Allison Brennan - Cutting Edge

“And you think that this April adopted your mother’s child?”

Nora nodded, wiping away the tears. She took a deep breath. She had to do this. She had to face the truth. “Fifty-nine-I don’t know how old she was, but my mother is fifty-seven. When Dr. Vigo said that the killer was pulling out only my old cases, those were cases my mother might have known about. At least the first two. I was an informant at Diablo Canyon. That’s where her boyfriend was killed, where she was arrested.” Her boyfriend, Cameron Lovitz. The father of Lorraine’s child, the father of Nora’s half sister.

The father of Maggie O’Dell. And he was a psychopath, just like her.

“The second case she mentioned in the letter I worked as an informant against Lorraine’s friends. They were planning to set oil wells in Kern County on fire.”

Nora looked at Duke. “That was twenty years ago. Maggie O’Dell is nearly twenty now. April came to my mother’s hearings, I saw her several times, and I never saw her pregnant.”

“It should be easy enough to find out,” Duke said.

“I know I’m right.”

“We need confirmation.”

Duke was right, they had to confirm the facts, but Nora knew in her heart and soul that Maggie was the daughter of Lorraine and Cameron. Her life was being ripped apart and trampled. She’d have to tell Quin, and that hurt just as much. But the truth would get out as soon as Maggie O’Dell was caught, and Nora didn’t want Quin hearing about it from anyone but her.

Nora would find Maggie O’Dell and stop her.

“My past-it’s coming back. I thought it was over, but now-” She didn’t finish. What could she say? “I’m sorry.”

Duke grabbed her by the arms and gave her a firm shake. “You had nothing to do with this. Nothing! Don’t even think for a minute that just because you share blood with someone that it means you’re guilty.”

He pulled her into a tight hug. She accepted his embrace, needed it. Needed him.

“You call your contacts, I’ll call mine,” Duke said, talking over her head. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, Nora. I promise.”

Once again, having Dean Hooper as her ASAC ratcheted up everyone’s response time to Nora’s requests. Warden Jeff Greene called her less than ten minutes after she had explained the situation to her boss.

“How can I help, Agent English?” the Warden asked.

“You have a female prisoner, a lifer, Lorraine Wright. She was convicted of domestic terrorism which resulted in the death of a federal agent.”

“Assistant Director Hooper filled me in on the basics.”

Assistant Director? She didn’t correct the warden. “I need to know if Maggie or Margaret O’Dell has visited Wright in the last two years, or perhaps even before that. Do you have that information?”

“All prisoner visits are logged into the computer. We go back fifteen years electronically. Anything older than that is on hard copy.”

“Going back fifteen years should be fine.”

“I can fax you the list of Wright’s visitors, if you’d like.”

“Thank you.” She gave him her fax number. “Is it possible you could tell me right now if O’Dell was a visitor?”

“Yes, she’s been visiting monthly as far back as we have. She’s listed as next of kin. You know that O’Dell is Ms. Wright’s daughter?”

Though Nora had thought as much, the confirmation still took the wind out of her. “Yes,” she said, her voice low. “When was O’Dell’s last visit?”

“September ninth.”

Less than three weeks ago.

“Thank you. I’ll wait for the fax.”

“Agent Hooper said that this may involve a federal crime?”

“O’Dell is wanted for questioning in an act of domestic terrorism that resulted in a death.” Nora didn’t feel a need to share all the details.

“I’ll flag her name,” he said. “If she shows up to visit her mother, I’ll detain her.”

“I appreciate it. Thanks, Warden.”

She hung up. Duke asked, “And?”

“She’s a regular visitor. Her daughter.” Before she could say anything else, Hooper walked in with a fax. At first, she was amazed at Warden Greene’s speedy response; then she saw the fax wasn’t from Victorville.

“What’s this?”

“A copy of Margaret O’Dell’s adoption records. It was an open adoption; the files aren’t sealed. Under the terms, the adoptees, David O’Dell and April Plummer, agreed to bring the child to visit Lorraine Wright at least one day each month until her eighteenth birthday.”

Nora skimmed through the documents. They confirmed Hooper’s summary. She saw who’d signed the documents. “This isn’t the judge for her trial. He told me she gave the baby up for adoption.”

Duke leaned over and looked at the name. He typed it into his laptop computer. A moment later he said, “Newman is a family court judge.”

“But don’t they talk to each other?”

Hooper said, “Family court would be county. Wright was tried in federal court. They’re not in the same building, and rarely have cause to interact.”

“Why didn’t they tell me? I assumed they wouldn’t let that woman anywhere near a child, after-” Nora cut herself off. The system always tried to keep children with their parents, even criminals. She just didn’t know that twenty years ago.

Duke asked gently, “Nora, what would you have done about it had you known? Tried to get custody? A seventeen-year-old without a high school diploma or job?”

Nora looked at Duke, stunned that he would throw that out at her. It didn’t matter that it was true-she’d never have gotten custody in those circumstances-but it hurt that he’d publicly brought out something she’d told him in private.

“I would have petitioned the court to deny the open adoption,” she said. “Obviously, Lorraine isn’t fit to be an influence on a child. Look at how Maggie turned out.”

“You don’t know that Lorraine-”

“You don’t know her, you didn’t grow up with her.” She jumped up and paced. She was humiliated in front of her boss, embarrassed at her outburst, distraught over what she’d just learned.

Hooper changed the subject. “There’s more. Donovan’s team can’t locate Scott Edwards’s truck. We’re operating under the assumption that O’Dell has possession of it and have put out an APB on both the vehicle and O’Dell.”

He stood and walked to the door. “I’d tell you to take the rest of the day off, but you won’t, so I’ll just admonish you to be alert and let me know if you need additional assistance.”

“I appreciate it,” she said, and meant it.

Hooper walked out, and Duke said, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Nora.”

“You used my past against me.”

“I didn’t.”

“That’s not how it sounded.”

He stood and walked across the room to her. “You would have seen the truth if you weren’t so upset. You were lied to, and that hurts. But you couldn’t have changed it then, and you can’t change the past now. All you can do is focus on finding the girl.”

“She’s my sister.” Nora could barely get out the words.

“You want Hooper to assign someone else?”

She shook her head. “He probably should. I’m too close to this.”

“That’s your greatest asset as well as your greatest weakness. You understand how Lorraine thinks, and therefore you understand how Maggie O’Dell thinks. No one else has those instincts. But you can’t think of Maggie O’Dell as your sister. She’s nothing like you.”

“She doesn’t think like Lorraine,” Nora said. “She thinks like her father. Cameron Lovitz. He was a psychopath-methodical and organized.”