Page 68 of The House of Cross

“She told me she regretted intruding.”

The billionaire said nothing.

I said, “Tell us about Sean.”

Her lips twisted as if she’d tasted something bad in that last sip of whiskey. “I told your wife about him. He was extremely smart. Maybe smarter than Ryan. But he was far more difficult as a child. Insolent. Defiant. Violent. Brooding.”

“Bree said he had a history of mental illness. Can you tell us what his diagnosis was?”

Alcott looked disgusted. “He had most of the psychiatrists we went to wrapped around his little finger; he was able to turn on the charm and brilliance when needed. But after he had a psychotic break at age sixteen, we sent him to a residential facility, where he was diagnosed with various psychiatric illnesses.”

“Can you describe the psychotic break?” I asked.

She hesitated. “He was home from prep school. It was Christmas, and out of nowhere he attacked Ryan, tried to kill him with a butcher knife. My husband and a friend stopped him.”

“This happened without provocation?”

“Ryan was having a down day and was in his wheelchair. In Sean’s disturbed mind, that was enough. He hated all the attention his brother got. For his illness and for his brilliance.”

Mahoney said, “And how did Ryan feel about Sean?”

“Ryan was protective of Sean, tried to keep him out of trouble.”

“Until he left at eighteen,” I said.

Alcott nodded. “On his eighteenth birthday. Had us transfer his inheritance to a new account, told me he never wanted to see me again, and left in the Range Rover I’d bought for him for his high-school graduation.”

“And you never heard from him again?”

“Not directly. I did get a notification from my insurance company that he’d sold the Range Rover in Salt Lake City about a week after he left and canceled the policy.”

“And Ryan?” I said. “Did he lose touch with his brother too?”

“As far as I know,” Alcott said, her hand trembling slightly as she reached to pick up the cigarette and a lighter. “We made it a practice to avoid the subject of Sean.”

She thumbed the lighter on, lit the cigarette, and took a puff.

CHAPTER 49

THE BILLIONAIRE BLEW THEsmoke out. “Is that all, gentlemen?”

I said, “My wife was over in Elko, Nevada, and then in Salmon, Idaho, looking into Ryan’s death, along with a DC homicide detective. They’ve both gone missing. You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you?”

Mrs. Alcott gazed at me, expressionless, for several moments. “Absolutely not, and I’m sorry to hear she is missing. Why would she go to Elko and Salmon?”

“We’re asking the questions,” Mahoney said. “What do you know about Maestro?”

Her eyes flickered with confusion. “Which one?”

“The vigilante group Maestro,” I said. “The one run by a mysterious figure known as M.”

She stubbed out her cigarette, blew out the last of the smoke. “I have no idea who or what you are talking about.”

Mahoney said, “Maestro is behind the killings of the three judicial candidates on that list, Mrs. Alcott. We have the assassin on video saying, ‘Maestro knows what you’ve done. It’s over,’ before she shot Professor Carver.”

“She?”

“Yes.”

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