34

As soon as Kara called Matt, he immediately came over to Cal McKinnon’s house with the rest of the team. Time was not on their side, and Cal was in full panic mode. Fortunately, Matt was at his best when he was under pressure, and he listened to Kara’s plan while they stood in Cal’s small living room.

Cal paced. He was supposed to be at the Finches’ cabin by five with a packed suitcase for Hazel, or Jamie would be killed. So Marcy had said. It was quarter to five now.

Kara had been keeping an eye on him as she and Matt worked through her plan, making quick adjustments to the strategy. “Cal, I will not let them die.”

She glanced at Matt. He hadn’t liked her plan, but he agreed: it was the only way they had a chance against a fellow cop.

“We’re too late! She said five o’clock. We can’t get to Jared’s house in fifteen minutes! We have to go, you have to let me go—what if she kills them? What if—”

“They’re not dead because she’d have no leverage. And I told you: you’re not going. I am.”

She turned to the rest of the team. Ryder had downloaded detailed and up-to-date maps of the area. They’d already agreed that Cal couldn’t go in—the chances that Marcy would kill him were high. Not to mention that Cal was emotionally involved and there were two other hostages, one of them a young child.

Kara knew there was only one possible way to get everyone out of this alive.

“You know I’m right, Catherine,” she said, addressing her comments to the team member who’d had it out for her from the beginning, and the only one who hadn’t verbally agreed to the plan she and Matt came up with. “I know Marcy better than any of you. I’ve talked to other people who knew her well. She will listen to me.”

Catherine didn’t say anything.

“She started to dress like me. She admires me, looks up to me, wants to emulate me. I can talk to her. You back me up.” She pointed to two spaces on Ryder’s map. “Two in the back, two in the front. I will find out where Hazel and Jamie are, and you get them while I talk her down. Once they are safe, we take Marcy into custody. If it’s not possible to get them, I’m wearing a wire: you’ll know. Matt, you can adjust the plan once we have information, but without me being inside, we have no intel and are flying blind.”

“I can’t let you go in there alone,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t let any team member risk themselves like that. I like your plan, but we go together.”

“And that will set her off. It’s my choice,” Kara said. “It’s why I’m a cop.”

Catherine cleared her throat. “Matt, Kara is right. If Marcy can be talked down, it won’t be me—she knows I’m a psychiatrist and would assume she’s being judged or analyzed. It could escalate the situation. She has high intelligence, and as a law enforcement officer, she would know what my role is. Kara has already developed a rapport with her.”

Kara was surprised that Catherine agreed with her so easily.

“However, we all must be very careful,” Catherine continued. “Something happened today to escalate this behavior. Why now? Marcy Anderson has been on the island for over a year.”

“Friday,” Kara said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Catherine frowned but said nothing.

“You know what I’m thinking,” Kara said. That pleased her. Maybe she and Catherine weren’t as different as she thought.

“I don’t know that we can make that leap.”

Matt said, “What leap?”

“Avila didn’t set the bombs,” Kara said. “Marcy did.”

Matt shook his head. “That’s not logical, and we have no evidence to indicate such.”

“I’ll learn the truth when I talk to her,” Kara said. “Cal was the target, but she certainly knew about Neil’s investigation. I think Marcy knew a lot more about it than she told us. In fact, I think she was helping Neil, just to find out what he knew and how she could use that information to benefit her. I think she knew Neil was looking specifically at Avila, and that’s what gave her the idea to bomb the Water Lily. But right now we’re wasting time, we have to go.”

A door slammed. Cal had taken off. Michael ran after him.

“Shit,” Kara mumbled. “Catherine, I have questions for you, drive with me. I’ll leave you around the bend from the cabin. Everyone else will follow.”

Cal was screaming outside, and Kara stepped out.

“We have ten minutes to drive forty minutes! She’s going to kill my family. I should have gone. I should be there!”

“Text her and tell her you’re on your way, you’ll turn on your location and share it with her to prove it.”

“No!”

“Yes. I’ll take your phone with me.”

“I’m going with you! Hazel is three years old. She’s just a baby.” His voice cracked.

Matt said, “Michael, you can take Cal with you, following the tactical van. I have the sheriff read in, and he’s doing this off-radio—him and his three most trusted deputies. One in the van with us, and two in a patrol boat. They’ve already left for the other side of the island. Let’s go.”

