by Karen Rose
‘One of his sons could blame you for all of that, even though none of it was your fault. Your alleged affair caused the string of events that left their mother dead.’ He paused a moment to let her think on that. ‘And speaking of the bankruptcy, how did Scott manage to buy the farm next to Maggie’s if he’d lost all of his assets? That farm appraises at close to five million dollars.’
‘Scott came from old money, but his father walked out when he was a kid and left him and his mother destitute. He cleaned stalls to help his mother make ends meet and worked his way up, learning to train the horses. By the time I met him he’d built his business and had a lot of rich clients.’
‘But he lost it all.’
She scowled. ‘Because of Travis. Anyway, his father died a few years ago. I don’t know if it was guilt for having abandoned Scott and his mother or if he just never changed his will, but Scott got a sizable inheritance. He was able to buy the property and some really good quality jumpers. Once he trains them and the horses start winning competitions, he can sell them for a lot more. One of his kids is a money whiz and invests well. Scott’s pretty comfortable now.’
The background checks on Scott Cooper’s sons were still ongoing. Grayson had hoped to have a full report for him by the end of the day.
‘Okay. Then let’s talk about Hal Lynch. Did you know Hal owns four homes?’
She frowned. ‘I knew he had two. A house in Virginia near the Elkhart estate and a row house in Baltimore. He lives in the Virginia house.’
‘Not anymore. He lives on your street, Daphne. At the top of the hill.’
She recoiled. ‘What?’
‘He also owns a condo in your building at Inner Harbor. On your floor.’
‘That’s . . . really disturbing.’ Her eyes were shocked. ‘But not a crime. And he doesn’t have any sons Doug’s age. His son is . . . maybe thirteen by now.’
Joseph frowned. ‘No, his son is twenty-five.’
Daphne shook her head. ‘I remember seeing his son, the night I saw his wife. He was small. Barely school age.’
‘Tell me about the night you saw his wife,’ Joseph said.
Daphne sighed. ‘You have to be careful being friends with men. Sometimes the wives don’t like it. Hal’s wife got the wrong idea about our relationship and confronted me one night. I knew he had a wife, but I’d only met her once, at one of Nadine’s garden parties. I don’t think we said more than hello to each other. Hal and I didn’t have a friendship like that. We didn’t hang out together or individually or with our families. He was my bodyguard.’
‘You told me a great deal just then, but not what I asked. Tell me about the night you met his wife.’
She hesitated. ‘Joseph, I don’t have any feelings for Hal other than platonic friendship and gratitude. He helped me a lot over the years.’
‘I believe you. And given that you still haven’t answered my question, I have to assume that Hal’s wife didn’t believe you.’
‘No, she didn’t. You need to know that I was alone for most of the twelve years I was married to Travis. After the night I conceived Ford, Travis touched me again a few dozen times, but never once after Ford had gone to elementary school. Hal and I spent a lot of time together, especially when I was going to college, after Ford was in school. Once . . . just once, he kissed me.’
Joseph kept his cool. ‘What did you do?’
‘For a moment, just that tiny split second, I was tempted. I was lonely and honestly, kind of needy. But I told him no. If I was caught cheating, I’d lose everything according to the agreement Mama’s lawyer had negotiated with Nadine’s lawyers before the wedding. I didn’t care about the money or the things, but Nadine would have fought for custody of Ford. And besides, it would have been wrong. I was miserable in the marriage, but I’m no cheat even if Travis was. So I told Hal absolutely no.’
‘Did he accept that?’
‘Yes. His face got all red. He was embarrassed, too. Flustered. It was one of those heat-of-the-moment things that never happened again.’
‘So . . . tell me about the night you met his wife.’
She sighed. ‘By the time I left Travis, Hal had all but quit. He and Travis had had a falling out over something a few years before and after that Hal cut back his hours and did other things. Started another business. He’d always loved the antiques at the Elkhart estate so he opened a small store in Baltimore. I’ve been there. He carries lovely things. The only hours he worked for Travis at that point were when he functioned as my personal security, which wasn’t so often then as I’d finished school.’
‘What was their falling out about?’
