“No thanks,” he said. “I’m good.”

“Back in a minute. The bathroom is across the hall if you need it.” Eve closed her notebook, picked up the receipt, and left the room.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Eve dragged a chair over to Duncan’s cubicle and sat down beside his desk. Duncan was eating a sugar donut and looking at a photograph tacked on his wall of the desert view from the backyard of his Palm Springs condo. He spent weekends and holidays there and was planning to make it his permanent home once he retired. Duncan looked like he longed to be there right now.

“How’s it going with the fucking gentleman?” Duncan asked.

“Jared doesn’t seem the least bit concerned about Tanya or the kids, which is weird. He may just be glad to have them out of the house.”

“What was his problem with them?”

“He was tired of paying her bills and taking care of the kids. It was all work and no sex.”

“That’s life.”

“Tanya was supposed to spend yesterday afternoon with a Realtor she met at a Pilates class to look for a new place to live.”

“I talked to the movie’s unit production manager,” Duncan said. “Jared worked on the set in Lancaster until Wednesday evening. The whole crew can vouch for him. They even took a group selfie with Kevin Costner when the day wrapped. That doesn’t mean Jared didn’t come back home last night.”

“He’s got that covered, too. He says there’s a woman who can vouch that he was with her in a hotel room all night . . . and he has this.” Eve handed Duncan the receipt.

Duncan looked at it and handed it back to Eve. “I’m surprised he didn’t have a signed deposition from the woman to go along with the Costner selfie and the hotel receipt.”

“What about his truck?”

“CSU says the truck appears clean. By that I mean, they didn’t find blood or anything unusual in their cursory check. They took some dirt and fiber samples for analysis just to be safe. But the fucking gentleman is still at the top of my suspect list.”

“Because he’s the only name on it so far.”

“He’s got a strong motive,” Duncan said.

“But no opportunity,” Eve said.

“He wanted them out of his life. He could have hired somebody to do the job.”

That was true, but she didn’t buy it. “Did you reach Tanya’s ex-husband?”

“Merced PD went by his place. He was distraught to hear that his kids were missing. He hasn’t left Merced in weeks and his employer can vouch for him being at work the last two days,” he said. “There’s even video from security cameras at his office and at his home to prove it. They gave me links to see the footage online.”

“Has there been any activity on Tanya’s cell phone or credit cards?”

“Nope,” Duncan said.

“So we’re back where we started,” Eve said, “with a missing family and a house covered with blood.”