Page 72 of See How They Hide

But it was more than they had before.

A nondescript white female was in the passenger seat. He was confident that the team at Quantico could enhance her image. The driver was unclear in the first frame, but in the second Matt identified a male, based on a thick mustache and short dark hair. He wore sunglasses. Quantico might be able to pull out more details.

“What time was this?” he asked.

She stopped the video, said, “Seven fifty-five this morning.”

Local police found the note and poppy in Donovan’s truck. Had the two suspects delivered the note to his place of work, then driven directly here to wait for him? Conjecture, but logical. The security system at the nursery didn’t have cameras, so they couldn’t confirm who’d left the note and when, but it had to have been between closing last night and Donovan’s arrival this morning.

Matt asked Mrs. Williams for a copy of the recording. She handed him a thumb drive. “I took the liberty of copying all three days from my backup drive. Because they could have come by earlier, right? To check out the house?”

“Good thinking,” he said.

“There’s one more section.” She clicked a few tabs, then showed Matt a video of the van leaving. Now he had a better view of the driver, though he still didn’t have a straight-on headshot.

“Good, I’ll make sure my people sharpen and enhance. We might even get a full plate.”

“But this was at 12:45 this afternoon,” she said, pointing to the time stamp. “They were there for nearly five hours. There’s no way out of the neighborhood, except to go past my house.”

The killers stayed at the house for hours. Did they expect Andrew to return? They left at about the time Riley and Andrew were at Jesse Morrison’s house. That gave weight to Michael’s theory that someone was staying in the remote cabin and spying on people who came to the house.

“They were a very nice couple,” she said as she walked Matt to the door. “Quiet, no parties, didn’t really socialize, but kind. When my husband died three years ago, Donovan brought me a tree from his nursery and planted it for me. To remember my husband. It was so thoughtful. I watch it grow and think of our wonderful life. I hope you find the people who killed him. Please let Andrew know I’m praying for him.”

Matt checked into his hotel after midnight. He would only have a couple hours of sleep before he had to meet Dean Montero at the airport and hop on a small commuter plane for South Fork.

Matt read through his messages and texts, responded to everything that needed a response. Kara had taken Riley Pierce back to the hotel with her. He frowned, uncertain that was the wisest course of action. They didn’t know much about her, and her story seemed...incredible. It wasn’t that he disbelieved it, but cult members could be so brainwashed that they might truly believe what they said was the complete truth. Or, worse, they could be lying and putting his team at risk.

All they knew at this point was that Riley wasn’t a suspect in the homicides. She’d been out of the country, which they had confirmed with the museum she worked for in France. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t involved in some way, or that she wasn’t a threat for another reason. She had, ultimately, inserted herself in the middle of the investigation and now they were relying on her for key information.

Kara was a great cop with terrific instincts and it would take a particularly devious criminal to deceive her. But she’d been focused on Riley from the beginning, from the minute the young woman had run from her in Ashland. She suspected Riley had information, which was proven correct. And she suspected that Riley was in danger, which made Kara protective. Warranted? Was Kara putting herself at risk?

He called her, hoping he didn’t wake her. She answered on the first ring.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“You’re not sleeping.”

“If you thought I was sleeping, why did you call?”

He smiled. “How is everything down there?”

“Good. Sloane and I are doubled up at the hotel—apparently this is a big tourist area in the spring, who knew? It’s friggin’ freezing. But it’s a nice place. We’re taking turns keeping an eye out.”

“For?”

“Making sure that Riley doesn’t leave. I think I’ve convinced her that we’re her best bet to stay alive and catch the people who killed her friends, but she doesn’t trust anyone. Literally, no one. Not even her friend Andrew. In fact, I don’t think they’re friends. I guess it’s like if they were soldiers who didn’t personally like each other but had a common goal.”

Astute, Matt thought. “The sheriff has someone sitting on Andrew Gardner’s hospital room.”

“Matt, I’ve been thinking about how they killed Donovan.”

“Other than the fact that he was in his house and the others were outdoors, he was killed in the same way. Same flowers left behind.”

“Yeah, same people, I get it. But that’s the thing—they could have lured him into the mountains, using the red poppy as Thalia’s calling card. He would have gone anywhere, probably, considering Jane left her apartment for a park two miles away. But they didn’t, knowing his body would be found sooner rather than later. Someone could be watching his house.”

“To know when Andrew gets home, kill him too,” Matt said. He’d been thinking the same thing. “I don’t think they’re here now.” He filled her in on what he’d learned about the van leaving hours after Donovan was killed.

“They could have sent Andrew a message, as well,” Kara said.

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