When Shadows Fall (Dr. Samantha Owens #3)

She hung up the phone, and immediately called Fletcher.

He answered on the first ring, sounding slightly more awake than she felt at the moment.

“What’s shaking? Any news?”

“A reporter from The Washington Post just called me, told me she knows where Kaylie Rousch is and wanted a quote about Rachel.”

She heard him cursing a blue streak, then a female voice in the background.

He had company. And it wasn’t Andrea Bianco.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Sam said.

She hated herself for the chilliness of her tone. It wasn’t fair, and it didn’t matter. He was her friend, nothing more. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re not interrupting. Jordan and I spent the whole night going through the signal intelligence from Matcliff.”

She felt like an idiot. Jordan Blake. So he’d been working. Get a grip, Sam.

Fletcher yawned. “Sorry. This case is going to kill me. So where is Kaylie Rousch, according to Ms. Schumann? Who’s a pain in my ass, by the way. That girl is a climber. We need to be careful around her.”

“So I gathered. I said no comment and hung up on her.”

“Good girl. She’s just fishing. Glad you didn’t take the bait. She almost got her head shot off here a minute ago, sneaking around my backyard. Caught her looking in my windows, nearly booted her ass, bullet included, clear to the Potomac.”

“What if she knows something?”

His voice hardened. “If she does, and she’s trying to protect her story, she’ll regret it. I’ll call her, tell her to stop bugging you. Listen, we went through about a million pieces of paper last night, and came up with a few things.”

He filled her in. She told him their suspicions about Mac Picker. They both sat in silence, processing their individual information.

“I think we can agree Doug Matcliff wasn’t an innocent in all of this,” Sam finally said. “He knew exactly what was happening with Eden. Chances are, he set them up with Picker early on. He knew the name, knew the work they did. He’s complicit in this up to his eyeballs, and that law firm needs to be taken down. My question is, why now? He’s been on the run, hiding from the cult and from the FBI, for ten years. Why blow his cover now?”

“Maybe Matcliff had enough, and was trying to do the right thing.”

“Maybe. But I don’t know, Fletcher. He may have started as the go-between, moving the babies out and delivering them to Lynchburg, assuming we can confirm that the adoption paperwork came out of Picker’s firm. But at some point, Kaylie’s well-being became more important to him, and he took her from the cult and went off-grid. These are the actions of a man in love, don’t you think?”

“Go on.”

She played with her empty coffee cup. “He was in love with Kaylie, and would do anything to keep her safe. Then ten years later, out of the blue, he suddenly puts together a will, then winds up dead. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I agree, it doesn’t. But we know he was a duplicitous bastard. From what we gathered, going through this intelligence, his check-ins were intended to mislead the FBI into looking in all the wrong places for Eden.”

“He certainly managed to make Kaylie believe he’d been cut loose by the FBI, that they were on their own. Isolating her, making her all the more dependent on him.”

“Classic abuse scenario.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Another thought struck her. “Fletch, remember what Davidson said Arthur Scarron did? He was some sort of doctor before he began to run his family’s oil company. Davidson said he thought it was plastic surgery or O.B. Regardless of his specialty, he’s certainly trained in obstetrics. We all have the basic knowledge of each field. Perhaps he was involved here, too. Any chance Ellie Scarron is awake?”

“Not that I’ve heard, but you’re right. It’s time to go dig deeper into the names on that will.”

“What about Rachel Stevens? Any word on her?”

“Jordan’s people are looking for the spot Kaylie pointed out on the map, and the minute they find something, I’ll let you know. We’re headed to the Stevens’s now to find out if Rachel is really their kid. If she’s not, I’ll find out who handled the adoption. You’re going to Anne Carter’s place?”

“Yes. Baldwin should be here shortly.”

“Then I suggest you grill the crap out of the woman, get her to share all her dirty little secrets.”





Chapter

50

Bethesda, Maryland

THE SUN WAS crawling steadily out of the horizon when Fletcher and Jordan rolled up to the Stevens house. The overnight team gave them bleary looks, clearly disappointed they weren’t being relieved.

Claire and Kevin Stevens were sitting in the kitchen, also bleary-eyed, and their joint looks of hope morphing into despair were hard to take. Claire vaguely waved her hand at the coffeepot. Fletcher poured coffee for everyone, then joined them at the table.