Wishard continued. “It was around that time her coworker, a woman named Aura Vasquez, filed a harassment claim with the human resources department of the nonprofit Maureen worked at. She said their relationship started out friendly. Maureen even mentored her in the beginning. But as the young woman began to receive promotions, Maureen suddenly turned on her. She kept sending her e-mails and texts criticizing her work, insisting she wasn’t pulling her weight, going behind her back and slandering her to her fellow employees. Aura filed a complaint with HR and said it got worse. That Maureen started making veiled threats, and Aura was convinced she’d been following her. When HR refused to take further action, Aura filed a restraining order with the LAPD. A verbal altercation occurred outside their place of work resulting in Mo’s termination. The court ordered that Maureen receive a psychological evaluation. Unfortunately, the therapist determined there was no threat.”

“Who was the therapist?” Becca asked.

Wishard checked the file. “Dr. Carlton Stowers. He’s on staff…”

“At UCLA,” Becca interjected. Dr. Stowers was one of Becca’s first professors in grad school, a man who adored the sound of his own voice. He was well sought after, appearing all over the country as a mental health expert. Defense lawyers loved him because for the right price, you could purchase whatever diagnosis you wanted.

“According to Dr. Stowers’s report, Maureen Wilson had anger management issues, but he stated, ‘Mrs. Wilson poses no threat to the victim nor does she meet the criteria for inpatient treatment.’ He called the victim’s claims ‘a sincere misunderstanding.’ ”

Becca shook her head. “I’m assuming Dr. Stowers’s assessment proved incorrect,” Becca said.

“I would say so. A few weeks after Maureen’s evaluation, Aura was brutally beaten outside her apartment. The attack nearly crippled her. A day later, a fire broke out at Maureen’s home. Her husband and kid barely made it out alive.”

“Hold up, she set fire to her own home? Tried to kill her own family?” Christian asked.

Becca could hear the disgust in his voice, the sense of disbelief. It was a rhetorical question, of course. Plenty of people did terrible things to those they loved.

“Witnesses at both scenes identified a sixteen-year-old boy, Carlos Ochoa, one of the interns Maureen mentored at her nonprofit. The kid took the fall for the assault, arson, and attempted murder. But the detectives assigned to the case were convinced Maureen put him up to it. They couldn’t prove it, and then Maureen vanished. Until today.”

If Becca allowed herself to think about the damage Mo inflicted on others, not just Ash, it would paralyze her. What she had to do was focus on the science, the question everyone always wanted to know when crimes like this were committed. Why? What made someone like Mo do such terrible things?