He turned to Kara. “Short leash, Kara. You’ll wear a wire. It’s small, state-of-the-art, not easy to detect.”

She knew better than to argue. The feds did things differently than LAPD Special Operations, where she’d worked undercover, but the wire was a good idea. They needed to know what she knew in order to save Hazel and Jamie.

Kara asked Cal for his phone. He unlocked it, told her the pass code, and she glanced through his messages to see how he texted and adapted his style.

She showed the message to Catherine, who nodded. Kara hit Send.

She still had Cal’s keys. “I’m taking your truck.”

“She’s going to know that it’s all a setup when you get out of the truck,” Cal cried. “Let me go. Please, this is my family. I’ll die to save them, I don’t care.”

“If she kills you, she’ll kill everyone,” Catherine said.

Kara concurred. “Trust me,” she said, though she was beginning to feel out of her element here.

Catherine followed her out.

Kara had dealt with numerous sociopaths over the years—many career criminals were sociopathic.

But Marcy was a psychopath, Kara was pretty certain. Someone that Kara wasn’t altogether certain she could reason with. But she had to try and de-escalate the situation. She and Marcy had a connection, but Kara didn’t understand the obsession. Catherine did. She understood people like Marcy Anderson. That’s why Kara needed to talk to her.

All Kara could think about was making sure little Hazel was safe. Then Jamie. Children should never be used as pawns in games of grown-ups. It made Kara see red.

Kara drove fast, just as Cal would drive because this was his family. She had navigation working on her phone, and one eye on Cal’s phone in case Marcy responded. Catherine stared straight ahead, her hand on the chicken stick above the passenger window.

Cal’s phone buzzed, Kara reached for it, but Catherine grabbed it.

“I’ll read it.” A second later. “She said, ‘Don’t fuck with me. If you’re not here at five thirty on the dot, I’ll be gone.’”

Kara glanced at her phone. She’d be there at 5:34. She pressed the accelerator further. She’d make up the time.

“But that’s good, right?” Kara said. “Because she didn’t say I’ll kill them.”

“A smart person, even a psychopath, wouldn’t put that in writing.”

“Thank you for backing me up with Matt.”

“It’s not ideal, but you made a valid point. You are the closest to Marcy, and while she will be suspicious, you can use your rapport with her to extend the conversation. Matt and Michael will approach the house to search for the hostages as soon as we hear from you where they might be.”

“My primary goal is to locate Jamie Finch and her daughter and get them to safety. But I don’t know exactly what I’m going into, how I can do that. I need to understand Marcy better.”

Catherine said, “From the beginning, you’re the one who said there was something off about Deputy Anderson. Maybe you have more insight than you think.”

“I find most people a bit off. With Marcy, it was because I couldn’t read her—and I can read almost anyone.”

Catherine gave a little snort. Kara would call it delicate, but it still irritated her.

“You have always been the smartest person in the room,” Kara said, doing her own version of a profile. “You expect—mostly deserved—to have everyone defer to you because of your intelligence, education, and experience. When someone pushes back who you feel is beneath you, you dismiss them or shut them out. How dare they doubt you. If someone trumps you on one of those three criteria? You’ll listen. I judge people instantly. Bad habit, but when undercover, you develop that skill.” Not to mention when you’re a con artist. “So do you, Catherine. But I judge them as to their threat level, you judge them based on an intellectual hierarchy.”

“I don’t know if that is fair, but it’s mostly accurate.”

“Mostly?” Kara laughed. “Anyway, the reason I sensed Marcy was off was because I was raised by two con artists. I learned how to read people from the first time my parents used me in a con that I understood—I was five. They used me all the time when I was a baby, but I don’t remember any of that. My parents stopped trying to lie to me by the time I was nine because I called them on it. My father was going to prison and they tried to tell me he was going to a fucking resort in Bora Bora.” She rolled her eyes, but that was the only time Kara had been truly scared. She didn’t love her parents anymore, but she had when she was nine, when she feared being alone. “For me, reading people was as much about survival as it was about getting them to do what I wanted. When I worked undercover, those skills finally became useful to someone else. And I was a damn good undercover cop.”

Kara wanted that back. And she knew she’d never have it. It fucking hurt.

“Marcy put on a face as to what she felt a female cop in a small town would be. I see it now.”

“Slow down,” Catherine said as they came up fast behind an SUV pulling a boat trailer.

