Cut & Run (A Rachel Scott Adventure) - By Traci Hohenstein Page 0,56

breath as Melinda walked out onto the deck. He watched as she lit a cigarette and sat down on one of the lounge chairs. Matt didn’t dare to move or even breathe as he watched Melinda smoke. She seemed to be looking right in his direction. He heard the faint ring of a cell phone. Melinda answered and started animatedly talking to whoever was on the line. Matt was about fifty yards away and could barely hear what she was saying. He felt bad for the person on the other end of the conversation, because Melinda was obviously angry, her hands flying everywhere and sparks cascading off the tip of her cigarette while she talked. The back door suddenly opened, and a man walked out to the deck.

She wasn’t alone? Matt strained to get a good look. He was pretty sure it wasn’t Adam. This guy was really tall. Something in the way he moved was familiar to Matt, though. He wished the motion detector light would come back on so he could get a good look at this guy.

Matt watched in fascination as the guy leaned over and kissed Melinda when she got off the phone. Nope, definitely not her brother. Then the kissing turned into more. It was like a train wreck. Matt knew he should just shut his eyes until it was all over with, but he couldn’t help himself. His sister-in-law and her mystery guest were getting down and dirty on the deck. He couldn’t believe that he’d once been involved with this woman. Yeah, it was back in high school, which felt light-years away, but he’d had feelings for Melinda once. Now she was married to his older brother. Sure, she was the aunt to his kids. She was in the family. But what seemed very clear now was that he didn’t know Melinda at all.

After about half an hour, Melinda and the tall man went back inside. Matt quietly made his way back to the truck. He tried hard to erase from his mind the fact that he’d just seen his sister-in-law have sex. That was one memory he could afford to lose, he thought. Just as he was about to start the engine, the front door opened and the mystery guest walked to Melinda’s car. Matt wondered who the man was and how he’d arrived, since the white Mercedes was the only car in the drive. When the man opened the car door, the interior light flashed on, and Matt realized he knew who the man was. For the third time in one night, Matt was shocked.

The mystery man was Moses.

CHAPTER 41

Rachel didn’t have high hopes that showing Chris the video was going to yield anything helpful. But as O’Malley sat down on the couch and Red opened his laptop, beginning the video, she hoped it might.

“It’s a little grainy,” said Red, “but I think you’ll be able to see faces pretty well. We know that Matt stopped for gas around six thirty that evening. It was time-stamped on the receipt. Unfortunately, the outside camera wasn’t working, so you won’t see Matt on the tape. However, we’re hoping that someone came inside during that time frame that you might recognize.”

Red stayed seated next to Chris on the couch, while Rachel paced the room.

Within a minute, Chris sat up straight. “Stop the video.”

Red reached over and clicked the mouse.

“Rewind a bit,” Chris instructed.

Rachel stopped pacing and watched as the black-and-white video showed a guy walking to the register with a soft drink and a pack of gum. It was hard to tell his age, but he looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Blond, shaggy hair, baggy blue jeans, a lanky frame.

“I know that guy,” Chris said, clenching his fists.

“Who is it?” Rachel asked.

“Adam Donnelly. Melinda’s brother.”

Now that she got a better look, she agreed. The man in the video resembled the photo in the yearbook Rachel saw earlier. Red shot Rachel a look of satisfaction while he froze the picture on the screen. Rachel had shared with him the information she’d gotten from Alanna the day before about Melinda’s little brother. They had decided to keep it quiet until Red and Stacy could look into Adam’s background a little further. Now it was obvious that this had been the right choice.

“Matt never said anything about running into Adam,” said Chris. “Of course, with his memory loss maybe he didn’t remember.” Chris stared at the computer screen, a look of worry