Page 346 of A Matter of Time

“Why? I don’t think they have anything to do with me.”

“They do in that you are the intended victim, but don’t, as the violence is not actually directed at you.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Well, actually, this whole thing, the murders, the kidnapping…we believe that all of this has less to do with you and more to do with your brother, Mr. Harcourt.”

“What?” Dane snapped at him, leaning forward, his hands folded on the table.

“How? Why?” I pressed.

“Whoever this person is, he wants what your brother has. He wants to hurt Mr. Harcourt, and he can accomplish that by striking at the people Mr. Harcourt loves. The perpetrator was specifically targeting you because, initially, you were the most important person in Dane Harcourt’s life.”

“But not anymore.”

“No. Now there’s Mrs. Harcourt as well.”

I shivered. “And Caleb.”

Detective Moore scowled at me but said yes.

“Why do you look like that?”

“Right this second, we’re not really sure how Caleb Reid fits into all of this. You fit, Mrs. Harcourt fits, and if Mr. Harcourt’s friends had been targets, which they haven’t, they would fit, but we’re uncertain about Mr. Reid. It raises questions about how well this person really knows Dane Harcourt.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, Mr. Reid is Mr. Harcourt’s brother, but they’re not close.”

“No, we’re not,” Dane agreed.

“And who knows that, Jory?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Who knows that Mr. Reid is related to Mr. Harcourt but is not privy to the extent of their relationship?”

“I’m thinking not that many people.”

“Exactly. Only someone in Mr. Harcourt’s inner circle would be aware of the relationship, or lack thereof.”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “So technically we would be looking for someone that knows Mr. Harcourt only superficially. He knows the people your brother knows, knows names, but nothing more.”

“So you’re thinking, what, that the kidnappers know an acquaintance of Dane’s?”

“Yes,” he agreed, rubbing his forehead. “But that’s a lot of people. Mr. Harcourt’s close friends and family were easy enough to go through and eliminate as suspects. The wider pool of individuals will take much longer.”

“So why do you think Caleb was taken with Jory?” Sam asked. “Do you have a theory?”

“We think Mr. Reid got taken by mistake.” Agent Wright chimed in. “Or because it was easy… We’re not sure what went on there. We’re going through what Mr. Reid remembers, trying to piece something together.”

I returned my gaze to Detective Moore. “I don’t know about your theory.” I stared into his eyes. “What are you basing any of this on? It sounds really far-fetched, like a⁠—”

“In talking to Mr. Reid, and putting together the timeline, we now know that the first victim, Trey Hart, was murdered—the one in your old apartment, right after he first met you, Jory—when he first saw you and Mr. Harcourt together.”

I waited and tried to breathe. Instantly, I was creeped out. Dane put his arm around me and leaned me close to him.