They were on a straightaway. Instead of slowing down, Kara sped up and passed the lumbering vehicle, then moved quickly back into the right lane before she had a head-on with a VW Bug.

If she wasn’t so worried about the kid, she would have enjoyed Catherine’s white knuckles on the dash.

“She dressed the part,” Kara continued. “Lived the part. The way she talked, the way she acted, hell, even the way she ran every morning and worked out. She was the epitome of a female cop. There was nothing...personal. I don’t know if that’s the right way to say it. When we went to interview people, she let me take lead. Not because she was incapable, but I sensed that she wanted to see how I did it.

“I called her former FTO in Seattle PD, and her former roommate. Marcy’s been obsessed with Cal for years. Back when they were in the Coast Guard a decade ago. Even after Cal left, moved here, she told her FTO that she lived with her boyfriend Cal, but he never met him. And then at some point, maybe because someone expected to meet him, she told her FTO that Cal was transferred, and she didn’t think they’d survive a long-distance relationship. I need to work on the timeline, but that might have been after the one-night stand five years ago. Marcy was a solid rookie, did everything her FTO said, but he never felt a connection with her. He felt she had no personality—at least, that was my sense.

“Her roommate said she thought Marcy and Cal were friends with benefits, but Marcy wanted more. She grew concerned because Marcy started dressing like her, changing her hairstyle, doing other odd things that made Lisa uncomfortable. She said she was still in touch with Cal, but had cut off ties with Marcy. And that had me remembering that Marcy changed her workout attire to match mine. Wore a blazer when she never wore a blazer. And last night when we went to the Fish & Brew for dinner, she ordered dark beer. Damon was the bartender, was going to pour her a blond until she changed it. Made me think she never drank dark, which was confirmed when she only had a couple sips.”

“Did you leave before or after her?”

“After, about forty minutes.”

Catherine didn’t say anything for a long time, and Kara was becoming irritated. She thought this would be a conversation, not a monologue.

She quickly glanced down at her phone. She had almost made up the time, but she had to slow down to go around a sharp curve. It said thirty-five, she did it at fifty. Then she floored it again, passing two cars in a row, earning an obnoxious horn when she had to pull in quickly to avoid an oncoming truck.

Catherine squeaked, then cleared her throat. She said a moment later, “You think Marcy Anderson is responsible for the bombings.”

“I do. I don’t know if Damon helped her, but I suspect not. If he did, I think she would have killed him to avoid him being able to testify against her.”

“And those five murders Neil was investigating were all really accidents?”

“No. I think Damon killed those people. Marcy left them for us to find, to leave bread crumbs to Damon. If Damon had killed those people, he would have taken the evidence.”

“He did. You found it.”

“Marcy didn’t take all of it from Neil’s house because she wanted us to connect the dots to Damon. But she needed some of the files to plant in Damon’s house. She didn’t want to get involved today, but then this morning she had to, to give us something that might get us a warrant. A statement by a cop holds more weight. She already planned to grab Jamie and Hazel, but needed us occupied with Damon. She had hoped we would come to the same conclusions that Neil did. That’s why she put the rest of Neil’s evidence in Damon’s closet. If it went boom, it was evidence that he rigged his house; arrest him. If it didn’t go boom, we have evidence that is less conclusive but still compelling—C-4? Where did he get it? Why did he have Neil’s notes?” She passed another car and was relieved it was still light out. She didn’t like passing cars in the dark when it was harder to judge distance and curves.

“When Neil told Marcy who he suspected,” Kara continued, “—and yes, I think she was very involved in his investigation, though I don’t have any hard evidence of that—she came up with this idea. It was just something she said when I asked her if she knew about the investigation—she went out of her way to say no but that she had overheard a conversation between Neil and John, the sheriff. It just felt...out of place. Awkward. Staged. Almost like a cover in case she revealed more information than she intended to, she could point to John as the source. Anyway, if she bombs a boat with both Cal and Neil on it, she’ll kill the man who refused to love her and frame Damon at the same time.”

Catherine said, “While it’s true that obsessive personalities—dangerous stalkers—will kill the object of their obsession, it’s usually after a specific betrayal or rejection. Holding on to that without acting on it, even in small ways, is unusual.”

“She came here last year with the purpose of being on the island with Cal. I don’t know why she didn’t try to kill him earlier, maybe because he and Jamie weren’t married, she thought she had a chance to split them up.”

