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“He moved out?” Jack asked.
“He did,” the woman said. “My name is Scarlett Givens. I worked as a caretaker and home nurse for Mr. Rosenthall for about two months. He was in pain most of the time and when the doctors told him he didn’t have much longer, he started making plans to go be with family in Brussels.”
“And you said this was a week ago?” Rachel asked.
“Yes. His flight was eight days ago. He paid me extra on my last check to clean his house out for the new renters.”
Rachel knew that this would be incredibly easy to prove and, therefore, that Mark Rosenthall was not their killer. Still, there wasa connection to all three victims. It was too much of a coincidence to simply leave without trying to get more answers out of Scarlett.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Rachel said, “were there ever moments when Mr. Rosenthall showed periods of anger that you would consider uncharacteristic?”
“Yes, from time to time. But he seemed to be able to feel them coming on. When he sensed that it was going to be one of those days, he’d let me know… sometimes even suggest that I leave. I never really did, though. I just made sure I kept my distance unless he needed me for something.”
“Was he ever violent?”
Scarlett thought about it for a moment before slowly shaking her head.“No, nothing like that. I think the worst I ever saw was when he threw a glass of water. And when he did that, he didn’t even throw it at me, just chucked it across the room.”
“Any chance he ever told you about altercations or arguments he had during time at the hospital?” Jack asked.
“Not that I recall.” She frowned and looked at both of them as if she wasn’t sure they were talking about the same person. “Is there… is there something I need to be worried about?”
“No,” Rachel said. “Not if he’s been in Brussels for the past week.”
Jack smiled, nodded, and offered his hand to Scarlett.“Sorry to have bothered you. Thank you for your time.”
Scarlett shook his hand hesitantly, still a bit confused by the line of questioning. She walked the agents to the door and stayed in the doorway until they were both back in the car.
“Eight days,” Rachel said. “That leaves him out completely. That was three days before the first murder.”
“Well, we’ve got two more names, right? Who’s next?”
“CarolineAdams.”
Jack nodded and started the car. Rachel figured most people would just assume a woman wouldn’t be capable of the sort of brutality that had taken the lives of the three victims. But she’d been in this line of work long enough to never make such an assumption. She had more than enough examples of women committing heinous acts of murder. So as Jack drove them to their next address to hopefully have a word with Caroline Adams, Rachel didn’t dismiss the visit as anything more than protocol.
After all, she knew how desperate and angry a potentially terminal diagnosis could make a woman. If anything, she thought she might be a bit more on guard of Caroline Adams as they made their way back through the city to continue shortening their list.
CHAPTERTWENTYONE
The address for Caroline Adams took them to the completely opposite side of the city. The address was located on the rear edge of a small golf community. The roads they followed were bordered by perfectly green landscapes, started by late-morning golfers. Something about seeing men dressed in golf attire and buzzing around on golf carts seemed surreal to Rachel. It was a stark reminder that while she had spent years hunting down killers, there was a whole other world spinning about. A world where the brutal facts of murder and evil were kept in the shadows to keep things comfortable.
As Caroline’s house came into view, Rachel suddenly found herself thinking about the afternoon Grandma Tate had revealed her own diagnosis. Rachel had visited Grandma Tate in Aiken, South Carolina, and before the news had been broken, Rachel had wondered for a moment what life might be like to have entire days that were unburdened and easy… days where killers and bloody crime scenes didn't overshadow everything. She was getting a taste of that life recently and wasn't sure how she felt about it. Yes, she was growing to love her time on her back patio, sitting in her glider and taking in the fresh air and sunshine.
But was that how she wanted to go out? Is that how she wanted to spend her last days?
Pulling up into the driveway of a potential murder suspect, she wasn't so sure. Yes, she was going to do everything in her power to make surethe page remained at the forefront of everything from now on. But she also felt that there was something to be said about a commitment to a cause. It just so happened that the cause she was committed to was also her job—a job that had kept her on the move and bringing criminals and murderers to justice.
“You okay over there?” Jack asked as he put the car into Park behind a black Suburban in the driveway.
“Yeah. Just….thinking.”
“About?”
She chuckled and shook her head.“Oh, it’s a little to deep tp go into right now. Maybe some other time.”
“You know, that’s the second time you’ve brushed a conversation off today. Eventually, we’re going to have a big dinner and you’re going to go through all of this stuff with me.”
“Fair enough. It’s a date.”
