video and pictures I took."

"Okay, but you can't send them here. In fact, you probably shouldn't even send them to my personal email. I have a special address you can use. I'll text it to you when we hang up."

Sin smirked and shook his head. I poked his arm with my finger. "Anything else, Birdie?"

"Let me see … Oh, yes. Her computer."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Sin said.

"Except we aren't," Birdie replied. "Her computer is password-protected, and their IT person hasn't been able to get into it yet."

I groaned. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Birdie said. "Cracking a password doesn't happen in seconds like on TV. Sometimes it's fast, sure, but sometimes it can take days or even weeks of running the code algorithms. Sorry, Princess."

I looked at Sin. "Do you think Matt could help with something like that?"

"Maybe," he said. He looked at the phone. "What are the odds that the police department would take outside help?"

"I don't know, but if I used my connections, I might be able to make it happen. I'll see what I can do."

"Just out of curiosity, what connections do you have to the police department here?" I could only imagine. "Old boyfriend?"

Birdie laughed. "No, nothing that juicy. One of our own deputies, Remy Lafitte, is from New Orleans, and his lady love, Ephie, is also from there, and here's the big connection—her mom is a Louisiana State Supreme Court justice who just happens to be in a serious relationship with the police commissioner."

"Snowballs, Birdie. Get us in there!"

Birdie laughed. "I'll do what I can. I'll be sure to text you when I find out."

Sin leaned in. "Anything new on that partial print?"

"No, sorry. It's still churning through the database."

"Okay," he said. "Thanks."

"You two have a good day. We'll talk soon. Princess, I'm texting you that email address now."

"Thanks," I said. "I won't be able to send the pics and video until we get back to the RV, but I'll do it as soon as I can."

"I appreciate it. Later, kids!"

We said goodbye and hung up. It was time to talk to Molly.

We went into the real estate office, and I recognized her right away from her Facebook pictures.

She approached us, hand out. "Hi, I'm Molly. Are you Sinclair and Jayne?"

"We are," Sin said. I shook her hand, then he followed. "We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us."

She nodded. "Anything to help Charlie. I spoke to the police yesterday. They found my fingerprints in her apartment, which makes sense. I was just over there last week to hang out and watch a movie. What happened to her is…" Molly looked away and swallowed, clearly distraught. "I'm sorry. It's still really fresh."

"No apology needed," I said. "We're all upset."

"Let's go talk in the conference room," she said.

We followed her in. She sat at one end of the table, so we sat there, too, me beside her and Sin next to me.

Molly began. "You knew Charlie, then?"

I nodded. "Sadly, all too briefly. We met her the night before she died. She was cat sitting for a friend of ours, Matt Galloway. We met her when she came to his house to take care of his cat. She was lovely."

Molly nodded. "She was, inside and out. I don't know why she'd take her own life."

Sin glanced at me. "We don't think she did."

The sadness drained from Molly's face, only to be replaced by horror. "You think she was … murdered?"

"We do," Sin said. "That's why we're here talking to you. We're trying to gather more evidence about her life, her friends, anyone who might have meant her harm?—"

"And her boyfriend," I added. "Who might have been named Tony?"

Molly squinted a moment. "Tony, yeah, right. I never got to know him. He and Charlie didn't seem very serious. In fact, after only a couple of dates, she told me they were done. That things just hadn't worked out. You want to know something; she acted like he gave her the creeps."

Sin turned his phone around, the photo of Tony and Charlie visible on the screen. The one that had been on her bulletin board. "Is this him?"

Molly nodded. "Yep. He was at a birthday party for Theresa, I think. She's another good friend of ours. He kind of kept to himself that night, but it didn't seem odd because we were all Charlie's friends and he was kind of an outsider. Not sure why she even brought him. I don't think he knew anyone there. He didn't make the attempt to get to know anyone, either."

"Do you remember his last name?"

Molly chewed her bottom lip. "It was something Italian. All I can think of is Ciabatta, but that's a bread, not a last name, but it's something like that." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's not coming to me."

"That's all right," I said. "Do you know anything else about him? Where he lives? Where he works?"