“Why now?” Catherine asked. “What set her off? She had been planning this for some time—the C-4 was stolen the Monday before, but it would have taken days—weeks maybe—to work out a viable plan to steal it from a construction company that was very loosely connected to Avila through a former student. That takes high-level planning.”

“She worked logistics for the Coast Guard—doesn’t that practically scream high-level planning?”

“It would,” Catherine concurred.

“Like you said, Doc, something changed. What did you mean when you earlier said stressor?”

“I’m not saying your theory is wrong,” said Catherine. “The bombing seems to be out of the blue, though we don’t know what specifically may have happened between Cal and Marcy in the weeks leading up to this. A stressor is usually a specific event or conflict that propels a sociopath into action.”

Now that Kara believed Marcy was responsible for everything, it was all becoming clear to her. “She had to wait until Damon was back on the island,” she said, knowing she was right. She glanced at her phone. She needed to make up another minute, so hit ninety on the straightaway, the old truck engine roaring under the strain.

“According to Mott’s sister,” Kara continued, “Neil told her last year that he knew who the killer was but couldn’t prove it. What if he shared that information with Marcy and asked her to help him? She’s new, she didn’t know Damon and the others, there would be no loyalty or allegiance. And she was a cop, former Coast Guard—his daughter is in the Navy. I think he automatically trusted her.”

“That makes some sense.”

“But earlier you said that there was a stressor that set Marcy off,” said Kara. “She’s now exposed herself, taken a kid and mom hostage, threatened Cal. That’s what I’m missing. Why expose herself when she was on the verge of getting away with the bombings? Because Cal didn’t die? I mean, I saw her this morning, and she wasn’t all red-eyed wild crazy woman.”

“She gave us information about Avila.”

“We were onto him, but she gave us the final piece. She wanted us to be distracted today. But why today?”

“Maybe, but that might be a stretch. I’m not sold on your theory, but I think it’s worth exploring.”

“High praise.”

“A stressor is an event or experience that causes stress in an individual, but when the individual has a mental health issue, that stressor can lead to what some people might call a psychotic break. The situation can be perceived as a threat or even a challenge, but for the psychopath, this stress often pushes him to act on his dark impulses. Healthy people who have a stressor in their life—such as someone who loses a loved one suddenly or loses their job—can grieve and find healthy coping mechanisms. Some people fall into a depression. Many people turn their stress inward—they drink to excess, they take drugs, they sleep or eat too much or too little. But generally—some with help and some without help—they can move over the hurdle. A psychopath has always harbored darker impulses, but a stressor causes them to act on those.”

“They snap,” said Kara.

“That isn’t the textbook definition, but you understand the concept.”

“Last night, Cal and Jamie moved up their wedding to this weekend.”

“That could have been Marcy’s stressor.”

“And Jamie is pregnant. She told Cal last night, and after him, I guess everyone else. Maybe that final commitment—they were getting married and Cal was never going to go back to Marcy—set her off. But why hurt the kid? Marcy told me that she wanted kids. She was talking about her biological clock ticking and maybe coming to a small island wasn’t the best thing for her.”

“Interesting.”

“And?”

“How did she—? Kara!”

“I see it,” she said as she swerved to avoid a too-slow moving car. “Isn’t there a law against driving under the speed limit? This is a fucking highway,” she muttered.

Catherine let out a long breath. “How did Marcy know that Jamie was pregnant? That they moved up the wedding? Did they announce it on social media? Have a party?”

It took Kara two seconds but she realized what had happened. “It was last night at the Fish & Brew. Pete Dunlap told me everything, and I didn’t see it!”

“Everything what?”

“Cal was at the Fish & Brew last night with Jamie. I thought Marcy had left, but what if she overheard them—or part of the conversation? She left before me. And according to Dunlap, Jamie told him and Rena that she was pregnant. He already knew about the wedding. Marcy blends, she could have been hiding in the shadows, eavesdropping, fuck if I know, but that had to have been what set her off.”

Catherine considered what Kara was saying. “I can’t speak to what she was thinking at the time, but maybe if Marcy feels she can’t have a child, that she’s getting too old, or if she hasn’t been able to maintain a long-term relationship, maybe Hazel is a shortcut to the life she wants. This is good, actually, because if Marcy thinks of Hazel as hers, she’ll protect her.”

“I can work with that.”

“Be careful. If you’re right and she’s the bomber, she has the ability to plan multiple steps ahead. She won’t be easily fooled.”