‘I don’t know. I asked Hal once, but he evaded the question.’
‘Why did you need a bodyguard?’
‘Nadine said it was because Elkhart wealth and Travis’s rising political career made me a target. He was a judge by then and considering a run for Congress. But I think Nadine just wanted me observed. My college classes, shopping, PTA meetings, even the Junior League – I was chaperoned everywhere. The only time I ever really got alone time was when I was riding or when I went to the doctor. I was the only woman I knew who looked forward to her annual physical. Until the day I got sick, anyway.’
‘Which was the day you discovered Travis with his secretary.’ He shrugged. ‘Maggie told me.’
‘Well, I guess I never told her not to. I was so distraught that day . . . I went to Scott’s barn to brush the horse he boarded for me and Scott was there. He just held me while I cried. Kissed my forehead, like a brother. That’s the “evidence” Travis used to say I’d been unfaithful, plus he added a lot of innuendo that I’d been having an affair with Scott the entire time I’d known him. Nadine told me I had to be gone by morning. In the middle of the night I snuck out, grabbed Ford, stole the keys to the Bentley, and went to a hotel.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘Nadine had cancelled my credit cards, which I found out when I tried to check into the first hotel.’
‘What a peach.’ Joseph hoped he never had to meet Nadine. ‘What did you do?’
‘Panicked. I’d been free to spend with the credit cards before, but my cash advances were minuscule. What I had in my wallet was enough to cover one night at the Motel 6.’ She shook her head. ‘It must have been the first time they had a Bentley parked out front. I needed cash, but couldn’t call Scott. He’d been through enough because he was my friend. I couldn’t let Travis go after him anymore.
‘I didn’t want to call my mother. I hadn’t yet figured out how to tell her I had cancer. To tell her I’d been dumped by Travis, too? Oh, and by the way, I need money? But I didn’t know what else to do, so I called her, but she and Maggie weren’t home. The whole cancer, divorce thing isn’t really something you leave on an answering machine.’
‘No, it’s not. So you called Hal?’
‘Yes, and he met me at the Motel 6. Gave me a hug, said everything would be fine, to not bother checking in, that he had a property in Baltimore that was unoccupied. He said I could live there until I got my settlement from Travis. I needed a safe place for Ford to live. There was a science and math charter school nearby that fit him to a T. And I knew I’d be going through cancer treatments soon, so I said yes.’
‘So . . . what happened the night you met his wife?’ Joseph asked ponderously.
‘I’m getting there,’ she snapped, then sighed. ‘I need you to understand that I’m not a cheat. I had no idea what would happen.’
‘I know you’re not a cheat. You’d had the rug pulled out from under you. So . . . ?’
She sighed again. ‘The second night I was at Hal’s house, I got a visit from his wife. I was stunned. She was angry, saying I was a bitch, that I wasn’t satisfied with the heir to the Elkhart fortune, that I had to steal her husband too.’
‘What did you say?’
‘You know, it was one of those moments you look back at and cringe.’ She shrugged. ‘I laughed. Not at her, of course, but that’s how she took it.
I had just been diagnosed with cancer, given a fifty-fifty shot of survival. I’d seen my husband doing his secretary, for God’s sake, yet I’d been accused of cheating with married men – twice in the same week. It struck me as funny. Until she told me I was living in her house. She and Hal had lived there when they were first married. Now it was rented, but not to me.’
‘What did you say to that?’
‘Nothing. She wouldn’t give me a chance. She got in my face, told me to get out or she was calling the cops to throw me out. She had her cell phone out, ready to dial. So I took Ford back to the Motel 6. I hadn’t told him about the cancer either. He just thought his father had finally thrown us out. I went outside the room to call Mama so Ford wouldn’t hear and I spilled out everything. I asked her if I could borrow whatever money she could scrape together. She said she was coming out that night.’
