“Dangerous is an understatement. She kills people to get what she wants. She’s smart and her moves are calculated. I think she purposely bit me because she knew DNA would clear her. There’s no way that was an accident.”

“What do you think she wants? I mean, what or who is she after?”

“I think this case is mostly about the insurance money. It’s a deadly scam. But the bizarre part is that there are two trails to the same scam that don’t seem to come together. Think about it. Jeanne Coleman, leaves her insurance money to Lorelei Sebastian, a woman no one can find. Francine’s hiding the documents: she was in on this. She had to have been. And here is where the tree starts to branch. Francine and Julia must have been childhood friends: the picture found in Samantha’s apartment suggests it. They were taking the same antibiotic, doxycycline. They must have had the same infection. They’re connected. Connected on this scam, somehow. Now Julia leaves her money, a lot of it, to Molly Dolan.” Val drained what was left in her glass. “As far as who she’s after, I’m on her list.”

“Is there enough evidence to at least arrest her?”

“Jesus, I hope so.”

41

The car was parked about thirty yards away from the house. The woman who said she was Molly Dolan sat behind the steering wheel, waiting, watching for the right time. One by one the windows had gone dark as the lights were finally turned off. They had been that way for nearly an hour. The people inside should be asleep by now.

After the confrontation at her rental in Ellicottville, Molly made sure to find out who Gwen was. She’d only seen Gwen going into the house tonight. This meant that there were only two of them inside. This should be easier than expected.

Slowly, Molly opened the car door and stepped out. She shut the door softly, then quickly crossed the lawn, rounding to the back of the house, stopping just outside the back door.

Now, how to get in?

That would be simple.

She had been prepared for this moment for a while now. One should always make things as simple as possible. She thought back to the day at the medical examiner’s office when she had taken Val’s keys from her jacket pocket and had a copy made. She had been taken aback when she went to return them and saw the jacket was missing. But she’d always been quick-thinking, so she’d decided at that moment to place the keys on the floor as if they had slipped out of the pocket.