Chapter 45
After Matt arrived at the gas station, Rachel and Red convinced him to come with them to their hotel and wait for Agent Krapek and her team to arrive. They withheld the information about seeing a boy in the house because they knew that if Matt was aware, he would insist on getting into the lake house no matter what the cost. Since they didn’t know if Moses was armed, Red didn’t want to chance anyone getting hurt or put into a hostage situation.
“I hate to ask this question, but is there any way that Chris is involved?” Rachel asked Matt. They were all huddled around the hotel’s lobby, waiting for Krapek to arrive. Matt was extremely anxious, and Rachel was trying to keep his anxieties about his kids off his mind.
“I can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind. Not that I think my brother would do anything to hurt my wife or kids, but my line of thinking is more that Chris may have known Melinda was a little unstable and knew that she was up to something. He should’ve shared that with me.”
Red told Matt about seeing the surveillance video of Adam at the gas station. “Any reason why he would be involved?”
“Of course. Anything Melinda asked Adam to do, he would. She has been bossing him around since we were kids. Adam is a troubled soul. When their parents died in the car accident, it devastated him. He turned to Melinda as a mother figure. She was all he had. As you probably found out, their grandmother is crazy as a loon.” Matt drummed his fingers on his knee. “Guess it runs in the family.”
Rachel saw a black sedan pull up in front of the hotel. “FBI is here.”
They watched as Agents Krapek and Phipps got out of the car and made their way to the lobby.
“She doesn’t look happy,” Red said.
After a quick hello to everyone, Agent Krapek sat down on the opposite couch. “Tell me what you got so far.”
Red debriefed the agents on how he and Rachel came to be at Lake Charles, including seeing Moses at the gas station. Matt did the same, telling Krapek about his arrival at Lake Charles the day before and his suspicions about Melinda.
“We looked into Adam Donnelly’s background, by the way,” said Red. “We called his place of employment, and they told us he’d been fired.”
Agent Krapek was clearly annoyed. “Is there anything else you’ve checked out and conveniently forgot to tell us about?”
Rachel felt like she was a kid being scolded by her teacher. This wasn’t at all how she imagined the situation happening.
Red saved her by taking the lead. “What’s the plan now?”
“We’ll take it from here. Agent Phipps and I will go to the house and see what we can find out. Ask some questions.” She nodded to Phipps. “We’ll use the Lake Charles police for backup.”
Rachel watched as Phipps walked away, phoning the local department.
Krapek looked sternly at Rachel. “You guys can wait here. I’ll let you know what we find.”
Rachel was itching to go along, but she knew Krapek was already pissed at her for not telling her about the lake house sooner. She didn’t want to push it with her. But she couldn’t stand to sit and wait at the hotel, either.
“Can I speak to you in private?” Rachel asked Krapek. She wanted to tell her about spotting the boy. This was something she didn’t want Matt to hear. They took a walk outside while the rest of the party waited in the lobby.
“I can’t say that I’m too happy about you keeping this information from us,” Krapek said.
“We weren’t sure at first if it was anything worth your time,” Rachel said, leaning against the sedan. “There is one more thing you should know, and it’s something I didn’t want Matt to overhear. But I think you need to know before confronting Melinda.”
Rachel told her about seeing a blond-haired boy through the lake house window when she and Red had been on the boat. “He was on the second floor, probably in one of the bedrooms.”
“Are you sure it was Patrick O’Malley you spotted?” Krapek asked.
“Not one hundred percent. But it was definitely a young boy, blond hair, with the same build and frame as Patrick. I’m just going on what I’ve seen in photos given to me.”
“What about the girl? Mary Katherine?” Krapek asked.
“No sign of her,” Rachel answered. “We’ve only seen Melinda and Moses outside of the home. No sign of Adam, Melinda’s brother.”
“We need to let Matt know this. In case the kids are in the house, he can be on standby. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through, and having their dad there would be comforting.”
“Please let me tell him,” Rachel said.
When they got back inside the lobby, Rachel told Matt what she had been keeping from him. “Of course, we don’t know for sure if your kids are in the house…”
“I need to be there in case it’s them,” Matt implored Krapek. “Please?”