Page 113 of Serial Burn

“That’s not really necessary,” Nathan said. “We’re in a bit of a hurry.” Time kept slipping past. Time Jesslyn might not have. “Could you just confirm that Samantha Ashcroft’s children are in care here?”

She frowned. “I can.”

“And they’re here today?”

“They are. What’s this all about?”

“We’re having trouble getting in touch with Samantha or her husband. Could you give us the emergency contact information you have on file?”

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Sure. Wait here.”

While they waited, Nathan paced from one end of the room to the other. He checked on Eli and got a thumbs-up from Carly, who’d taken over “babysitting” duty from Tate and Steph.

“All right, gentlemen.” Cecelia glided back into the room. “Herewe are. I’ve written down everything I have under emergency contacts.”

Nathan took the piece of paper. “Thank you.”

“Anything else?”

“Actually, yes,” Andrew said. “Could you call her phone and see if she answers? And could you just put it on speaker? It could be that she’s just not picking up a call from an unfamiliar number.”

“Oh.” The woman blinked her heavily mascaraed lashes, but nodded. “All right.”

Nathan held out the paper so she could see the number, and she dialed it on the landline conference room phone.

She looked up. “It’s ringing.”

Another few seconds passed and then, “Hello?”

“Yes, hello, Mrs. Ashcroft,” Cecelia said, “I have some men here who’ve been trying to reach you—”

“Are the children all right?”

“Oh yes, they’re fine, but these agents have been trying to get in touch with you—”

“Agents?”

“With the FBI.”

“FBI! What in the world do they want?”

Andrew leaned toward the speaker. “Ma’am, this is Agent Andrew Ross. I’m here with Agent Nathan Carlisle. You’re on speakerphone. We’d like to speak to you about your brother, Derek. Do you have any idea where he might be?”

“Um, at the school?”

“We’ve checked there and he’s not.”

“Then I ... I don’t know. Why are you looking for him?”

“We just have some questions for him about a woman who’s disappeared. You may know her. She used to live in your neighborhood before her house burned down. Jesslyn McCormick?”

A gasp echoed through the line. “You say she’s disappeared and you think Derek had something to do with it?” She laughed. “Is this a joke?”

Andrew frowned. “I assure you it’s not.”

“No, you don’t understand. Derek doesn’t know how to separate colors from whites, and you think he has the ability to pull off a kidnapping?”

“That’s what it looks like from our perspective.”

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