Page 99 of The Nature of Secrets

“Makes a twisted sort of sense.” Jack nodded slowly. “She could have decided the best way to take care of both situations with one strike was to take out Grady and set up the other woman for his murder.”

“The use of the hammer only Winthrop had access to was,” Finley went on, “an attempt to make it appear the other woman was trying to set Winthrop up.”

Jack grinned. “The perfect imperfect plan.” His grin dipped into a frown. “Then the issue was how to prove Marsh had access to the hammer. Maybe the fraudulent credit card receipt and statement from the spy-shop owner were supposed to do that. You should follow up with the employee—Wendy something—and see if she’s ever seen Winthrop or one of her five or Marsh, for that matter, in the shop.”

“Good idea.” Finley chewed at her lower lip a moment. “It’s possible Winthrop truly believes the receipt is legit and someone else besides Marsh is operating behind her back. Obviously, it would have to be someone who had access to the home office and that credit card.”

Jack’s expression turned grim. “And who’s left handed, which brings us back to Lauder. I guess when you get down to the nitty-gritty, kid, you never really know anyone as well as you think—not even the people closest to you.”

Finley nodded. Couldn’t argue that point. Perfect example: the secret Jack had been keeping all these years. Jesus Christ, how could she not have seen it? Had her father noticed?

“I’ll go back to the spy shop,” Finley said. “Show Wendy photos of Marsh and Winthrop and those closest to her, see if she recognizes anyone.”

“If she fingers Lauder,” Jack said, “then we’ll know we’re onto something.”

“And I’ll track down Lauder’s husband. See what he has to say about his wife.”

The idea felt off to some degree. Would Winthrop really not notice one of her five—someone that damned close to her—being the perpetrator here?

You didn’t notice what Derrick was doing. Or the way Jack really felt about the Judge.

Finley banished that damned voice.

Nita appeared at the door. “Ms.Winthrop is here to see you.” The drill sergeant pointed a finger at Jack. “Don’t forget you have that meeting with Redfield and the judge at eleven.”

He nodded. “Got it. Send her in.”

Nita vanished, and Fin looked to Jack. “Wasn’t she supposed to call you with a time?”

“I guess she couldn’t wait to hear what we’d found.”

“Guess not.”

Jack stood as Winthrop darkened his doorway.

Finley did the same.

“Good morning,” Jack announced. “Finley and I were just discussing your case. Please, join us.” He indicated the chair adjacent to Finley’s.

Winthrop gave a nod. “Good to see the two of you hard at work. I have something my security team has put together that might make your job easier.” She plopped a thick folder on Jack’s desk. “My only regret is that we didn’t have this information days or weeks ago. I truly had no idea ...” She shook her head, her expression sad. “Live and learn, I suppose.”

With that, Winthrop took the seat next to Finley and offered, “I’m sure you’ll want to have a look as well. It certainly opened my eyes to how blind I’ve been.”

Finley pushed up and rounded Jack’s desk to look over his shoulder as he opened the neatly organized package.

“Our extended resources in the field finally came through,” Winthrop explained. “We discovered that Jarrod and his friend, Lena Marsh, have been working together for years. It appears Marsh has used her position in the offices of various therapists in different cities and states to identify older, lonely women of means. She and Grady would choose their victims and then set up the opportunity for a meet between him and the target.”

“The cases go back almost five years,” Finley noted. This was comprehensive to say the least. She was impressed. And confused. Winthrop’s team suddenly came through with this last-minute Hail Mary play, and she showed up as calm as a cucumber?

“They were in Atlanta before coming to Nashville,” Winthrop continued. “Marsh worked for two different clinics during their tenure there. It seems a near brush with the law brought them here for a fresh start. Since Jarrod was the only one whose identity was known in the scam, his partner was able to retain her name and work references to obtain a position with Dr.Mengesha.”

“They were in Nashville for several months before targeting you,” Jack pointed out. “That’s a considerable amount of downtime for a couple so ambitious.”

“I can only assume,” Winthrop said, “they had decided to lay low for a while and then possibly go for a bigger payoff before disappearing for good. The close call in Atlanta may have prompted that decision.”

“Looks like you were the only one he married,” Finley noted. “Making your theory logical.” This report was very comprehensive. Just wow. This was ... unexpected. But then everything about this case had been unexpected.

“I was the bigger payoff, I assume. Before me, the payoffs were under a million, it appears. As you both know, my loss was many times more.”

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