Hour of Need (Scarlet Falls #1)(97)

“Victor and Kate had had an affair about a year and a half ago, so their working relationship was already strained, but she started treating him very oddly. They argued. Kate overheard his conversation with the girls. She took the phone from his jacket in the office. Victor threatened to tell Lee about their affair if Kate didn’t give the phone back. But in the end, he knew she’d do the right thing. So he hired Donnie to kill Kate and recover the phone.”

Disbelief floored Grant. “So the target was Kate, not Lee.”

“That’s insane.” Ellie turned her hand over and squeezed his fingers.

“How does an ice-skating coach find a contract killer?” Grant asked.

“Donnie played hockey under the scholarship program for troubled kids,” McNamara answered. “And Victor was Donnie’s first client. As far as we know, Donnie never killed anyone before he was incarcerated. Most of his early crimes were Internet-based. In fact, he knew how to find Lee and Kate by hacking into Kate’s online calendar app. But after he was assaulted in prison, the Aryan Brotherhood helped him kill his attacker, who was a member of a rival gang. Donnie developed a taste for violence. His girlfriend’s death was caused by autoerotic asphyxiation. They were both into BDSM. That last night Donnie was with her, he got carried away.”

Grant intertwined his fingers with Ellie’s.

“The fireman ran across some other things we’ve been looking for in the house.” McNamara pulled an envelope out of his briefcase. “Your brother’s will. There’s nothing in it that pertains to the case.”

“Where did you find it?” Grant touched the envelope.

“Your brother was using the old dumbwaiter as a hidey-hole. He’d boarded up the opening, but the shaft is brick, and the contents survived the fire,” McNamara said. “The Hamilton file was in there as well.”

“So what did Lee know?” Grant asked. “Though I guess it doesn’t matter, since he wasn’t the target.”

“Something we all missed.” McNamara tapped the edge of the table. “Lindsay had received harassing pictures on her phone, but her phone had been wiped by a virus. Lindsay had a friend back in California that she texted extensively with. His name is Jose. Lee called him and found out that Lindsay had forwarded one of the photos to him before her phone was wiped out. It was a particularly nasty picture of a doll made to look like Lindsay and hanging by a string. Here’s where Regan and Autumn screwed up. The picture was geotagged.”

“Geotagged?”

“The location where the picture was taken is embedded in the picture. This particular picture was taken at Regan’s house,” the cop said. “So Lee really did find something to tie one of those girls to Lindsay’s harassment.”

“And Corey Swann?” Ellie asked.

The cop nodded. “Not saying a word, but he was in possession of the burner phone he used to text his threats to you. The camera mounted in front of Ellie’s house was wireless and motion sensitive. He used your own wireless network to send himself footage. Seriously, ‘Julia1’ isn’t a very secure password. He could watch the house live or view the captured feed at his leisure. Possession of the burner phone is enough to charge him with extortion. I’m sure we’re going to find all sorts of evidence in our investigation.”

The cop got up. “Call me if you have any other questions. I’ll let you two digest all this and get some rest.”

Ellie locked the door behind McNamara. Still sitting at the table, Grant tapped on the envelope.

“Are you going to open that?” she asked.

“No. I should wait for Mac and Hannah.” He stood and stretched. “That couch is looking pretty good. How about we stretch out and close our eyes until everyone wakes up?”

He tugged her to the sofa and pulled her down next to him. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he leaned back and closed his eyes. McNamara’s information was almost too much to absorb. Kate had an affair? She’d been the target of a killer because she’d withheld information from the police. She’d sat on that phone for weeks, afraid of losing her husband when he found out about her infidelity.

Ellie put her hand in the center of his chest, right over his heart. “Are you all right?”

“I just need a little time to take it all in.”

Faith cried from the bedroom.

“I’ll get her.” Ellie stood.

He stopped her with a hand on her arm. “No, I got it.”

Maybe the last thing he needed was time to think.





Chapter Thirty-Eight


“Excuse me.” Grant stopped at the nursing station on his way to his father’s room. Only one day had passed since the fire. Ellie, Julia, and Nan had returned to their home. Hannah and the kids were still in the motel. Lee’s house wasn’t salvageable.

A nurse in pink scrubs looked up at him over her reading glasses. She blew short, gray-blond bangs out of her eyes. “Yes, sir?”

“I’m Colonel Barrett’s son.” Grant hesitated. “I was here last week, and the visit didn’t go well. He got agitated when I said I was his son. He doesn’t recognize me.”

Her mouth twisted in a sad smile. “That happens a lot. He didn’t know your brother most of the time either, if it makes you feel any better.”