Page 12 of The Paternity Puzzle

Holly set her knife down and looked at him with wide eyes. “Alec Bishop, son of serial killer Andrew Bishop?”

Sawyer chuckled at her expression. “That’s the one, and lots of people had that same reaction. They’d kept his involvement a secret until they revealed some surprise panelists and keynote speakers during the kickoff event.” Sawyer smiled and shook his head at the memory. “People fanned themselves and swayed like they might faint.”

“I bet,” Holly said. “Dude, he’s the Taylor Swift of the true-crime world right now. It’s not every day a serial killer is discovered, and it’s even rarer when their child is the one to bring them down. Dude is living his badass era. Did you attend his event? Oh, did you meet him? What was he like? Did he give new details about discovering his dad’s crimes or how he decided to go to the police?” Holly didn’t fan herself, and she didn’t sway on her feet, but she was fangirling so hard that Sawyer wasn’t sure where to start.

“Alec was swamped from the moment they announced his name. He took part in several panels, he hosted a meet and greet for the VIP attendees, and he sat for a long book signing.” Sawyer cocked a smile. “I bought a book and got it signed for you.”

“Shut up!” Holly swatted at his arm. “No, you didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Thank you so much,” Holly said. “I can’t wait to read it.”

“I downloaded the audiobook and listened to it on the way home. There’s a lot of information in there about their family dynamics that didn’t come out during the trial. And since Alec narrated it himself, I felt like I was sitting across from him and having a conversation over coffee.” Sawyer’s lips curved into a wicked smile. “And maybe that’s because I had a privateconversation with him over coffee this week, so I know what it’s like.”

Holly looked out the window to where Royce stood at the grill. “Does he know?”

Sawyer laughed. “Of course. He didn’t enjoy hearing about it, and he disliked the topic of conversation even less.”

“Can you share it with me?” Holly formed prayer hands and made big eyes at him.

He shook his head at her antics. “I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise,” Sawyer said. “Alec asked to speak to me after I gave my presentation on solving cold cases. He told me that his family had lived in Savannah years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he wants to know if we have unsolved crimes from those years that match his father’s MO.”

Holly’s mouth fell open in surprise, but she snapped it shut. “Seriously?”

“Mm-hmm. Alec doesn’t think we’ve learned the names of all his father’s victims, and he doesn’t think his dad waited until he was forty years old before he killed for the first time.”

“And Andrew can’t talk because he died in prison,” Holly said.

“Alec introduced me to a woman named Marina Woods, who is going to produce an investigative podcast for him. He has a lot of funding and resources and name recognition. This could be a huge deal.”

“His father was a long-haul truck driver,” Holly said. “He had access to limitless victims in every state except for Alaska and Hawaii.”

“Andrew lived in Alaska for a few years after he divorced Alec’s mom,” Sawyer told her. “He wanted to try his hand at ice road trucking.”

“Wow.”

“So there’s no telling the true number of victims, and Alec said he won’t rest until he finds as many of them as he can.”

Holly placed both hands on her chest. “Bless his heart.”

“Uh-oh,” Jace said. “This doesn’t sound good for you, Ro.”

“Me?” Royce asked. “They’re talking about your unfortunate ass.”

Sawyer and Holly turned and found the brothers watching them suspiciously from the open doorway.

“I came back for the cheese.” Royce walked into the kitchen with Jace following.

Sawyer pointed to the open sliding glass door, and Holly rolled her eyes in commiseration. “Heathens,” she whispered.

“I’m not sure what I just interrupted,” Royce said. “Whose foolish heart are you blessing?” He hooked his thumb in his brother’s direction just as Jace nodded his head at Royce.

“I didn’t use the sarcastic heart blessing,” Holly replied. “Sawyer was just telling me about Alec Bishop’s mission to uncover as many of his dad’s victims as possible.”