Page 67 of Seven Deadly Sins

“Thank you.” Harper rejoined Liam inside. “We might have gotten a break. Annie located Robert’s nanny.”

“Still alive?”

She nodded. “Let’s pray the woman isn’t one of his followers. If she is, she won’t talk, and she’ll alert him. Anything new here?”

“Only that Robert Thompson was a very wealthy man before becoming a plastic surgeon.” He pointed out a laptop that had been removed from somewhere. “The techs cracked a safe hidden behind those shelves. Found the laptop, financial records, birth certificate, etc. What most would put in a safe. This room is also fireproof.”

“Really?” She arched a brow. “Why, I wonder?”

“Any reason, I suspect. Without the senior Thompson here to ask, we probably won’t know.”

“So, it’s a panic room.”

“Yes. There’s food, water, blankets, and the entire house can be watched from this laptop.”

Why would the man need a panic room? “What’s he afraid of?”

“Someone coming for his money, I’d think. There is still several hundred thousand dollars in that safe.”

“Robert hasn’t needed to come for it.” Must be awful to live in fear of someone coming to take what you’d worked so hard for. Made her glad she didn’t have millions in the bank.

“Not yet anyway.”

Her phone rang. “Detective Scranton.” Harper again stepped outside away from the noise of the crime scene.

“This is Nancy Moore. I’m more than happy to answer any question you have. I still live in Oakdale. Can you come now?”

Harper glanced at the time on her phone screen. Close to eight p.m. “Absolutely. Please text your address to this number.” As the text came through, she fetched Liam. “She’s only fifteen minutes away.” Excitement leaped in her chest. “We’re going to get something to move us forward, I feel it.”

“I sure hope you’re right.”

Following her directions, Liam drove them to a modest residential area on the south side of Oakdale. Small red brick houses with white wood trim lined the streets. Ms. Moore’s house was at the end, on a cul de sac. A basketball goal stood on one side of the driveway. A welcome sign was propped near the front door. A porch light lit our way.

Nancy, a still very pretty woman around forty-years-old opened the door before she could press the doorbell. “Come in. I saw Robby’s photo on the news. He’s had some work done, but I recognized him. I cannot believe he’s…oh, yes, I can.” She drew breath sharply through her nose. “Sit. I’ll tell you all about Robert Thompson and his father. Anything to stop these killings.”

They sat on a plaid sofa in different shades of brown and tan. A coffee pot with four cups and cream and sugar rested on the coffee table.

“I didn’t know how many there would be.” She poured them all a cup.

A cup of coffee sounded wonderful. “Thank you.” Harper added flavored vanilla cream to hers, then glanced up. “Tell us everything you can.”

~

Liam lifted his coffee to his lips and rested against the back of the sofa. Hoping, praying, the former nanny could help them find Thompson.

“I got hired at the age of twenty. Robbie had just turned ten. An unhappy, surly kid, but I couldn’t blame him. His father was always gone even when at home. The child would be locked upstairs during one of his father’s parties.” She made quote marks with her fingers. “I, unfortunately, wasn’t so lucky.”

“Please explain.” His heart clenched at what he might hear.

“Well, I was young, impressionable, and he paid me a lot of money to attend those parties.” She clenched her hands in her lap. “I refused the drugs but participated in pretty much everything else. I felt desirable and like I actually had the life of the rich.” She gave a sardonic chuckle. “How stupid of me. I lived that life for a year before Richard died.”

“Then, everything fell apart. Oh, I was still the nanny even when Richard’s cousin, the only living next of kin, moved in with his wife, except now I became little more than a slave. The boy was ignored by the adults in the house, and I did everything from schooling him to cleaning that monstrosity. I breathed a sigh of relief when Robbie went off to college, and I quit my job.”

“Why didn’t you quit before?” Harper set her cup on the table.

“The poor child would’ve had no one if I did.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that to him.”

A good woman. Liam cleared his throat. “That’s a sad story, but can you help us find where Robert might be holing up?”

---