“I’m insinuating that they raised a kidnapped baby as their own. What they knew and when they knew it is something we’d all like to know.”

“They couldn’t have possibly known he was kidnapped,” Mark said. “My father devoted his entire life to truth and justice and the law. If you go public with these insinuations, we’ll sue your ass off, and we’ll go after your badge too.”

“Feel free to do whatever you need to do, but this information will be going public probably today when the Rollings family in Tennessee finds out that their prayers have been answered and their son has been found.”

“This can’t possibly be true,” Maura said with a whole lot less conviction than she’d had at the beginning of the conversation.

“I’m sorry. I know how difficult it has to be for you to hear this, but it is true, and we believe that Dustin Jacoby killed your father and abducted your brother because he was afraid of what would happen when the truth came out.”

They stared at her as if she had two heads.

“He was my father’s best friend,” Mark said. “He’s like an uncle to us. He would never harm my dad.”

“Look, I get that this is extremely shocking to you, but everything I’m telling you is true. The West Virginia State Police and the Metro PD have Jacoby surrounded at his cabin in the mountains. We have footage that shows him with your brother at a hotel in Beltsville after your brother was abducted at gunpoint and fed a nearly lethal dose of phenobarbital. We have the gunman who orchestrated the abduction telling us that Jacoby hired him and two of his associates to help him kill your father and abduct your brother, who was kidnapped from a family in Tennessee as an infant.” Sam paused, took a moment to look at both of them. “Now, hearing all that, do you honestly believe that I could make up a story this crazy?”

“What could our mother possibly have to do with any of it?” Maura asked.

“We’re not sure, but we’re hoping to find out. The FBI wouldn’t let us near her, so we had no choice but to take her into custody so we can speak to her about some questions we have.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Things about her marriage and her relationship with Jacoby.”

“They were friends.”

“Right.”

“Are you insinuating they were more than friends?” Mark asked.

“I’m not insinuating anything other than we want to talk to her again.”

A nurse came into the waiting room. “Your brother is awake. He’s asking for you.”

Mark and Maura took off toward Josh’s room. Sam followed, hoping she’d be allowed in to see him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“DO WE KNOW why he was taken?” one of the patrolmen working Josh’s door asked.