Page 179 of Forever Dead

“Who would have come during the night? A few people with flashlights. By morning there were neighbors awake. People going to work.”

“You wanted an audience.”

“I wanted her found.”

“Why Linwood?”

“A public telephone away from where I live. I wasn’t going to use my own.”

Selena remembered the time Cheryl had established. Seven forty-three. Even the discovery had been something he arranged.

“You found the property dispute.”

“It wasn’t difficult, Raven. Court records are public records.”

“And then you chose the Tully farmhouse because the Cutlers used to own that, too.”

Foss’s smile widened slightly.

“You wanted us investigating Ray.”

“I wanted to see what you would do with the information. It amuses me.”

“So, Patricia was killed there to create a connection that didn’t exist.”

“The connection existed. That was the beauty of it. I didn’t invent anything. The Cutlers had owned both properties. Ray Cutler had fought over both of them. He had spent years telling people that land had been stolen from his family.”

“You just arranged things so we’d find it.”

“I gave you a path. You chose to follow it.”

Selena remembered the deeds pinned between Eleanor and Patricia, and how certain she had sounded when she explained the connection. Eleanor’s house had made the theory feel personal and intelligible. A grievance over that house was something she could pursue. She had wanted it to explain why Eleanor was dead.

The records had been genuine. Her mistake was the weight she had given them. She had pressed the theory while other questions remained unanswered, helping direct time and attention toward the man Foss wanted them to investigate. Finding a real connection had not made her interpretation of it right.

“You were watching the investigation.”

“Of course. Very entertaining! And I was thrilled when irony of irony, that idiot Blethan recommended me to help.”

“That’s why the second location had to be Tully.”

“I thought it was an elegant touch.”

“How did you find Patricia?”

“She advertised,” he said.

“Her private nursing work?”

“Yes. An email address, a list of services. People make themselves very easy to contact.” He smiled.

“There was no former patient recommending her,” Selena said, almost to herself.

"I needed a reason for choosing her. She accepted it. People are so trusting when the world is fraught with danger, Agent Raven."

“She asked you for fifteen thousand.”

“I offered ten. She raised her price.”