He works at a Starbucks in Hollywood.

Nic only moved here in 2010, and he doesn't drive a lot.

FBI helicopter and/or jet easily explains that one.

Anything is "possible," but that's very unlikely. Aside from cocaine not being the drug-of-choice in Hollywood, there's the wife and kid, the new house, the short schedule for writing, and any number of other more likely things to have lessened his attention to detail.

I've a friend in Houma who has one of those old forts about 300 yards behind his house. It's not his "back yard," but is actually on state park land. We used to go back there and shoot cans all the time.

I think the choice of highway is based on the scenery outside the windows when they're driving. They do seem to be on the PCH a lot of the time.

Writer. Singular. Only one writer, which was just a small part of the larger problem of "what went wrong."