‘I know,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry I had to ask you to. All of you.’
Isenberg shrugged. ‘At least we were prepared for what was going to happen,’ she said briskly. ‘In my opinion, the murders of Paula and Tiffany and her mother are linked. Whether it’s the same doer or a copycat, I don’t know. Even if it is a copycat, that you’ve had two attempts on your life in as many days tells me that killing Tiffany and her mother in that exact manner was meant to distract you so that you wouldn’t properly investigate Andy Gold’s murder and link it to Mallory. Who knew about that video?’
‘The guys in our unit. I mean, Nash and Wyatt were next to me when it happened, but the other guys in the bullpen heard Paula’s scream. Or . . .’ He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry, his hands shaking. ‘Or her attempted scream.’ It had been a terrible sound.
‘Yeah,’ Deacon said grimly. ‘We know. So the list of people who know about the video doesn’t really help narrow things down. Who knew you’d be at St Agnes’s?’
After telling Deacon, Adam had let Isenberg tell the others why he’d been there. He felt nothing but support coming from Scarlett and Trip, which was making this moment so much easier than it might have been. ‘Meredith and my sponsor. I know she wouldn’t have told anyone. I don’t know if John did.’
‘You said John was saying something in those final seconds,’ Isenberg said. ‘What was it exactly?’
‘He said, “I need to tell you why.”’
‘He’d told someone where you’d be,’ Deacon said grimly. ‘Sonofabitch.’
Adam started to deny it, but found he had to agree. ‘Looks that way.’
Scarlett’s tone was gentle as she asked, ‘Did you ask him to be your sponsor or did he approach you?’
‘He approached me, about a month in. Said cops had to stick together because nobody else understood. What?’ he asked when Scarlett’s expression grew sad.
‘The black SUV was sold to him by Barber Motors, eleven months ago. For a dollar.’
He flinched, the words like a knife in his gut. It was true then. John had sold him out. For a fucking SUV. ‘Same place that last night’s shooter bought his SUV.’
Isenberg sighed. ‘And the same place that burned to the ground around two a.m.’
Adam slapped his hand on the table. ‘You’ve got to be shitting me. Goddammit.’
Deacon, Scarlett, and Trip let out blistering curses of their own.
‘That was my reaction,’ Isenberg said. ‘Nothing was left. Computers were melted.’
‘I bet we wouldn’t have found anything on them anyway,’ Trip said. ‘Voss’s computers were wiped clean.’ He slid a sheet of paper in front of Adam. ‘I dumped the call log from your sponsor’s phone. The number I circled is the only one that shows up as untraceable. Several calls and texts were made to and accepted from this number. The last text was sent this morning at four fifty-eight.’
Adam recognized the time and the phone number right away. ‘That was the same time that I texted John that I’d meet him at St Agnes’s. And that number is the same one that called the Buon Cibo hostess asking her to seat Meredith by the window.’ He stared at the piece of paper, trying to make the pieces fit. And then . . . they did.
‘Oh my God,’ he whispered. He couldn’t breathe. ‘Oh my God.’ He looked at the team, willing words to work themselves past the blockage in his throat. But it wasn’t working. The words would not come.
‘Adam?’ Deacon demanded. ‘What is it?’
‘It was me. I told John where Meredith was going to lunch. I told him that Mallory was leaving the safe house to sign up for GED classes. I’m the one who set them up.’
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Monday 21 December, 8.50 A.M.
‘Thank you. I really appreciate this information.’ Meredith ended her call with a sigh. She and Diesel had set up in the waiting room after Clarke’s nurse ran them out of his room. Clarke was appropriately irate at the nurse, but she’d been right. Meredith could see the headache in his eyes, so they’d left him to sleep. ‘I suppose it’s nice to know that being kind to people pays such dividends, but it makes me feel kind of sleazy.’
Now she and Diesel were working to find out how Linnea had dropped onto a killer’s radar. Starting with the social workers she knew in Cincinnati, she’d networked with those she trusted most until she’d landed the name of an Indianapolis social worker who knew Bethany Row, the woman who’d turned a blind eye to Linnea’s pain.
Diesel looked up from his laptop, lifting a brow. ‘It was definitely educational. I didn’t think you had the acting chops, Doc. Kudos.’
‘I don’t,’ she protested, then sighed again. ‘Of course I do. Otherwise everyone wouldn’t think I have my shit together, because I totally don’t.’
Diesel’s smile was kind. ‘I think we all know you don’t, Merry. But whatever it is that helps you cope . . . I don’t know. It gives us something too. All of us.’
Meredith’s eyes burned. ‘You have to stop saying sweet things, Diesel.’
He chuckled. ‘Okay, fine. Tell me what you learned from the chatty social worker. That was impressive by the way, the way you leapfrogged from social worker to social worker. You network like a boss. And your use of distraction and disinformation to get to the next name? If you ever decide to quit the psycho biz, you’ll make a great PI.’
Meredith gave him a dirty look. ‘Nobody can know about any of that. I got a reputation to protect. I’m supposed to be all sweet and kind and serene.’
He smirked. ‘Understood. Now dish while this program is running.’
He was working to break into Bethany Row’s personal email. He’d already accessed her social media and was now trying every combination of her dog’s name, best friend, and boyfriend to determine her password.
‘The last social worker, the chatty one, worked with Bethany for a few years and does not like her. At all.’ Meredith grimaced. ‘That was a lot of vitriol right there.’
‘I guessed that much. You looked like you were eating a lemon.’
‘I bet I did. She said Bethany was fired a few months ago and nobody was shocked.’
‘That’s interesting.’
‘Ain’t it, though? Bethany seemed to live well for a single social worker while employed. Some of the staff speculated that she had a sugar daddy, but this woman thought Bethany was on the take and was proven right – she says – when Bethany was fired. She says she was notorious for having to relocate girls who’d claimed assault, which sounds like a more documentable reason for termination, in my opinion. Apparently, she was fired after placing a girl who’d said she was molested into another home. The girl told her school counselor who brought in the police. A detective started asking questions.’ She sighed. ‘And then the girl committed suicide. It was a big story in Indianapolis a few months ago.’
‘You’re going to call the cop?’
‘Yes. I should probably tell Isenberg first.’
‘You probably should.’
‘She might tell me not to call the detective in Indianapolis.’
Diesel just looked at her with disappointed disapproval.
Meredith caved. ‘Fine. I’ll call Isenberg.’
He looked surprised. ‘Wow. I have power. That’s awesome.’
She smiled at him. ‘You do indeed.’ She dialed Isenberg’s cell and waited. And got voicemail. She ended the call without leaving a message. ‘I tried.’
He chuckled. ‘You did. I witnessed it.’
She grinned at him cheekily. ‘Now I can call that detective with a clear conscience.’
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Monday 21 December, 8.55 A.M.
I did this. I set Meredith and Mallory up to be killed. I did this. The words echoed in Adam’s head until they were all he could hear.
‘Adam? Adam?’
Adam became aware of Deacon’s hands gripping his shoulders, tightening his hold past the point of pain. But it was what Adam needed to stop the storm of words in his mind and yank back into himself.