Fatal Identity

by Marie Force

  A few minutes later, Dustin Jacoby was marched from the cabin in handcuffs and leg chains and delivered to them over vociferous objections from the shell-shocked Feds.

  Freddie wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but Jacoby was smaller than he’d thought he would be—maybe five-ten with a lean build and graying dark hair.

  Ignoring the Feds, Malone and Cruz loaded Jacoby into their SUV for the ride back to the city. The West Virginia State Police team came to collect their captain.

  Malone shook hands with the injured man. “Thanks a lot for the help. We owe you one.”

  “Anytime,” he said, his face twisted in obvious pain.

  As Freddie got into the backseat next to their prisoner, his phone chimed with a text from Elin.

  They’re reporting shots fired outside Jacoby’s place. Tell me you’re all right.

  I’m good, and we got him. On the way back now.

  Thank God.

  Freddie’s next text was to Sam. We’ve got Jacoby. On the way back now. Got a little hairy there for a minute or two. He fired on the WVSP and it went downhill fast from there.

  Anyone hurt?

  Their incident commander was hit in the vest. He’s ok.

  So Jacoby actually fired on you guys?

  Yep.

  Nothing says ‘I’m guilty’ quite like firing on law enforcement.

  No kidding. I get to sit next to him on the ride back. Good times.

  Can’t wait to hear what he has to say for himself. BTW, Josh is awake and I got to talk to him. He’s confused about why Dustin would’ve taken him or killed his father. I told him about the DNA. The poor guy has a lot to contend with.

  For sure. I’m glad he’s awake anyway.

  Yeah... Tell Malone to call me before he talks to Jacoby. I’ve got more.

  Ok.

  They rode back to the city in silence. Jacoby stared out the window the whole way and didn’t utter a word to any of them, and Freddie fully expected the deputy director wouldn’t willingly say anything to them. Ever.

  * * *

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND why I’m here,” Courtney Hamilton said. “My husband was murdered, and I’m being arrested? I was in Virginia all day Sunday. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “We have some questions for you, and the Feds wouldn’t let us near you,” Jeannie McBride said. “They gave us no choice but to take you into custody.”

  “I spoke to Agent Hill and your chief the other night. I told them what I know.”

  Working from the notes Sam had supplied from her trip to Knoxville, Jeannie said, “You didn’t mention that you and your husband were separated for a time thirty years ago.”

  “What in the world does that have to do with him being murdered?”

  “I’ll get to that. Why did you separate from your husband and take your children home to Virginia while he stayed in Knoxville?”

  “That’s our personal business, and it was thirty years ago. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “We ask the questions, Mrs. Hamilton,” Tyrone said. “You answer them. That’s how this works.”

  “I don’t understand what our temporary separation has to do with Troy’s murder, but I left because we weren’t getting along, and I didn’t think it was good for my children to see us constantly fighting. We needed a breather.”

  “And you were pregnant when you left Knoxville?”

  Judging by the stunned expression on her face, she hadn’t expected that question. “I... No, I wasn’t pregnant.”

  “Your children told our lieutenant that they remember you being pregnant when you moved back to Virginia,” Jeannie said.

  “They’re wrong. They were four and five years old.”

  “They have distinct memories of you being pregnant with their younger brother Josh, but you told my captain and chief the other night that Josh was adopted. Can you explain that discrepancy?”

  “I... Do I need a lawyer?”

  “I don’t know, Mrs. Hamilton, do you?”

  She thought about that for a long moment, long enough that Jeannie began to believe she would lawyer up, effectively ending the conversation until her lawyer arrived. “I... I was pregnant,” she said softly. “I miscarried at six months.”

  “And this was after you left Knoxville?”

  She nodded. “The loss was devastating. Until yesterday, I’d never experienced anything so painful or heartbreaking. Thank goodness my mother was there to care for Mark and Maura because I couldn’t do it. For a long time, I couldn’t do a thing for them.”

  Jeannie waited to see if she would say more, and her patience was rewarded.

  “Troy knew how upset I was to have lost the baby, so when the admin in his office got pregnant out of wedlock he offered to adopt the child.”

  “The administrative assistant in your husband’s Knoxville office was Danielle Koch, is that correct?”

  “Yes, Koch. That was her last name. I’d forgotten it.”

  “Mrs. Koch told our officers this week that she’s never been pregnant. She and her husband were unable to conceive.”

  Courtney’s mouth opened, and her lips twitched. “That... That’s not possible. Josh, he was hers. He was Danielle’s.”

  “He was not Danielle’s child. She’s never given birth.”

  “That’s what she wants people to believe! She was ashamed. You aren’t going to take her word over mine, are you?”

  “Um, yes, Mrs. Hamilton, we are. She would have no reason to lie to us about whether she’d ever given birth to a child.”

  “What reason do I have to lie to you?”

  “I’m not sure, but I do know who actually gave birth to the child you raised as Josh.”

  “Who?”

  “Chauncey and Micki Rollings.”

  “Who are they?”

