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“I’m on my way to you. If you get information and you need to move out immediately, then just let me know the coordinates. And I’ll meet you there. Otherwise, remain where you are.”
At that moment, Brody hated those words more than anything. How could he remain where he was? When two women were in mortal danger?
At the same time, he knew Sergeant Dawson was right. They needed to plan so that they wouldn’t waste time spinning their wheels. If he headed out, he could go in the exact opposite direction of where Matt had taken the women.
It might keep him busy, but it would still waste time that could be better used.
Matt Anderson. He had been so focused on Andy, Matt hadn’t crossed his mind. Yes, they were half-brothers, but Matt had seemed protective of Jenna. To know that he had killed her parents, his friends, floored Brody.
Brody reached out to Cameron. “What do we know of the woman who claimed Jenna was her own child? How could she be connected to Matt Anderson?”
“Matt? We’re no longer looking at Andy?”
“No. We have solid proof, including a visual identification, that Matt’s our guy,” he had to swallow hard after that one.
“We know her own daughter drowned the month before Jordyn Ellis went missing.” Keys tapped in the background. “Okay. This is interesting. Andrea Brewer doesn’t seem to be connected, but her sister, Margaret, was Matt’s girlfriend. He started going out with her after she took a job as a nanny for John and Amanda Ellis.”
It was starting to fit together. Matt convinced his girlfriend to steal the baby. Maybe he’d planned to have her kill the baby or just lose the child. But her sister had claimed the child instead. Once she was adopted, Matt had befriended the parents to keep tabs on her. Maybe he planned to use her to claim the money. Whatever his plan, he’d obviously decided she was better off dead.
His blood froze at the thought.
“Tell me about the trust fund.”
Cameron typed a few more minutes. “She will gain access when she’s twenty-eight. I imagine he was waiting until she could claim it, and then he’d use her somehow. But once you were hired to find her, maybe he panicked. After all, he’d killed at least four people, that we knew of. If the trust fund were part of his goal, she might mess it up for him.”
“It makes no sense, Cameron.”
“Greed never does, my friend. It never does.” Cameron told him.
Another thought struck him. “What ever happened to Matt’s girlfriend, Margaret?”
“It appeared she killed herself the year after the abduction, claiming she felt guilty for something she’d done.”
It was too convenient. “And her sister died in a crash. I think Matt Anderson has killed many more than we realize. Anyone who got in his way.”
“I disagree,” Cameron said. “I think Matt used others to kill or do the crimes for him. I think he doesn’t have the stomach to do it himself. That might be why Jenna was kept alive, or at least part of it. Because no matter how much he wanted her dead, he couldn’t do the deed himself.”
At heart, Matt Anderson was a greedy coward. Brody looked forward to seeing him go to prison for a long time. Just as soon as he got Jenna and Claudia back.
Exhausted, he sank into a chair in the lobby to organize his thoughts.
The door to the hotel burst open. An unfamiliar officer charged in. “Is there a Brody Carson here?” Brody leaped up from the chair he’d dropped into after ending his conversation with Cameron. “I’m Brody Carson.”
The officer strode up to him. “Mr. Carson. I’m Sergeant Malone. Sergeant Dawson has looped my precinct into the investigation. We’re able to use Miss Stone’s cell phone and the GPS on the van to track them.”
Adrenaline surged through Brody. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
They rushed to Sergeant Malone’s patrol car. Once they were on the way, Brody sat silently and listened to the information that Sergeant Malone’s fellow police officers fed him over the phone.
Suddenly he sat up straight, leaning forward in his seat. “I know that address.”
“It seems to be in a wealthy neighborhood.”
“It is.” Brody narrowed his eyes, examining the digital map on the view screen. “I’m nearly one hundred percent certain he brought them to Claudia’s house.”
Why he’d go there, he couldn’t say. But it helped.
“There’s an old servant’s entrance in the back. It hadn’t been used in years, but it’s still there.”