“I’m not going to try and fool her. I’m going to be as straightforward and honest as I can.”

“I would be cautious in how straightforward you are. Marcy is highly intelligent, and she has shown no remorse for her actions.”

Kara considered that, then asked, “Why does she mimic people? Why copy her roommate or me? Why try to be just like her FTO, who was a guy?”

“There could be several reasons. It’s not criminal—she’d have never been in the Coast Guard or passed a police background check if she had a criminal past. But most police screenings are exemplary in weeding out sociopaths. Still, very good, very controlled sociopaths, even with psychopathic tendencies, can get in, and Marcy seems to model this—until now. Remember, we still don’t know anything about her childhood. Some abuse might not show up in psych profiles, especially if someone is intentionally trying to hide it. Or reveal a small abuse. Such as—why can’t you be more like your sister?”

Catherine cleared her throat, and Kara wondered if maybe there was a thread of truth to that statement in the shrink’s personal life. But Kara didn’t ask. They had four minutes until arrival.

“I need to let you out.” She looked for a place to pull over.

“Kara, I told Matt that you should do this, but I am not confident that you’re stable enough.”

“At least you’re honest.”

Maybe she wasn’t stable. Hell, she didn’t know. But what she did know was that she was the best person for this specific job, and damn if she was going to let this shrink demoralize her.

“I think you’re reckless and impulsive and are used to doing everything on your own,” said Catherine.

Kara swerved over to the shoulder when she saw a spot wide enough for the truck. “Great, go.”

Catherine didn’t leave. “However, you’ve shown good instincts, and you know Marcy better than any of us. Because Marcy fixated on you, you might be the only one who can de-escalate the situation—if it can be de-escalated. She may do something unexpected. Most criminals, if they feel trapped or emotionally exposed, can turn extremely dangerous. But until you can expose her true motivations and why she’d gone to these lengths, she’s not going to back down.”

Catherine opened the door, then closed it. “Kara, be very careful with Marcy.”

“Aww, you care.”

“I’m serious here, Kara. I don’t know if Jamie is alive at this point. I think it’s fifty-fifty. And while Hazel may not be in immediate danger, she could be if Marcy gets it into her head that she wants to hurt Cal by taking away everything that he loves.”

Catherine glanced at Kara. “What else did you learn from all these people you talked to?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“After an hour conversation with Madelyn Jeffries, you decided that she not only did not kill her husband, but she didn’t hire anyone to do so.”

“Hour? It only took five minutes.”

“You didn’t know anything about her background, you based your decision on a conversation and how she answered the questions, how she physically responded. Subtle clues in her psychology that manifest themselves to a trained eye.”

“That’s why it pissed me off that you didn’t take my word for it. I am trained.”

“I think I see your point.”

Finally, Kara thought, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Watch for subtle clues, both verbal and physical. She has justified everything she’s done.” Catherine inserted an earpiece. “I’m going to listen to everything, but only you can see her. If her words and tone don’t match her actions, let me know somehow. And if there’s a point where your life is in immediate danger, you need to let us know.”

“I’m going to tell you this because honesty is always the best policy,” said Kara. “If Hazel and Jamie are in immediate danger, I’m getting them out and I don’t care what the fuck happens to Marcy Anderson.”

“She already believes you are her best friend. You come in from a big city and you are who she wants to be. The better rapport you develop, the better for the situation. Get her to relax.”

Kara didn’t say anything.

“You worked undercover for more than a decade and you lied for a living—you can’t lie to her?”

“I can, that’s not the issue. I just don’t know if it’s the best approach.”

“Trust me on this, Kara. If she thinks you’ve turned on her, she’ll kill you. It’s why I think Jamie may already be dead. Marcy has to believe that you’re on her side.”

“Okay,” Kara said.

Kara didn’t think that Jamie was dead. Maybe she didn’t want to believe it. She asked, “Do you think the fact that Cal didn’t die on the Water Lily could have been a sign to Marcy that they were meant to be together?”

Catherine tilted her head, considering the possibility. “She might believe that. Cal got a second life, Marcy gets a second chance. And then he and Jamie recommit, set a wedding date, and announce they’re having a baby. That could certainly be the trigger for this.”

“Okay, I have a plan.” She nodded at Catherine. She hoped it worked.

“Good luck.” Catherine stepped out of the truck and Kara sped the last mile to the cabin.