Where All the Dead Lie

CHAPTER FIFTY

“Lincoln, that’s absurd. Evan Highsmythe died in a car accident. The earl identified her body.”

“They didn’t do an autopsy. Why didn’t Memphis identify her?”

Taylor thought back to the conversation she and Memphis had right after she arrived, that night in his study, before everything had spun so far out of control.

“I never got to see her, you know. After the accident. Father wouldn’t let me. He said it would be a very bad idea indeed. She’d gone through the windscreen, was cut to ribbons. He thought I would carry the image with me forever, what she looked like.”

“No, he didn’t. The earl wouldn’t let him. She had extensive facial lacerations.”

“That’s doubt enough for me.”

“But if it wasn’t Evan in the car, who was it?”

“I don’t know. They’ll have to exhume the body, run DNA. Probably some transient passing through. Rachael got her hands on them and used them to her own end. She’s good at that.”

“Christ. That seems awfully risky.”

“You’re dealing with a stone-cold psychopath, Taylor. Risks are her specialty.”

“Okay. Assume that you’re right, that this is all a huge cover-up. That Rachael managed to wreck the car with some one else in it, spirit Evan away. So where is Evan now? Her death was splashed across the covers of every newspaper in the country. It would be difficult to hide her. Her face would be recognized.”

“Look at what she says in the entry. ‘Now Evan is going to feel what it’s like to be in my shoes for a while.’ Rachael was locked away for seven years.”

“Committed. So you think Evan has been committed somewhere?”

“In an insane asylum. That would be the perfect punishment.”

“Oh, my God, Lincoln. I can’t believe Rachael would be able to manage it.”

“Look at her past, Taylor. Rachael succeeded by manipulating others to do her work for her. It’s possible. And with a doctor’s license, she could fake the papers. She’s a master forger, family signatures would be nothing to her. We just need to find out where she put her.”

Evan’s suicide note. Could Maddee have written it? Could she have sent the email from Memphis’s account, too?

A voice rang out from the hallway. “Taylor? You should come to lunch. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Rachael.

She had the electronic code to the family’s private quarters after all.

The Highsmythes had let the wolf into the chicken coop.

Taylor’s voice was mouse quiet. “Lincoln. She’s at my door.”

“Did you send me all the files?”

“Yes.”

“Then find a way to get her computer back into her bag, and don’t let her know we’re on to her. I’ll get looking for places Evan might be.”

“You know what name to look under, right?”

“Yes. Rachael Mack.”

“Right. Do me a favor and get Baldwin. I’ve been trying to reach him without luck. He’s supposed to be heading here, so he may be en route. Find him and let him know what’s happening. Talk to you in a bit.”

“Taylor. Watch yourself.”

“I will.”

Rachael was knocking on the door now. Hard. Taylor slapped the laptop shut. Looked at it critically. It was so thin… She stood and put the computer down the front of her jeans, sending a mental thank-you to Steve Jobs’s design team. The heavy wool sweater she wore covered both the laptop and the gun at the small of her back perfectly.

She went to the door and opened it. Rachael had a huge, winning smile on her face. If she knew something was up, she was one hell of an actress.

“Hiya. Hey there. How you feeling? Trixie said you were up and about. Want to come down and have lunch? You can meet Roland-properly, this time. I’m afraid he was a bit put out that I was so trashed last night. Then we couldn’t get down the drive. The truck kept sliding off to the side of the road. He’d forgotten the chains. So we gave up, hiked back up to the house. We had to stay here last night. He wasn’t all that thrilled, let me tell you. The kids are home with the nanny, and God knows what sort of trouble they’ve managed to get into.”

Taylor forced her voice to stay in a normal range. “That’s quite an adventure. Lunch sounds great. I’m actually starved, and I’d love to meet Roland.”

But I don’t plan to eat a bite with you anywhere around, you psycho bitch.

Dr. Maddee James, nee Rachael Mack, didn’t seem to have a clue that Taylor was on to her. Which was helpful. Taylor shut the door to her suite and the two started off down the hall together.

“I was hoping you’d come down for our session this morning. Did you at least do the exercises I gave you?”

Taylor gave her own winning smile. She wasn’t too bad of an actress herself.

“Yeah. We maybe hit it too hard last night. Getting up this morning wasn’t exactly easy. Despite the hangover from hell, I did do the exercises. And I listened to the biofeedback tape. I kind of passed out last night after our party-haven’t done that in a while-woke up in the middle of the night with a horrid headache. I took all my meds, got back in bed and slept through till Trixie woke me. That melatonin is amazing. I need to get some back in the States. I owe you-no doctor has ever been able to cure my insomnia.”

Rachael touched Taylor’s back with the palm of her hand, between her shoulder blades. A reassuring pat. Taylor did her best not to cringe.

“You are so welcome. I’m glad it helped. So you listened to the tape. How did it make you feel?”

“So relaxed. I am feeling so much better. You’re doing wonders for me. I really don’t know how to thank you.”

“You just did,” Rachael said. The cold snap in her voice was hard to miss. She didn’t want Taylor getting better. She wanted her dead. The tape proved it.

They were at the door to the second dining room now.

This would be Taylor’s only shot. She patted her front pocket.

“Oh, crap. I forgot my phone. I’m waiting for my fiance to call. Listen, you go on in and sit down. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Oh, sure. No problem. See you in a minute.” Rachael went into the dining room without a backward glance.

The moment Rachael was inside the door, Taylor reversed course. She ran down the stairs, down the hall, back to the drawing room. All the while, the same three words ran through her head.

Evan’s not dead.

Evan’s not dead. Evan’s not dead.