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“He’s old-school and we should all be happy he’s gone, but he did play interference for Josh,” Shelby said. “I’m not sure anyone will admit that out loud, but those are the whispers.”
“Lucky Josh. Must be nice to be connected.”
Shelby nodded. “That sort of thing always helps people like Josh. They get to play by different rules than the rest of us.”
Elisa thought about the women in Josh’s life. “I’m not sure where Meredith fits in. I’ve tried to figure out if she is connected in some other way, but neither Candace or Lauren had a sister.”
“You think this Meredith is more than another girlfriend?”
Elisa had no idea. The scrambled pieces refused to fit together.
“I think Josh did something terrible and is trying to hide it.” Elisa couldn’t come up with any other explanation. To make things worse, he didn’t care if he had to ruin her or use Rachel to protect himself. “His relationships suggest a serious problem, and I can’t help but feel more death is coming. There is this air of danger over everything right now.”
“Then I’ll keep looking.” Shelby started to gather up her folders.
Elisa put a hand on the table. “Nothing else on Abby?”
All of the lightness left Shelby’s face. “No use of her phone, bank accounts, or credit cards.”
“And the messages I gave you?” Elisa had handed over the laptop. She figured with someone coming in and out of her house it was safer in Shelby’s office than at home anyway.
“It’s a file copied from the original direct messages sent back and forth between Abby and someone else, likely through social media. We have time stamps but no IP addresses or source information. It’s in a Word document, so there’s no way to trace them except that we know the document was created before Abby disappeared. About a month before and added to over time.”
Elisa wasn’t sure how that helped. “But Abby definitely created it?”
“We can’t say for sure, but it’s possible,” Shelby said. “We’ve searched the laptop to try to match up the messages to anotherprogram on the computer or social media account Abby used, but nothing so far. The laptop doesn’t have much else on it. It’s almost like it was a backup computer.”
That left one uncomfortable issue. “One more thing. I know I’ve gone back and forth about Rachel and that fake name she used at the motel.”
“You should listen to your instincts.”
Well, those instincts had her all over the place, and Elisa was taking that as a sign. “I am, which is why I’d like you to check her out. I mean, really dig in and figure out who Rachel Dunne is and what the name Jane Dickson relates to.”
Shelby made a humming sound. “You don’t trust that Rachel is really Rachel?”
“I once trusted Josh. I don’t want to be wrong twice.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Meltdown. That was the best way to describe the evening. Nathan came home from school in a sour mood. The unwinding, complete with stomping feet and yelling, had to do with a school assignment. He wanted to give his presentation on robots but someone else picked that topic.
Nathan handled the setback with the grace of a tiny dictator. After he grumbled about starving and hating the lunch she packed for him today, all while refusing to eat a snack, Elisa told him to go outside. She’d hoped running around would burn off his frustration. He clearly thought kicking a ball against the side of the house repeatedly would be better use of his time.
Thump. Thump.
Relentless, annoying noise. It vibrated through her until she had to bite back a scream. When he missed the wall and hit a window or anything else out there, he’d roar in anger.
Thump.
The cats ran upstairs to hide. Elisa envied them.
For once she welcomed the bout of late afternoon dizziness because the sickness gave her a reason to lie down. Twoseconds after her head hit the couch throw pillow she heard the thud of footsteps. Harris jogged down the stairs, making enough noise to rival the sound coming from outside.
“What the hell is he doing out there?” Harris asked as he stepped into the family room.
Elisa kept her arm thrown over her closed eyes. “Being pissed off.”
“He’s barely seven.”
