“Dr. Shaw.”

Macy and Nevada exchanged glances, but neither spoke in front of the boy. “Matt, what did your mother say to you?” Nevada asked.

“Just said she’d be here to drive me to school.” He glanced at his grandmother and then, dropping his gaze, said, “She was annoyed Grandma wasn’t here.”

Sandra shook her head. “I’m so sorry, pal.”

“What happened next?” Macy asked carefully.

“She came back upstairs and kissed me good night.” He shook his head. “I barely remember her. I was so tired.”

It was quiet for a moment as they all processed the situation.

“What if someone hurt her?” Matt asked.

“No one has hurt your mom,” Sandra said.

Nevada glanced toward Matt’s scraped knuckles. “Your mom is a smart deputy. What happened to your hands?”

The boy put his hands into his pockets. “It was a fight.”

“With whom?”

“Tyler Wyatt. He said some bad things about my mom.”

Nevada laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What kind of things?”

His face flushed red. “Like how her cherry got popped at the Wyatt barn.”

“How would he know that?”

“I guess his brother told him. I don’t know for sure.” Matt lifted his gaze to Nevada’s. “I thought he and the other guys invited me to the barn because they liked me. But they just wanted to screw with me.”

“You don’t look so bad. What kind of shape is Tyler in?”

“I don’t know. But I got in a few good licks before he and the others ran off. Are you going to arrest me?”

Nevada patted his hand on the boy’s arm. “No. Let me talk to your grandmother. Mind waiting for us a few more minutes?”

“Sure. Whatever you say.”

Nevada and Macy walked into the living room with Sandra. “What can you tell us about Dr. Shaw?”

“He’s always been nice to me. The patients love him.”

“How does he get along with the staff?” Macy asked.

“Fine. He’s done a lot for the facility. Because of him, the new addition got built.”

“That’s the Adele Jenner Wyatt wing.”

“Yes, it’s state of the art. It’s been great.”

“I assume the money came from Kevin Wyatt.”

“Yes, he’s a big benefactor of the facility since his grandmother stayed with us.”

“You ever see Dr. Shaw with Beth Watson?” Macy asked.

“No more than usual.”

“Did he seem to show any special interest in her or any other woman?”

“Not that I noticed. Are you suggesting Dr. Shaw would hurt a woman?”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Macy said.

Nevada dialed Bruce’s number. The call went to voicemail. He left his name and number and asked for a callback. “Sandra, is there somewhere else you and Matt can stay?”

“I don’t want to leave,” Sandra said. “What if Brooke comes back?”

“I’ll keep a deputy posted here. But it’ll help me to know you and Matt are safe.”

“Matt and I can go to Mr. Greene’s.” She looked up at Nevada, almost apologetic. “He’s always looked out for Brooke, Matt, and me.”

“That’s a great idea,” Nevada said. “Mr. Greene will be the first person I call when I find Brooke.”

Matt appeared at the doorway. “I don’t want to go.”

“We’ll find your mom faster if we’re not worried about you,” Macy said.

“Get your things, Matt,” Nevada said. “I’ll have Deputy Sullivan drive you and your grandmother there.”

When the boy vanished into the house, Nevada asked Sandra, “Are there any security cameras on the property?”

“We talked about installing them but have never gotten around to it. They’re expensive,” she said.

“Has anyone made threats against your daughter?” Macy asked.

“There was a guy a couple of weeks ago. He called the house a few times, but she hung up on him.”

“Who was it?”

“She tried to brush it off and say it was a telemarketer. But I didn’t believe her. But when I pressed, she refused to answer.”

“Do you have the number?” Nevada asked.

“It’s on her cell, I suppose.”

Nevada scrolled through the numbers. There had to be over one hundred calls. He checked the texts. He spotted the ones from Stuart. “Was your daughter talking to the media?”

Sandra nodded. “Last summer. She was so mad about those untested DNA kits. Mr. Greene wouldn’t listen to reason no matter how much she pleaded with him.”

“So she leaked it to the press?” Nevada asked.

“But she’s not given them anything since,” Sandra said. “She just wanted those kits tested.”

“Was your daughter raped in high school?” Macy asked.