"No. He really wasn't around much. I don't think I ever had a conversation with him that lasted more than a few sentences." Her eyes widened. "Do you think he killed her?"

"We don't know," Sin quickly answered. "But we know something was upsetting her this last month or so. And we know their relationship was rocky."

"Yeah, I can vouch for both of those things being true, but like I said, they didn't date very long." She splayed her fingers out on the table. "That I knew of. You know, she hadn't been her usual self this last month. It was like something was bothering her. I asked her about it several times, but she just brushed it off and said it was nothing."

My guess was Tony was the "something" that was bothering her. "Do you think it's possible that she was still seeing him but didn't want to tell her friends because it wasn't a good relationship?"

Molly frowned. "I do think it's possible. Charlie didn't like to burden other people with her troubles. She broke her arm once and none of us found out until two days after it happened. She got herself home from the hospital and everything. That's just how Charlie was. She'd much rather be the caregiver than the care receiver."

"I can see that," Sin said. "Probably why she was so good with animals."

That got Molly to smile. "She was great with animals. She had a way with them. You could just tell she genuinely loved them. Cat, dog, bird, horse, didn't matter. And they loved her."

Molly sniffed. "I can't believe she's gone." She tipped her head back. "I can't cry. I have a showing right at eleven, and I cannot go with mascara running down my face."

I didn't want to make her cry, so I went a different route with my next question. "Do you know anyone who might have wanted to hurt Charlie?"

Molly looked at me again. "Not a soul. Everyone loved Charlie. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. Her favorite book was Alice in Wonderland. She loved the movies, too. In fact, that's what we watched the night I hung out with her. She even had a Cheshire Cat tattoo on her wrist."

I nodded, because I'd seen her tattoo and all the Alice in Wonderland stuff in her apartment. I looked at Sin. I wasn't sure what else to ask, but maybe he had more questions. He shook his head, obviously understanding what I was thinking.

He smiled at Molly. "Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it. If you think of Tony's last name or anything else about him, will you let us know? We'll give you our numbers. I suppose we'll see you at the funeral tomorrow, too."

"You're going? That's great. So, are you guys like detectives or something?"

I jumped on that one. "More like private investigators." It wasn't really a lie. We were private people. And we were investigating.

We gave her our numbers, making sure to take one of her cards, and went back to the SUV. Once we were in and buckled up, Sin looked at me. "What do you think?"

"Molly was nice, but we didn't learn much. Maybe she'll remember Tony's last name. That would be a big help."

Sin started the SUV. "Be a bigger help if he showed up at the funeral tomorrow."

"Yes, it would. Let's hope. I'll tell you something else, though—I'd like to have another look in Charlie's apartment. Maybe get samples of that protein powder and that almond milk."

"Jayne, I don't know. The police might be going back there at any moment to do that very thing."

"I doubt that. They've released her body. The autopsy was inconclusive. They aren't even looking at it like a murder. I think this case is going to remain unsolved unless we do something."

"Let's wait and see if Birdie can get us access to Charlie's computer. Although I have to talk to Matt about that and see if cracking passwords is even something he can do. Let's go get some beignets, and I'll send him a text about it." He pulled out and headed for the French Quarter.

"Okay." I was being placated with sugar and dough, but I wasn't mad. Beignets sounded pretty awesome right now.

As he drove, my thoughts wandered. I watched the video of Charlie's apartment on my phone again, thinking hard about what I might have missed. There was something important in that space. There had to be. The feeling echoed inside me like a sixth sense.

Not being able to put my finger on it was completely annoying. We needed a break. Maybe the sugar would help me think. It usually did. Birdie would get us access to that computer. I knew she would.

But without the password, what good would it do us? Could Birdie crack it? I was sure she could. She was really good with computers. So much so, that sometimes I wondered if hacking wasn't some kind of secret werewolf skill they never talked about.

I squinted at the video on my phone, trying to take in all the details, looking for anything I hadn't noticed already.

Then, as the camera panned across the living room, I sucked in a breath. Even without sugar, I'd had an idea.

"What?" Sin asked.

"I'm pretty sure I know what Charlie's password is."