“Exactly. Isn’t that the point? Three people in their seventies and eighties aren’t exactly difficult to kill. And there were UK studies that showed that carbon monoxide poisoning is a common choice for family homicides,” Jac said, barely aware of who she was talking to until her eyes met Todd’s. “The fire that killed his brother’s family would have been more difficult to pull off. But the fact that two families connected to one man die in suspicious fires? There is something going on there.”
“Unless it wasn’t his brother’s family but his own,” Whit said.
Max grabbed a nearby file and opened it. “The chief investigator in that case stated that the father was supposed to have been out of town at the time but managed to come home just in time to rush in through a back door. The baby’s room was the closest. He was able to grab his son and get him almost to the door before smoke inhalation overcame him. Firefighters pulled him and the baby out of the house just minutes later.”
“What if that was a lie? What if he’d driven back earlier? Like it’s possible Sturvin/Sullivan drove back early to kill Rachel?” Dani asked. “Started the fire, and just waited? The baby could have been a convenient cover. I mean, if he was the one who started the fire, the older children would have been able to identify him, right? How old were Philip’s daughters again? Seven, five, and three?”
Jac nodded. “So…how did he get rid of Paul? Because someone is buried in that grave. And if we go on the evil-twin theory, it’s the real Paul Sturvin.”
“Report says he had an accident related to the severe weather at the time. Ran off the road, neck snapped on impact. His car was found at the bottom of a ravine three weeks later. There is also a note from the investigator saying he was despondent, and it could have been suicide,” Max said, laying out the report next to the one about the fire. “Due to the fact that his wife and three daughters had recently perished.”
“What if it was Paul? What if Philip killed him and put him in the car before pushing it over the ravine?” Jac said. It was a wild speculation, but it felt right. “He was in the military. He probably knew just how to break his own brother’s neck. Then he just assumed his identity. With Rachel and Olivia? Ava might be his, the dates coincide. And except for a similar birthmark, there is nothing that would have made Rachel even know? And how closely does a woman look at a man’s birthmark?”
“Debbie’s photo albums had absolutely no photos of anyone from Paul’s side of the family. In fact, there was a family tree portion in the book—and every member of Paul’s family was listed as deceased,” Dani said. “What if he never told Rachel he had a twin? Would she have even known to doubt who her husband actually was? How many of us confuse the Lorcan brothers at first glance?”
Jac nodded. “Exactly. We all know how easy that is to do—especially with Sin and Sebastian. Their wives can tell them apart, but if Rachel never knew a twin existed, she wouldn’t have ever known the man with her wasn’t Paul. Especially if the imposter worked at duplicating his brother’s mannerisms. How that ties into finding the girls, I don’t know yet. But if it’s not Paul who has them…”
“What did the social worker say about the boy?” Max asked, looking at Miranda.
“The file said that after the death of his family, the boy’s father didn’t feel like he could adequately provide for him, so he asked an aunt to take in the boy. She had him for the next five years before she passed away from cancer at the age of fifty-six.”
“So he went back into the system instead of going to his supposed aunt and uncle,” Jac said. “When?”
“She passed away July 14 of this year.” Whit handed her the next death certificate.
“Maybe Rachel never knew the boy existed? How would you explain a nephew, when you’ve never mentioned a brother?” Whit asked.
Dani wheeled herself closer to the table and laid out another report. One she’d been working on. “She died one week before the first deposit of unexplained cash—fifteen thousand dollars—went into Paul Sturvin’s bank account. I’m still not sure where that money came from.”
“If he’s anomic, he’s financially motivated. But with that type of cash coming in, what would trigger him killing Rachel?” Max asked.
“It’s possible that is connected,” Jac said. “But I think it’s something else. What do we know about the types of family annihilators?”
“Anomic does it for financial reasons, self-righteous blames the wife or mother for ruining the children, disappointed type believe the family has let him down, and there is the paranoid type who believes he’s protecting his family from an outside threat,” Max listed quickly. “And most show signs of being a mixed type. So it could be anything.”
“None of these seem like a paranoid type. They are far too calculated for that.” Jac wrote the types on the whiteboard quickly, then marked out paranoid. “We’ve heard of known financial struggles for the Sturvins. The principal at Brynlock told me that herself. We need to check into the Sullivans’ financials as well. Dani?”
“Will do that now, but it’ll take some time. And probably warrants. Those are six-year-old records. Not like we can just bring up his checking account out of the blue.” Dani was already pulling out her iPad. Jac knew she would be as tenacious as a bulldog getting those warrants now that they were on to something.
“This is all well and good, and the guy has probably done this before. But how is it going to help us find him and those girls now?” Barnes. Jac had completely forgotten the man was
