Yet as Kelly entered the house a part of her felt as if it searched for a clue that had been overlooked. A silly thought but one that persisted despite her best efforts to dismiss it. The FBI had turned the house upside down. What clue could the kidnapper have left that they could have missed?

Then it hit her. Not all clues could be touched. Words for example, they came and went like ghosts. The image of a young man’s dead face in the newspaper haunted her. Why? Because she had seen his face in this house. Amy had even spoken to her about the guy.

“He was flying from Catalina to Santa Barbara at night. He had just finished scuba lessons and he was going to his birthday party. He was an excellent pilot. They don’t know why his plane crashed.”

Catalina and scuba lessons. Falling had directed David toward Catalina. Falling had been an experienced scuba diver. The coincidence was not overwhelming but it was real. Not to mention the fact that Matt Connor had been that mysterious ex in Amy’s past, the one she refused to discuss.

Had she hurt him? Had he wanted to hurt her?

Kelly wondered if it was another coincidence when she followed Amy into the house and Amy headed straight for the studio where Kelly had accidentally discovered Matt’s picture. Amy was still lost in a fog, moving without purpose, touching unfinished paintings, shifting used brushes from one jar to the next. Without asking permission, Kelly stepped to Amy’s desk and opened the drawer and took out Matt’s picture. Handsome guy, dark hair, powerful eyes. Had the picture been taken before he met Amy or after? Amy might have read her mind.

“I took that picture exactly a year before he died,” she said, coming up at her side. “On his twenty-ninth birthday.”

“He was a real boyfriend?”

“Yes.” Amy took the picture and stared at it with affection. “Greatest guy I ever knew. Matt was … he was perfect.”

“Why did you two break up?”

Amy sighed. “I married David.”

“May I ask a personal question?”

Amy continued to look at Matt but her toned hardened. “Was Jimmy Matt’s child? No, he wasn’t. Any other questions?”

“Did Matt love you?”

“Yes.”

“Did you love him?”

Amy put away the picture. “Yes.”

“You miss him?” Kelly asked.

“What do you think?”

“When his plane went in the ocean, did they recover his body?”

“No. They said the water was too deep.”

The other night, when the ransom had been dumped, every agent on the case had thought the water was too deep for the cash and diamonds to be recovered.

“I see,” Kelly said.