She exhaled slowly. ‘Then I turned around and saw that Ford had opened the door a crack and was listening. He’d heard every word. And in that moment I wanted to kill Travis Elkhart. Wasn’t terribly happy with God, either. Ford was in shock. Reminded me of how I looked when I came home after Beckett. Anyway, Mama came and the next day we put a security deposit on an apartment there in Baltimore, close to the hospital and Ford’s new school. Hal called my cell phone, said he was at the townhouse and why wasn’t I there. I told him about meeting his wife.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Nothing for a very long moment. Then he said it was a misunderstanding and that he’d take care of it. I backed away from Hal for a while. I didn’t want to jeopardize his marriage any more than I unwittingly had. And once chemo started . . . After I started law school he called me. His wife had died. Killed herself, actually. He told me that she’d been emotionally unstable for years. Based on what I saw that night, I believed him. We started meeting for lunch, just . . . friends. He took me to the opera and ballet. Contributed to my women’s center. We’re platonic. End of story.’
‘Except he lives a hundred yards from you and you didn’t know.’
She looked troubled. ‘He was my bodyguard. Maybe it’s an old habits thing. I know you think I’m burying my head in the sand, but I’m not in a frame of mind to make a snap decision on him. Besides, his son is only thirteen. When I was walking out of his wife’s house that night, I saw the little boy, asleep in the back seat. He was about five and this was eight years ago. He might even hate me if he thought his mother’s account of things was right, but he’s not Doug.’
‘Daphne, the check I had done showed that Hal Lynch has one son. His name is Matthew. He’s twenty-five. His mother was Jane. Who committed suicide. That would make a son very bitter toward the woman he believed broke up his parents’ marriage and drove his mother to kill herself.’
Daphne frowned in confusion. ‘But that twenty-five-year-old son is still not old enough to be Doug.’
‘Unless he lied about his age to the lady who was carding him at the drugstore.’ He lifted a brow. ‘People do lie about their age, you know.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I know.’
‘Will you at least consider for a moment that he intercepted your letter to the FBI?’
She went still. ‘I guess I have to. I mean, Nadine never does anything herself. She gives orders and others do her bidding. If she’d told Hal to fake the certificate, I’m sure he would have. We weren’t friends at that point. He owed more to Nadine than to me.’
Joseph wasn’t so sure Hal would have done the deed for his employer. ‘You still assume Nadine called the shots.’
‘Of course. She’s the only one to have anything to gain.’
‘Avoidance of scandal,’ he said and she nodded. He said nothing more, waiting for sharp mind to make the connection that her loyalty to her friends didn’t want her to see.
‘What possible motive could Hal have had?’ she asked, doubt in her voice.
‘Keeping you close by. If Nadine had found out then, before the marriage, what would she have done?’
She faltered. ‘I don’t know. She probably would have sent me packing and found a way to get custody of Ford.’ She looked out the window, her jaw tight. ‘And Hal lives up the street from me. Do you remember the date of his wife’s suicide?’
She was finally starting to get it. Joseph gave her his phone. ‘Grayson forwarded it to me. Paige got all the info for us. You can look if you want.’
‘I don’t want to, but I will.’ She inhaled sharply as she read. ‘Oh God. I was diagnosed on June 20, a Tuesday. I was thrown out by Nadine on Wednesday afternoon. Hal’s wife threw me out on Thursday night. She died Friday night. She killed herself the day after I saw her. Because she thought I’d stolen her husband.’
‘Not your fault, Daphne.’
‘Funny how so many things aren’t my fault,’ she said bitterly. ‘Hal did this. He faked that death certificate. For the past twenty years he’s known. All along, he’s known.’ Her expression changed, moving from bitterly aware to horrified. ‘He knew, Joseph. He knew that Beckett murdered Kelly. He let a killer go free just to keep me close to him? I thought I knew him. I trusted him. I trusted him with Ford. He stood there in my house, pretending to be sorry . . . What if he knew where Ford was all along?’
‘I’ll have him brought in for questioning.’ Joseph called JD, asked him to pick Hal up, then called Grayson and asked for a warrant to search Hal’s properties. Even if Hal wasn’t involved in Ford’s disappearance, Kimberly and her sister were still missing. Hal’s son might have hidden the two girls somewhere on his father’s property.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured when he hung up his cell phone. ‘But, Joseph, why now? Why is Hal’s son getting his revenge now?’