Nevada’s jaw tightened as he looked at Macy. The question caught him off guard. In all his dealings with Bennett, she’d never once let on that she had been raped.

“Why would you ask a question like that?” Sandra asked.

“That’s not an answer to my question.” And then in a softer tone, Macy said, “I’m on Brooke’s side. I’m trying to help her.”

Sandra’s face crumpled with sadness. “Yes.”

“Is that when she became pregnant?” Macy asked.

“Yes. But she hid it from me for months. She was nearly six months pregnant when I found out.”

Nevada calculated back to when Bennett would have gotten pregnant with Matt. Could Matt’s biological father be the rapist they were chasing? “Does she know who assaulted her?”

“No. She was unconscious for most of it,” Sandra said.

Nevada was irritated with himself for not picking up on the signs Macy had seen. He was also frustrated with Bennett because she’d not confided in him.

Matt came out the front door with his backpack slung over his shoulder. As Sullivan stepped forward, Macy asked Nevada, “Do you mind if I drive them?”

Nevada studied her a moment and then handed his keys to her. “Sure.”

She smiled at the boy. “Matt, I’m Agent Crow. I’ll run you and your grandmother over to Mr. Greene’s.”

He tightened his grip on the strap of his pack and walked toward her. Nevada patted him on the back and told him it would all be fine. Sandra grabbed her purse, and she and Matt climbed into Nevada’s vehicle.

Macy slid behind the wheel, adjusted the seat and mirrors. “Nevada’s a tad taller than me,” she said, trying to put him at ease.

Matt hooked his seat belt. “You don’t look like FBI.”

“I’ve heard that a few times lately.” She started the engine and pulled away from the scene.

“Do you really think my mom is going to be okay?” Matt asked.

“As long as Nevada and I have a say in it, Matt.”

He tightened his grip on the armrest and stared ahead. His lips were tight and he blinked back tears. “She loves her job.”

“I know she does.” She handed him her phone so he could read out directions. “Which way to Mr. Greene’s?”

“Get on I-81 south,” Matt said.

“I can do that.”

The silence was broken only by more directions from the boy, which had them arriving at Mr. Greene’s house a half hour later. She parked, and he got out with his grandmother.

“My daughter is worried that she’s not good enough for the new work promotion,” Sandra said.

“She said that?” Macy asked.

“To me,” Sandra said.

“She’s very good, but I’ve worked these kinds of cases longer.” She looked at them both. “I’m not the bad guy here. I want to help.”

“We know that.” Sandra laid her hand on her grandson’s shoulder.

“Matt, think back to when your mom was in your room. What did she say?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Close your eyes. Tell me what you remember.”

“That’s weird,” he said.

“Humor me. You saw your mom downstairs and then got into bed. Did you fall asleep quickly?”

The boy closed his eyes. “Yeah. I was beat. But I could hear her pacing downstairs.”

“And then she came to your room?”

“Yeah.”

The boy closed his eyes again. “I was in bed asleep. The clock in the hallway was ticking.”

“Your mom must have said something to you? Or did she kiss you on the cheek maybe?”

He opened his eyes. “She said something about ancestry.”

“Ancestry?”

“She rubbed the inside of my cheek.”

“With a cotton swab?”

“Yeah. I guess that’s what it was.”

Macy exchanged glances with Sandra and then said, “Wait right here.” She opened the back of the vehicle, rummaged through Nevada’s very neat boxes, and found what she was looking for. She held up a buccal swab. “Did it look like this?”

“I guess.”

Macy pulled on gloves and unfastened the sealed top. “Did she ask you to open wide?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Can I take a swab?” Macy asked.

Sandra frowned. “Why?”

Both Bennett and Sandra were afraid that a monster had fathered the child they loved so now. “It could help find Brooke.”

Sandra nodded and Matt opened his mouth. Macy quickly ran the cotton tip along the inside of his cheek and secured it back in the vial.

“What’s that all about?” Matt asked.

“It’s something I need to check on for your mom.”

Mr. Greene stepped out on his porch, and Matt ran to him and hugged him close. The former sheriff whispered something in his ear, and the boy nodded and then buried his face in the man’s chest. Finally, the boy pulled back and wiped a tear away with his hand.