Page 59 of I Will Find You

Rachel’s voice was soft. “Something like that.”

“And by setbacks,” Sarah said, “do you mean your recent divorce?”

“Or,” Max added, “the scandal that ended your career?”

Rachel stayed very still.

Max leaned closer. No reason for subtlety anymore. “It’s all unraveling, Ms. Anderson. You know that, don’t you?”

She didn’t take the bait.

“Look how much Sarah dug up in just a few hours. We are going to catch him. There’s no question about it. If he’s lucky, we will catch him alive, but David Burroughs is a convicted child killer who stole a firearm from a warden, so…” Max shrugged to indicate that this was out of his control. “As soon as we do catch him—probably in the next few hours—Sarah and I will turn all our efforts toward building a case against you for aiding and abetting.”

“You’ll serve a very long time,” Sarah said.

“This is not an idle threat on our part,” Max said.

“Not a threat,” Sarah repeated, giving Rachel the dagger eyes again. “I can’t wait to put you behind bars.”

“Unless, Sarah.”

“Unless what, Max?”

“Unless she cooperates. Here and now.”

Sarah frowned. “I don’t think we need her, Max.”

“You’re probably right, but maybe Ms. Anderson didn’t know what she was getting involved in. Maybe she didn’t understand what she was doing.”

“Oh, she understood.”

“But still—we agreed, Sarah. If Rachel tells us what she knows now, we give her full immunity.”

“That was before, Max. Now I want her to serve time for jerking us around like this.”

“You have a point, Sarah.”

Rachel stayed silent.

“This is your last chance,” Max said. “Your ‘get out of jail free’ card expires in three minutes.”

“Then we arrest her, Max?”

“Then we arrest her, Sarah.”

Sarah folded her hands and put them on the table. “So what do you say, Rachel?”

“I changed my mind,” Rachel said. “I want my lawyer.”

Chapter

17

Okay, Sarah, give me the most likely working theory,” Max said.

Max and Sarah headed toward Newark Airport to catch a flight back up to Briggs Penitentiary. It had turned out that the attorney Rachel Anderson called was the notorious Hester Crimstein, who promptly got her bail and released.

“Stop chewing your nails, Max.”