‘I don’t know. But we’ll find out.’ He took her hand and held it as they followed Mark O’Hurley closer to where Doug had wanted her all along.
Baltimore, Maryland, Thursday, December 5, 1.30 P.M.
Cole had finally figured out where he was. Kind of. He could hear the echo of cars as they drove by and the occasional slam of doors as they parked. It was that ghostly sound that was peculiar to a parking garage.
He could smell the chemicals that Mitch used on his HVAC job. I’m in the black van, covered with blankets. He guessed that Kimberly knew how to use the hydraulic lift in the back. She was too tiny to have moved him on her own.
What he didn’t know was where exactly he was or how long he’d been out. She could have driven them anywhere. He wasn’t freezing at least, so maybe they were in an enclosed garage. He did know that his head was killing him. And he could smell blood. Probably from getting hit by a damn shovel. At least she hadn’t broken his nose. He’d have suffocated on his own blood by now if she had.
When he caught the bitch, she’d be so sorry.
Marston, West Virginia, Thursday, December 5, 1.45 P.M.
Daphne sat in the Escalade while Joseph coordinated with Kerr and McManus, who’d followed them from the bus station. In front of her was O’Hurley’s car. In front of O’Hurley was the cabin and garage from her nightmares. It had taken O’Hurley five wrong turns before finding the right one.
Now here she sat. Impatient and full of dread all at once.
Joseph opened the back hatch and she turned to see him buckling into a flak jacket. He looked up and met her eyes. ‘You sure about this?’
‘Yes, Joseph. I’m sure. Do I get one of those?’
He was checking the magazine of a semi-automatic rifle. ‘A rifle? No.’
‘I meant a jacket.’
‘Yes, you definitely get one of those.’ He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe he’d agreed to letting her go in with him. ‘I’m fucking insane,’ he muttered. Without waiting for her to respond, he grabbed a small case by its handle and gave it to Kerr, who also wore a jacket. ‘Explosive detector,’ he told Kerr. ‘Run the wand around the garage door before you open it.’
‘Sweet,’ Kerr said. ‘Where’d you get this?’
‘My dad’s company makes
them for military and private use. He heard that I almost got blown up on Tuesday and insisted I carry one with me. Daphne, it’s time. This vest is yours.’
On shaking legs she got out of the car to put on the flak jacket, only to be stopped by O’Hurley.
‘What’s going on here?’ he asked, panic starting in his eyes.
‘We think that my cousin and I weren’t his only victims, that he abducted a girl as recently as six months ago. She might still be alive.’
‘You can wait in your car,’ Joseph added, buckling her jacket. ‘Hopefully we’ll know something soon. As soon as backup arrives, you’ll be escorted to the police station and they’ll take your statement. Until then, Detective McManus will see that you’re protected.’
His face horrified, O’Hurley backed away until he reached his car.
‘Let’s go,’ Daphne said. Then to bolster her own courage added, ‘I’m doing this.’
‘You stay with me,’ Joseph said, his voice low and urgent. ‘Doug is here. Somewhere. He brought you here. He’s watching. I know it. You’re here to a, point us toward his underground room and b, draw Doug into the open. Maybe we can lure him out.’ He pointed to McManus. ‘Kerr goes in first. You cover our back.’
His body a shield, Joseph hovered over her as they crossed the open, unprotected area around the house. As she approached she was struck by the stench of decomposing flesh. The cat Ford had seen. With the ‘Fluffy’ name tag. Realistically she knew it wasn’t her Fluffy’s body, but it was a damn fine way to mess with her head.
She’d told the impostor FBI agent the cat’s name too. That’s how Doug knew.
Oh, Hal. Why? How could you? Her mind was still having trouble believing it was true. But she knew. Good Lord. Hal. Drawing a breath she stepped into the garage . . . and back twenty-seven years.
‘It looks the same,’ she said softly. ‘The shelf, the pile of wood, the chains. How can it look the same?’
‘Where’s the entrance, Daphne?’ Joseph asked, his voice tense. He was watching, waiting. Worrying.