At this point, he should have braced himself for anything, but the rest of Kotetsu's words seemed to fall away with that last piece of information. Barnaby felt his limbs go cold, and for a beat all he could do was stare at his partner in stunned, horrified silence.

"Murdered -- Aunt Samantha?!" There was no doubt in his mind that Kotetsu was telling the truth. The problem was that Barnaby felt sick that he'd apparently forgotten something so huge. "But...why?! Don't tell me it was...because of what she wanted to show you..."

Because whatever it was, he knew it had to do with his disappearance. Her death had to have been related to that.