  Jeannie placed copies of several newspaper articles about Taylor’s abduction on the table in front of Mrs. Hamilton and let them speak for her.

  Courtney scanned the headlines before looking up at her, affecting a perplexed expression. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Troy and Dustin worked that case when they were in Knoxville, but I never met those people.”

  “You raised their son.”

  She recoiled in horror.

  Jeannie couldn’t tell if it was real or faked.

  “You... That... That’s not true! They looked for that baby everywhere for weeks. Troy and everyone in his office put in more than a hundred hours straight working that case. They didn’t sleep or shower or eat. All they did was look for that baby!”

  “Who was never found until this week when an age-progression photo was released to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the abduction.” Jeannie put that photo down in front of Courtney, who blanched at the sight of her son looking up at her. “Your son saw the photo and put two and two together to get the possibility that he might be Taylor Rollings.”

  “What’re you saying?” she asked softly, her lashes glistening with unshed tears.

  “I’m saying that the child who was taken from the Rollings family was raised as Josh Hamilton. We’d like to know how he came to be in your custody.”

  Jeannie watched as the other woman searched the archives of her life, as if looking for an explanation that Jeannie would believe.

  “He... I... I’d like to call my lawyer now, please.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  SAM WAS GETTING ready to leave the hospital to head home when her phone rang. Eager for news about the case, she took the call.

  “Lieutenant Holland, I’m calling on behalf of U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester. He would like to see you in his office today at noon. Are you available?”

  Sam swallowed hard. “Yes, I can do that. Do I need a
lawyer?”

  “That might be a good idea. We’ll see you then.”

  The chipper-sounding woman was gone before Sam could reply. Fuck. She found their lawyer friend Andy Simone’s phone number in her list of contacts and made the call. When your husband is the vice president, receptionists tended to give your call higher priority, which is how she ended up speaking to Andy a minute later.

  “Sam, this is a nice surprise.”

  As he was a close friend of Nick’s, they socialized with Andy and his wife, but Sam didn’t have a regular reason to call him on her own. Not like Harry, who she had on speed dial. “I need a lawyer, Andy.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “The U.S. Attorney would like to see me today at noon to discuss the possible assault charges he’s going to file against me.”

  “Ah crap, so he’s actually going through with that?”

  “Apparently. Are you available?”

  “This isn’t my specialty, but I’ll get someone from my firm and meet you there. Let’s say eleven forty-five in the lobby so we can talk for a minute before the meeting.”

  “Thank you so much. I appreciate this.”

  “It’s no problem. And try not to worry—he’d be crazy to file charges when you and your husband are the most popular couple in America. He’d get run out of office.”

  “I hope you’re right about that.”

  “We’ll do everything we can. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Thanks, Andy.” She checked the time on her phone and saw that she had an hour before she had to meet him, so she went to the hospital cafeteria and choked down some tasteless scrambled eggs and toast. The food made her feel slightly less awful, but the curious stares from the other people in the cafeteria had her taking the weak tea she’d bought out to her car where she sat to kill time before the meeting.

  She thought about calling Nick or her dad or her sisters or Malone or someone who could talk her down off the ledge, but she didn’t call anyone. Rather, she watched the minutes go by on the dashboard clock, trying to remain calm ahead of the meeting.

  Her phone rang and she took the call from Detective Watson in Tennessee. “Holland.”

  “It’s Watson. I’ve just come from the Rollings home.”

  “How’d it go?”

  “There were a lot of tears. It was... It was the coolest thing I’ve ever been part of in all my years on the job. To be able to give them this amazing news... Well, you know, we don’t deliver good news very often.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  “As you can imagine, they’re very interested in seeing him. Mrs. Rollings’s elderly mother lives with them, so they need a day or two to make arrangements.”

  “That’ll give him some time to recover from his injuries before they see him. He’s rather banged up.”

  “I hope you don’t mind that I told them you’re involved in the investigation, and naturally they said they’d like to meet you too and thank you for your help in finding their son.”

  “I didn’t do much of anything. He was the one who made it happen.”

  “Still, I think it’d mean a lot to them to meet you.”

  “I’ll make that happen. Keep me posted on when you’re coming, and I’ll let Josh—or I guess it’s Taylor—know.”

  “How is he coping with everything?”

  “As well as can be expected under the circumstances. It’s a lot to take in.”

  “He’s going to adore Chauncey and Micki. There’s nothing not to love about them. They’re great people.”

  “That’ll make it easier for him, I’m sure.”

  “I’ve taken enough of your time. I’ll call you when I have flight information.”

  “I’ll look forward to hearing from you. I’m really glad you called. This feels like a win for all of us, which is not something I say very often in my line of work.”

  “Trust me, I get it. Talk soon.”

  Sam closed her phone and thought about the parents in Tennessee getting news they’d waited thirty long years to hear. She couldn’t imagine how they must be feeling after learning their son was alive and mostly well after so many years of wondering what’d become of him. The not knowing had to be the purest form of hell on earth for a parent. She hoped she never found out what that was like. The very thought of it made her shudder and reach for her phone to text her son.

