I've never seen anything to suggest that he didn't want him to see his friends; in fact, he said that he knew it was important to him.
The 3rd person is Katt's daughter.
They aren't the same person, but they are both friends of ER
I'd guess that the main reason he mentioned it was the fact that it was gone. He never even said that DR took it with him. He said it was likely that he had it since it was gone. I'm sure he would have said the same thing about the bike if that had been missing.
If I were in MR's place, I would have expected (and wanted) LE to do a thorough search of my home just to make sure there wasn't evidence of someone being there who shouldn't be. I'd also expect them to at least do a cursory check of nearby water if there was a chance he had taken a fishing pole with him. MOO