“Any news at all?” Claire asked in a whisper.
Jordan touched her arm lightly. “We’re doing everything we can, Mrs. Stevens. Trust me. I know this is incredibly difficult, but right now we need some information. Can you tell us a little more about Rachel?”
“Of course. What do you want to know?”
“I’m sorry for being blunt, but is she your biological child?”
Claire Stevens had ivory skin. It was astounding to imagine she could get any paler, but she blanched so violently Fletcher reached out to steady her in case she fainted. “I take it that’s a no?”
Kevin Stevens’s face turned a mottled red. “I can’t believe you’re asking this now. She’s our daughter, and she’s missing. Nothing else matters.”
His wife’s mouth was working silently, as if she was trying and failing to find the appropriate words. She finally straightened her slim shoulders and spoke quietly. “How did you find out? It was a closed adoption. We were assured no one would ever know Rachel wasn’t ours.”
Fletcher looked at Jordan, and she leaned forward a little bit. “We believe we’ve found Rachel’s biological mother.”
The look of hope returned to Claire’s face. “Oh, thank the Lord. Did she steal her? Are we dealing with a custodial battle then? We can get our lawyers involved. We are her legal parents. Her mother abandoned her when she was a day old, and when she didn’t come back to claim her within thirty days, we were told we were in the clear. There’s no legal recourse for her to take Rachel back.”
“Let’s back up a minute, ma’am,” Fletcher said. “Tell us who helped you with the adoption.”
“No. Who is this woman? I want to know. I want to know who’s taken my daughter.”
Fletcher’s voice was gentle and steady. “Mrs. Stevens, please, calm down. We don’t believe Rachel’s biological mother is the person who took your daughter. But we do believe that her name is Kaylie Rousch, and she was a missing child, just like Rachel is now.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
But Kevin had leaned back in his chair, a look of wariness on his face. “Kaylie Rousch is the little girl—she’s a woman now—who’s been all over the news this morning. She was dead, they found her body. Now we find out they made some terrible mistake and she’s come back to life. You’re telling us this woman was Rachel’s biological host?”
“Yes, sir, that’s what we think.” Fletch sat back in the chair. Biological host? God, what an expression.
“But according to the news, the Rousch girl was stashed away in a cult for years, right?” Stevens asked.
Jordan nodded, took a sip of the coffee. “Yes, she was. We need to know how the adoption worked. Who facilitated it for you?”
Claire had recovered her composure. She was still pale, but there was some life in her eyes. “We had a lawyer. He helped us find the firm who did the private adoption. They were out of Lynchburg, Virginia. I only know that because I ran a background trace on our lawyer’s phone and saw all the calls he made when he was billing us were to a firm down there. We were never given their name, and to be honest, I never wanted it. What we were doing wasn’t against the law, not at all. They said it wasn’t going to take much time to get us a child, and we were thrilled when they were true to their word.”
“And you never dug any deeper? You checked out your own lawyer but not the firm he was working with?”
“That’s right. Our lawyer was taking our money regardless of whether we got a child. I wanted to be sure he was legitimate. And he was—he checked out. After that, I let it drop.”
“What’s his name?”
“Barry Evans, but he passed away a few years ago. He was based here in D.C., but he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer soon after Rachel came home to us. He sold his practice, shut everything down to try and fight the disease. Sadly, it didn’t work out for him,” Stevens said.
“That’s good information, Mr. Stevens, but still, I need both names. Do you know who was your lawyer working with?”
Kevin Stevens looked at his wife, who nodded. “His name was Rolph Benedict.”
*
Fletcher called Sam as they left the Stevens house, told her what they’d learned, promised to keep her filled in. Confirming Rachel was adopted, and knowing that Rolph Benedict had brokered the deal, brought many things into focus. They now had proof Mac Picker’s firm was involved in baby-brokering. Claire Stevens even admitted they’d paid a hundred thousand dollars for Rachel.
It was a lot of money, but not if you didn’t want any trace of the fact that you weren’t the biological parents of a child. Rachel’s birth certificate listed Claire and Kevin Stevens as her biological mother and father. There were no adoption records at all, no paperwork. Even the money trail had been erased. A child bought with no one the wiser.