Page 98 of Our Daughter's Bones

Her head whipped round to pin them with a hard glare. “Hannah isn’t as innocent as she looks. Don’t buy her bullshit. Not every single mother is a saint.”

“What do you mean?”

She conceded. “Joeencouragesus to sleep with important clients. Usually he didn’t care much. Most of the times I just said no, and he would drop it. But he got very pushy a few months ago with this one client. He wouldn’t leave me alone. After delaying, I gave in and slept with him…” Her eyes turned ghostly. “The next day, Hannah showed up with a video. She and Joe recorded theentirething. Their plan was to blackmail the client for a quick payday. They told me that they’d give me a cut. Idiots. I left as fast as I could.”

“The client?” Mackenzie asked. “He’s dangerous?”

“He’s powerful. Look… I… I don’t want to get mixed up in that.”

“Did the client pay up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who is he?”

“I can’t say. He told me what would happen if I did.”

“We can protect––” Nick said.

“No!” she almost shrieked. “You don’t understand. I don’t trust you. He’s rich. Everyone knows how this town is run. No offense.”

Mackenzie recalled the words in Abby’s diary. The paranoia. The mistrust. The dread. She saw it in Miranda’s little movements. From the way she kept licking her dry lips to her constant fidgeting.

“How did he threaten you?” she asked.

“Please don’t––”

Mackenzie placed her hand on hers. “I promise your name won’t come up. And I know you owe Hannah nothing. But her daughter is innocent. Don’t tell us his name. Just tell us how he threatened you. We can work with that.”

Mackenzie wondered if she’d gone too far. She withdrew her hand quickly.

“He sent a guy. He looked like trouble. Told me to keep quiet otherwise something bad might happen to me.”

“What did he look like?” Nick asked.

As Miranda delved into a description, a face began to assemble in Mackenzie’s mind. Finally, the wild card fit into the picture.

Eddy Rowinski.

Fifty-Four

September 24

Mackenzie sprinted faster than normal. Her breaths came shallow. Sweat matted every inch of her skin. She powered through the stitch below her ribcage, through the spasm bubbling in her left leg.

Her body was breaking down. It sent her distress signals to stop. But she couldn’t. Her body was trying to keep up with her mind. Her thoughts were spinning and surging forward uninhibited.

She ran blindly. Not paying attention to her route.

Where was Abby Correia? Who took her? The people behind 916 or the client Hannah had blackmailed?

It was clear why Eddy had the best law firm representing him. Why Clara said he was protected. Why Isaac had called him lucky.

Eddy’s boss was someone powerful.

And Hannah had been stupid enough to blackmail him. That’s why Eddy had approached Abby. Not because she was a “cute” girl he happened to see at the gas station, but because he had to send Hannah a message.

Mackenzie had asked Daniel to look into Eddy’s employment. The client must be related to Magnus Pharma—the firm Eddy did admin work for. His job could account for Eddy coming into contact with a seemingly legit businessman, or maybe he’d only ever done dirty work, and the admin job was a front. Either way, they needed to know more about the company, and she’d thought it was better to put Daniel on a project away from fieldwork. He had been too erratic and emotional at the school but was eager to do something more.