Beck let out a long deep breath. None of this made any sense. Where were the police? Why hadn’t they come to see her?
And something about Jennifer’s story nagged at him, too. Kevin Scott had been angry, but not violent when he arrived at Beck’s office that morning. He didn’t seem like a man who’d just threatened his wife. In fact, the only time he did get angry was when Beck suggested he was having an affair.
That didn’t necessarily mean anything, of course. Beck had seen domestic abusers who were as cool as ice outside of the home. But it was just one more thing that didn’t add up.
Plus, there was just something off about her. He’d seen many people grieve—too many. He knew everyone reacted differently. But there was always a feeling of depth to it—he could always see the impact of the loss, how it almost echoed inside them, like a stone dropped in a well. Jennifer Scott had seemed like she was holding back a sneeze, not like someone holding back tears.
He said to Susan, “Did it seem like she—”
Susan interrupted. “Randall,” she said.
“What?”
She pointed at the laptop. The screen saver had activated again. It was going through family photos of Kevin Scott. There was a series of pictures from his wedding.
And the woman in the pictures had dark-brown hair.
She was not the woman who said she was Jennifer Scott.
Chapter 13
The woman’s real name was Natalie Mullen. She made sure that Jennifer Scott’s body was stashed completely behind the bed. She hadn’t had much time to hide it before.
Killing Jennifer Scott was easy. Mullen had knocked and said a big friendly hello when Jennifer had opened the door earlier—no one ever suspected that a woman might be dangerous, especially not another woman. It was a real asset in her line of work.
Then before Jennifer could say anything else, Mullen used the butt of her pistol to hit her in the face, knocking her back into the house.
They’d struggled. Jennifer was badly hurt, but still managed to fight back, which shouldn’t have been too surprising since she was a soldier’s wife.
Mullen had hit her with the pistol again. She collapsed on the floor. Mullen dragged her to the bedroom and shot her in the face.
Then she’d heard someone out in the living room.
She worked herself up into some tears, took the suppressor off her pistol, and then came out of the bedroom crying and shaking.
Of course they fell for it.
But now she needed to know what to do about them. She pressed a button on her prepaid burner phone and waited. The Client picked up immediately.
Mullen started to explain, but when she said the name “Beck,” the Client cut her off.
“He’s there? Morrison and Howard were supposed to bring him in. They lost him.”
“I’ve got him right here. He doesn’t suspect a thing. He thinks I’m the target’s wife.”
“We need him,” the Client said. “I want to know what Scott told him and who else he’s talked to.”
“I’ll bring him in,” Mullen said. “He’s with another woman. A doctor. What about her?”
“We don’t need her,” the Client said, and hung up.
Mullen put her phone away. Fine by her. That just made her job easier.
She went to the door and put on her best sad face. This was going to be a cakewalk. Beck and his girlfriend still thought she was the grieving widow. They’d stand there flat-footed and she could do whatever she wanted. Two in the face of the woman, and Beck would wet his pants in terror. He’d do whatever she told him after that.
They’d never see it coming. Nobody ever saw her coming.
Mullen opened the door, tears in her eyes, gun in her hand.
But the living room was empty.
Beck and the woman were gone.
Chapter 14
The woman came out of the bedroom. Beck couldn’t see her. But he could hear her.
He’d heard the door open, but the woman didn’t come out right away. Then she did and he heard the door close, quietly. He heard the woman’s soft footsteps on the carpet in the hallway, then the living room. He was certain he even heard the woman’s sharp intake of breath a moment later.
Then he heard the woman call for him. “Dr. Beck?”
He’d stopped thinking of her as Jennifer Scott. Because whoever she was, she was not the woman in Kevin Scott’s wedding pictures. Now she was just the woman who happened to be in their house. With a gun.