“Gus can handle himself,” Sam said. I was right on his heels as we went down the hallway and up one floor to Sam’s office. We only made it a few steps out of the stairwell before Ellie Luke’s lookalike sister nearly ran into me.
It really was uncanny, the resemblance. Erin had those same ice-blue eyes. The same shape to her mouth. Even after all these years, she wore her hair in the same style as her sister had, cut just to the shoulders and parted down the middle.
“Mrs. Simmons,” I said. She looked past me, her face red.
“Where is he? Where did you take Jamie?”
“Mrs. Simmons,” Sam said. “Why don’t we go talk in my office?”
He put a light hand on her shoulder. She jerked away.
“I know what you’re doing. I know what my daughter’s done. This is insane. I’m calling a lawyer. I’m calling a whole team of them.”
We were drawing a crowd. A few deputies turned to see what the commotion was all about.
“Please,” I said. “My name is Mara Brent. I work for the prosecutor’s office …”
“I know exactly who you are. Hayden told me. You’ve poisoned my daughter’s brain.”
“What? I haven’t,” I said.
“My daughter is disturbed. That’s what you need to know. She’s sick. She has no idea what she’s stirring up. She didn’t even know my sister. She’s become obsessed. It’s morbid. She needs help.”
“Mrs. Simmons, please,” Sam said, trying once more to guide her out of the hallway.
She pushed back.
“Don’t you dare touch me. I want my husband. He’s done talking to you. Any of you. I’ll sue the county. I should have done that years ago. You do not have my permission to speak to my daughter outside of my presence. Do you understand that?”
“Mrs. Simmons,” I said. “Your daughter is over eighteen.”
“She’s a kid! A disturbed, confused kid. I’ll get a court order if I have to. But this ends today!”
The stairwell doorway opened behind me. By the reaction on Erin Simmons’s face, I didn’t have to turn to know who just stepped out.
“Jamie!” Erin ran past me and flew into her husband’s waiting arms.
“It’s okay,” he said, comforting his wife.
“Take me home,” she said.
Gus stepped off the elevator in front of us. He frowned as he saw Mr. and Mrs. Simmons behind me.
“You!” Erin screamed, pointing to Gus. “I don’t want that man anywhere near me. It was you, wasn’t it? You planted all that stuff. You told my daughter what to say.”
“Erin,” Jamie said, his tone filled with alarm. “Honey, let’s go. Don’t say another word. Not here.”
He put his arm around his wife and led her back into the stairwell.
“Mr. Simmons.” Gus stepped forward. He stuck his foot in the stairwell door, blocking it from closing. He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his jacket, having grabbed it before coming back upstairs.
“Get away from us!” Erin shouted.
Gus handed the paper to Jamie Simmons. Simmons’s eyes darted over it. I already knew what it was. Gus had secured the search warrant for Jamie Simmons’s house, car, phone, and computer.
“I’m sending deputies over to your house as we speak,” Gus said. “You can be present, but we’re searching the house.”
“You can’t do that!” Erin said. “My God. Jamie, tell them they can’t do that! This is insanity. They’re treating you like some kind of criminal!”
