Page 9 of See How They Hide

Weems, Virginia

FBI special agent in charge Matt Costa quickly dealt with necessary paperwork sitting in his new office in the basement of the FBI Academy, where the Behavioral Sciences team had originally been housed.

They’d moved last month from the cramped conference room at national headquarters where they had been assigned after the formation of the Mobile Response Team a year ago. While it was much better to have this large suite of offices where everyone had their own private space surrounding a central bullpen, there were no windows and Kara called it the “dungeon.”

He picked up his ringing phone. “Costa.”

“It’s Kara. I’m sending a package.”

“I got your message.”

“The old roommate? The one in France that no one has spoken to? I’m almost positive I saw her outside Jane’s apartment. She disappeared fast when I went to question her. I had my eyes off her for less than a minute. I suspect she slipped between a couple of apartment buildings, but I can’t be certain. It was foggy.”

“How positive that it was Pierce?”

She hesitated. “Eighty percent. I’d just seen her picture, but I only got a passing glance on the street. Detective Kinder is following up.”

“We can find out if she used her passport,” Matt said.

Ryder buzzed Matt. “Agent Stewart is on the line.”

“Thanks, Ryder. Tell him one minute.” To Kara he said, “You also found a red poppy in Merrifield’s room?”

“Preserved between plastic sheets. Was there anything like this with Benson’s belongings?”

“Not that we found. Sloane and I are going to talk to his widow again this afternoon. We’ll ask her. Keep me updated—I have another call.”

“Roger that,” she said lightly and hung up.

Matt switched to Agent George Stewart who worked out of the Denver field office. “Hi, George, what did you find?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” George said. “The girl doesn’t exist.”

After Denver PD couldn’t locate Jane Merrifield or her family, the FBI looked deeper into her background.

George continued, “Jane Merrifield did not graduate from Cherry Creek High School as stated in her college admission package. The only Jane Merrifield in the entire school district is a seven-year-old first grader.

“I double-checked the residence—nothing. I considered transposed numbers and checked every house that could have been hers—nothing. There are nine Joseph Merrifields in the greater Denver area, none who’ve heard of twenty-one-year-old Jane. There are only two Bridget Merrifields in the area—one who is ninety, one who is seventy-four.

“We checked every school district, including the graduation year before and after what’s listed. We can’t find one person atanyhigh school in the area, public or private, who knows or recognizes Jane Merrifield’s picture. We ran her prints—nothing. My guess? She’s not from Denver and her name isn’t Jane Merrifield.”

Matt absorbed what George was saying. “Okay,” he said slowly, “what about legal cases? Name changes? Sealed files?”

“We need a legal name to get any sealed files. There’s nothing listing Jane Merrifield. I considered maybe a witness protection gig, but the US Marshals said they don’t have anyone in the program with that name or description. I’m still working on a couple of angles, but I don’t see them going anywhere. If they do, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks, George. Keep the file open. We’re looking to interview Merrifield’s first college roommate, and if we can get more information from her, I’ll send it to you to follow up.”

“Want to know my gut?”

“Shoot.”

“She has a damn good fake identity. Someone with major skills created it. Find that person, you’ll find out who Jane Merrifield really is.”

Matt agreed. Before he left to reinterview Robert Benson’s widow, he relayed to Ryder what he learned from George.

“Talk to Cybercrimes, they might have a person of interest, someone who can pull something like this off. Robert Benson was an established business owner, but we have nothing on him before he moved to Weems. Maybe his widow knows, maybe she doesn’t, but two people with no backgrounds, killed on the same day in the same way, is not a coincidence.”

Agent Sloane Wagner was a good fit for the Mobile Response Team, Matt thought as they walked up to the Benson house early Monday afternoon.

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