Page 58 of I Will Find You

“So if I choose to get up and leave?”

“Let’s not do hypotheticals, Ms. Anderson, if that’s okay,” Max said. “We also know that you kept driving north after turning off your phone. Approximately thirty miles further up I-95, David Burroughs, using a stolen credit card, purchased survival gear of various sorts—tent, pocketknives, sleeping bag, stuff like that—from the Katahdin General Store. The store owner gave us a positive ID on him. Any comment?”

Rachel shook her head. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“It’s all parkland and woods up in that area. Miles and miles of it. Someone could get dropped off and never be seen again. They could slowly make their way to the Canadian border.”

Rachel Anderson said nothing.

Sarah decided to switch gears. Their hope was to keep her off balance and surprised by the wealth of information they’d been able to learn in just a few hours. “Why did you choose to visit David Burroughs now?”

“David was my brother-in-law. We used to be close.”

“But this was your very first trip to Briggs.”

“Yes.”

“He’d been there, what, four, five years?”

“Something like that.”

Sarah spread her hands. “So why now, Rachel?”

“I don’t know. I just felt…I felt like it was time.”

“Do you believe David Burroughs killed your nephew?”

Rachel’s gaze slid to the far left. “I do, yes.”

“You don’t seem that sure.”

“Oh, I’m sure. But I don’t think he meant it. I think he had some kind of blackout or breakdown.”

“So you don’t blame him?” Max said.

“Not really, no.”

“What did you two talk about during your visit?”

“I just asked David how he was.”

“And how was he?”

“Still broken. David didn’t want visitors. He just wanted to be left alone.”

“Yet you came back the next day.”

“Yes.”

“And planned to return again.”

“David and I were close. Before all this, I mean. I…I also confided in him.”

“Do you mind telling us what about?”

“It doesn’t really matter. I’ve had some setbacks of my own.”

“And you thought, what, he’d be a sympathetic ear?”

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