“One of those patients was my mother,” I say. “For years, apparently. She delivered me when I was born.”
Jake lets out a short, mirthless laugh.
“Isn’t that so appropriate? She helps your mother bring a child into this world, only for her to come back and pull her away from her child,” he says.
“My mother didn’t pull your mother from anything. Alice asked for help. She said that she and her daughter were in serious danger, and she couldn’t survive in the household any longer. They’d known each other for years but hadn’t spoken in a long time before your mother reached out to mine. There isn’t a single word in this file about you. My mother would never have left you behind if she knew what was going on.”
“You’re going to tell me that your mother and mine knew each other, but your mother didn’t know I existed?” Jake asks.
“All of Feathered Nest didn’t know about your family. Your mother is fairly exceptional at creating her own version of her life to the people around her. The blonde women you killed but didn’t… preserve. Were they supposed to be my mother?”
He gives a slow, single nod.
“Is that why you targeted me?” I ask.
The question just falls out. It’s what I want to know, but I didn’t expect it to come out quite that way. But once it’s done, I’m glad I asked it.
Jake looks me up and down slowly. His eyes scour over the skin he can see, and I wonder if he’s envisioning me the way he used to know me. As the persona I maintained while undercover in Feathered Nest. I wonder if he can still see the fire dancing around me when he looks at me. I know I see it around him.
“Yes,” he admits. “At first. You came to town with a different name and story, but I knew who you were. I didn’t find out until several years later what had happened to my mother and sister. But once I found out, I, let’s say, took a very strong interest in you and your father. I was interested to know more about a woman who made her living breaking up families and aiding a mother in abandoning her child.”
“That’s not what she did, and you know it.”
“Perhaps,” he shrugs. “But it’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? I knew the FBI would be getting involved as the bodies piled up, and our valiant chief of police would never be able to figure it out. I wasn’t expecting an undercover investigation. But as soon as you got to town, I knew who you were. I wanted to hate you. But you were different from what I thought you were going to be. I found myself attracted to you. Of course, I couldn’t let myself do that. I knew who you really were. What you really were. I wanted to keep you so much.”
I stand up and gather the papers.
“Thank you, Jake. I appreciate it,” I say.
I turn and start for the door.
“You did a good job with the Sarah Mueller case.”
I slowly turn back around to look at him.
“Excuse me?”
He smiles at me. I’m struck by just how normal he looks. There’s nothing about his crooked grin or vibrant blue eyes that betray the truth about him. It seems like an odd sentiment, considering how many killers I’ve come across in my career, but I try not to think about them as people. It’s easier to consider them targets and nothing more. But I knew Jake as just a person first, separate from his crimes. Sometimes it’s still difficult to reconcile them. His hold on me is gone, but my sympathy is still there. I still look at him and see a broken, wasted person.
“Crime news is very popular around here,” Jake grins. “I particularly enjoy hearing about the cases you’re working on. You held your own during everything that went on with Sarah. I was proud of you.”
“It wasn’t a game of tennis, Jake. She tormented me and killed people because she was mad about the very first murder case I investigated. She made my life a living hell, made everyone around me question my sanity, and threatened my career,” I snap.
“I know,” he nods. “It was fascinating to watch it unfold. I was impressed by how she manipulated your former cases. Though I’ll admit, I was a bit offended to have been left out.”
Surprised by the comment, I tilt my head to the side and take a step toward him again.
“What do you mean? Your case was in there,” I tell him.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes,” I frown, not believing I’m having this conversation. “She lured me to that old house and chased me around for a while and tried to trap me in it.”
“That wasn’t a house, Emma. That was a hotel. But of all the ways she could have referenced my case, why would she choose that? It doesn’t make sense.”
It doesn’t.
“She knew,” I murmur. “How the hell would she know that?”
“Someone out there knows you, Emma.”
My eyes lift to Jake’s one more time before I walk out of the interview room.
I’m on my phone before I leave the parking lot.
“Did you get a chance to talk to him?” Eric asks.
“Yes. Thank you for setting that up for me.”
“I still don’t like that you did it, but I’m glad you’re done. Did he give you the information you wanted?”
“Not exactly. But he might have given me something else. I need you to set something else up for me. It might be a little more challenging.”
“What do you need?”
“To talk with Travis Burke.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
There’s no way I’m getting on another plane and going to Maine, so I’m thankful when Eric is able to arrange for a video
