Hide and Seek (Criminal Profiler #1)(86)

Nevada’s jaw tightened as he looked at Macy. The question caught him off guard. In all his dealings with Bennett, she’d never once let on that she had been raped.

“Why would you ask a question like that?” Sandra asked.

“That’s not an answer to my question.” And then in a softer tone, Macy said, “I’m on Brooke’s side. I’m trying to help her.”

Sandra’s face crumpled with sadness. “Yes.”

“Is that when she became pregnant?” Macy asked.

“Yes. But she hid it from me for months. She was nearly six months pregnant when I found out.”

Nevada calculated back to when Bennett would have gotten pregnant with Matt. Could Matt’s biological father be the rapist they were chasing? “Does she know who assaulted her?”

“No. She was unconscious for most of it,” Sandra said.

Nevada was irritated with himself for not picking up on the signs Macy had seen. He was also frustrated with Bennett because she’d not confided in him.

Matt came out the front door with his backpack slung over his shoulder. As Sullivan stepped forward, Macy asked Nevada, “Do you mind if I drive them?”

Nevada studied her a moment and then handed his keys to her. “Sure.”

She smiled at the boy. “Matt, I’m Agent Crow. I’ll run you and your grandmother over to Mr. Greene’s.”

He tightened his grip on the strap of his pack and walked toward her. Nevada patted him on the back and told him it would all be fine. Sandra grabbed her purse, and she and Matt climbed into Nevada’s vehicle.



Macy slid behind the wheel, adjusted the seat and mirrors. “Nevada’s a tad taller than me,” she said, trying to put him at ease.

Matt hooked his seat belt. “You don’t look like FBI.”

“I’ve heard that a few times lately.” She started the engine and pulled away from the scene.

“Do you really think my mom is going to be okay?” Matt asked.

“As long as Nevada and I have a say in it, Matt.”

He tightened his grip on the armrest and stared ahead. His lips were tight and he blinked back tears. “She loves her job.”

“I know she does.” She handed him her phone so he could read out directions. “Which way to Mr. Greene’s?”

“Get on I-81 south,” Matt said.

“I can do that.”

The silence was broken only by more directions from the boy, which had them arriving at Mr. Greene’s house a half hour later. She parked, and he got out with his grandmother.

“My daughter is worried that she’s not good enough for the new work promotion,” Sandra said.

“She said that?” Macy asked.

“To me,” Sandra said.

“She’s very good, but I’ve worked these kinds of cases longer.” She looked at them both. “I’m not the bad guy here. I want to help.”

“We know that.” Sandra laid her hand on her grandson’s shoulder.

“Matt, think back to when your mom was in your room. What did she say?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Close your eyes. Tell me what you remember.”

“That’s weird,” he said.

“Humor me. You saw your mom downstairs and then got into bed. Did you fall asleep quickly?”

The boy closed his eyes. “Yeah. I was beat. But I could hear her pacing downstairs.”

“And then she came to your room?”

“Yeah.”

The boy closed his eyes again. “I was in bed asleep. The clock in the hallway was ticking.”

“Your mom must have said something to you? Or did she kiss you on the cheek maybe?”

He opened his eyes. “She said something about ancestry.”

“Ancestry?”

“She rubbed the inside of my cheek.”

“With a cotton swab?”

“Yeah. I guess that’s what it was.”

Macy exchanged glances with Sandra and then said, “Wait right here.” She opened the back of the vehicle, rummaged through Nevada’s very neat boxes, and found what she was looking for. She held up a buccal swab. “Did it look like this?”

“I guess.”

Macy pulled on gloves and unfastened the sealed top. “Did she ask you to open wide?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Can I take a swab?” Macy asked.

Sandra frowned. “Why?”

Both Bennett and Sandra were afraid that a monster had fathered the child they loved so now. “It could help find Brooke.”

Sandra nodded and Matt opened his mouth. Macy quickly ran the cotton tip along the inside of his cheek and secured it back in the vial.

“What’s that all about?” Matt asked.

“It’s something I need to check on for your mom.”

Mr. Greene stepped out on his porch, and Matt ran to him and hugged him close. The former sheriff whispered something in his ear, and the boy nodded and then buried his face in the man’s chest. Finally, the boy pulled back and wiped a tear away with his hand.

Sandra hugged Greene. “Thank you for taking us in.”

“Of course. I’ve got fresh bagels inside. Go on in, and I’ll be right behind you.”