Chapter 44
While they were waiting for Agent Krapek and her team to arrive, Red and Rachel posted themselves on Terre Belle again and watched the house. They were under strict orders from Krapek not to trespass on the property or attempt to make any move without her approval. She hadn’t been too happy to find out that Rachel and Red had gone to the lake house without letting her know.
“Do you see that truck across the street from the house?” Red asked.
“Yeah. I noticed it last night, too. It turned into the street when we were leaving.”
Red turned around at the end of the street and came up from behind the truck. It appeared to be empty, although the driver’s-side window was rolled down.
“Write down the tag number,” he instructed Rachel. “Can’t be too careful.”
As they drove past, she jotted down the information and then handed it to Red. They left the neighborhood and drove to a gas station a mile down the highway.
Rachel killed some time by wandering around the store at the gas station while waiting for Red to get the information on who owned the truck. While she was contemplating getting some snacks, a man walked in. She discreetly watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was black, handsome, around six two, and clean-cut, and was wearing dark jeans and a white button-down shirt. He grabbed a gallon of milk and a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts. Rachel scooped some spicy boiled peanuts into a large Styrofoam cup and added a large Diet Coke and some spearmint gum. She got in line behind the man. After he checked out with the cashier, the man turned around, almost bumping into Rachel.
His eyes met hers. “Excuse me.”
Rachel nodded, speechless. She recognized that face. It was the man in the FBI sketch. The one whom Matt had identified as the homeless guy who’d approached him on the afternoon of the attack. The one who had also been spotted in Houma. DeShaun McAllister, aka Moses. She wasn’t that surprised to see how clean-cut he looked; she’d always wondered if the Moses homeless getup had been just a costume or part of some elaborate ruse to get at Matt.
Rachel hurried back to the car and updated Red.
“I was so busy getting peanuts I didn’t even notice him pull in,” she said. “He’s driving Melinda’s car. Follow him.”
“Okay, calm down. I can’t make it obvious.” Red pulled out of the gas station and hung behind the car.
“Who did the truck belong to?”
“Walter Caputo. He lives two doors down from Matt O’Malley.”
“What?”
“You heard right the first time. He’s Matt O’Malley’s neighbor.”
“Huh.” Rachel watched as the car they were following turned down the road that led to the lake house. “Keep going.”
“I am. We both know where he is going.” Red passed the road to the lake house, explaining to Rachel. “I don’t want to chance it. Get Matt on the phone. See where he is.”
Rachel called Matt’s cell phone. He answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m out of town. What’s up?” he asked.
“Lake Charles?”
He hesitated before answering, “Baton Rouge.”
“Really?”
“How did you find out about the lake house?” Matt sighed, knowing that he’d been found out.
“Red ran a background check on Adam. We discovered the lake house on his property records and decided to check it out.”
“You’re good,” Matt said.
Rachel listened as Matt explained his recovered memory of hearing Melinda talk to Alanna about Erin’s affair with Beckwith. He also told her about the night before, and how he’d seen Moses and Melinda having sex.
“That recovered memory gave me a hunch that Melinda was somehow involved, so I followed her yesterday,” said Matt. “When she got to this house, I used our office software to check the property records. I was surprised to find out that Adam owned the house.”
“It surprised us, too,” said Rachel. “So you had no idea that Melinda’s brother owned a lake house? She never mentioned it to you?”
“No, she didn’t. I mean, I knew that her family originally hailed from the Lake Charles area, but as far as we knew, they never went back there.”
“Are you in the truck by the house?” she asked him.
“Yeah.”
“Drive up to the Texaco, one mile to the east near the interstate. Meet us there. We need to talk.”