  Just saying hi and I love you.

  You’re not supposed to text me in school, but I love you too.

  Sam smiled at the predictable reply that provided an unreasonable amount of comfort in light of her troubling thoughts. He was such a good boy, and they were so blessed to have him in their lives, even when he chastised them.

  At eleven-twenty she left the hospital and drove to the federal building on Fourth Street Northwest. She’d been there often on official business but never on business that involved the possibility of her being brought up on charges. By the time she parked, ran a comb through her hair and applied lipstick to bring some color to her hideously pale face, she had minutes to spare before she was due to meet Andy and his associate.

  She ran up the stairs to the imposing building and nearly ran smack into Detective Ramsey as he emerged from the main doors.

  He wore a thick plaster cast on his arm and a nasty scowl on his face. “Fancy meeting you here, Lieutenant.”

  “Hey, Ramsey, how you doing? Good to see you up and about.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You have a nice day now.”

  “You’re going down, Holland.”

  She waggled her brows at him, talking over her shoulder as she moved past him. “Already did last night. My husband loved it.”

  “Whore.”

  Sam laughed and kept moving. He wasn’t worth her time, but the encounter hadn’t done much for her already-rattled nerves. Andy waited for her in the busy lobby with another man in a suit. Both were consulting their phones when she approached them.

  “Hey,” she said. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Hi, Sam.” Andy leaned in to kiss her cheek. “This is my colleague, Kurt Hager. He works on the criminal side of the house and is better versed in these sorts of things than I am.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” Kurt said as he shook her hand. “And an honor to be of assistance.”

  “We’ll see if you’re still saying that in an hour,” Sam said in a dry tone that made them laugh. “Listen, here’s the deal, I laid the guy out. He said something extremely shitty to me, and I let him have it. The blow knocked him down the stairs, and he suffered a concussion and broken wrist. I just ran into him outside, and he’s still pissed. If he’s been here, clearly he’s putting the pressure on the USA to charge me.”

  “What did he say?” Kurt asked.

  Sam sighed, hating to relive anything having to do with the hideous incident with Stahl that had led to her current predicament. “He asked me if I’d had a nice vacation after I came back from the thing with Stahl. I told him to fuck off and he said he was sorry that Stahl hadn’t taken the starch out of me, or something equally offensive. I didn’t think. I just acted. I punched him and I walked away. Next thing I knew I heard he was in the hospital.”

  “Well,” Kurt said, “it’s definitely an assault but with extenuating circumstances. Let’s see what the USA has to say.”

  They took the elevator to Forrester’s office, where Sam was given VIP treatment, right down to the offer of a beverage.

  “I’d love some water, please,” she said since they were offering.

  Andy and Kurt settled on coffee, which they enjoyed while they waited for Forrester to join them. He came in a short time later, moving swiftly into the room. Tall with silver hair and shrewd blue eyes, he projected an air of confidence that Sam appreciated when they were on the same
side of a case. Today his confidence only added to her nerves.

  “Lieutenant,” he said, shaking her hand when she stood to greet him.

  “Good to see you, Tom.”

  “Likewise,” he said, his New York accent coming through loud and clear in the single word.

  “This is Andy Simone and Kurt Hager, my attorneys.”

  He shook hands with both of them. “Pleasure.” Forrester took the fourth seat in the grouping of chairs and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Heck of a bind you’ve put me in, Sam.”

  “I realize that.”

  “Your colleague is pissed, and rightfully so.”

  “I understand.”

  “I assume you’re aware of the circumstances under which Detective Ramsey was assaulted,” Kurt said.

  “I am,” Forrester replied, “and his choice of words was indeed unfortunate.”

  “Unfortunate,” Sam said with an ironic laugh. “That’s one way of putting it.”

  Forrester put down the coffee and leaned toward her, elbows on knees, colleague to colleague, or so he wanted her to think. “Look, I’m in a really tough spot on this one, Sam. I’ll be honest with you. The only reason my office hasn’t already filed charges is because of who your husband is and because the president himself has asked me not to.”

  “Don’t let that stop you,” Sam said, earning scowls from Andy and Kurt. “Seriously, if you feel you have a case, charge me. If you don’t, then don’t. But don’t base your decision-making on who I’m married to. Neither of us would appreciate that kind of special treatment.”

  “I get where you’re coming from, and I respect that you’re not asking for special treatment when most people in your position would.” He paused and looked directly at her. “I’m not entirely sure I can successfully prosecute these charges, Lieutenant, so I’ll be taking the case to the grand jury. I’ll let the people decide.”

  “Oh, well...” As Andy and Kurt exchanged smiles, she realized Forrester had found a way out of pressing charges, and Andy and Kurt had figured that out before she did. He was counting on her popularity—and Nick’s—to get them both out of the bind they were in.

  “It’ll take a couple of months, but as soon as I know whether there’ll be an indictment, I’ll let you know.”