Page 60 of The House of Cross

BREE WAS ASLEEP INa motel room in Hailey, Idaho, when her phone rang.

She found it, answered. “Alex?”

“Sorry not to call last night, Bree,” he said. “There was a major development in the murdered-judges case that you and John need to know about.”

“Tell me,” she said, sitting up.

“We caught the assassin on camera and on audio. Before she shot him, she said, and this is a quote: ‘Maestro knows what you’ve done. It’s over.’”

“C’mon!” she cried as she got out of bed. “Is that right?”

“It was hard to hear, but there’s no mistake.”

Bree put her hand to her forehead. “My God, the heat on you and Ned is going to go sky-high.”

“Deadly, mysterious vigilante group targets possible Supreme Court nominees? I’d say so. Ned and I are on our way back to DC to brief the acting director.”

“And John and I are going to Salmon, Idaho, to try to track down Malcomb’s brother,” Bree said. “We found an address for his father, William. What did Professor Carver do to merit assassination?”

“Unclear. We have possible motives for Franklin and Pak, but not Carver.”

“I think you need to look at Theresa May Alcott,” Bree said. “She’s on that advisory board. She’s the link to Malcomb. She may also be the link to Maestro.”

“We’re on the same page—we’re heading to Cleveland after we see the director. How did yesterday go for you two?”

Bree told him about Eldon Boyt’s theory of the crash on the mountain road and about the dental records.

“Two matches, Bree,” Alex said. “That makes him dead in any court in the world.”

“I know, I know,” she said. “But I wish they’d tested him for steroids. We’d know for certain it was him.”

“You’ll have to figure it out another way. How’s the weather there?”

She looked out the window. “Ooh, snowing. There’s like six inches on the ground. But our rental is a Jeep Cherokee with four-wheel drive.”

“Call me tonight?”

“I’ll try around eleven your time.”

They said they loved each other and hung up. Bree texted Sampson to make sure he was awake, then showered, dressed, and repacked her overnight bag.

John had the Jeep warmed up when she left the room. He also had two coffees and two breakfast burritos waiting.

As they ate and drove north on State Highway 75, past the Sun Valley resort area, she told him about Maestro’s involvement in the assassinations, which stunned Sampson.

“That’s just cold and brazen,” he said. “What do they think they’re achieving by killing these people?”

“I have no clue. But I told Alex they should focus on Theresa May Alcott as the potential link to Maestro.”

“Good idea. But more important, this shows that Maestro is not stopping even if Malcomb was M.”

“Or they’re not stopping because Malcomb is M and he is very much alive.”

They passed the turnoff to Alice Lake a half hour later. Bree pointed to it. “That’s where Malcomb’s adoptive parents were murdered.”

“I remember that,” Sampson said. “Looks like the road in is snowed over.”

“Let’s get to Salmon. I have a good feeling.”

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