Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

wouldn’t have known what to look for on a fake document.’
    Joseph didn’t think that Daphne had ever been just a child. ‘You could be right. But that would mean Agent Baker was involved. Again, assuming Agent Baker exists.’ Joseph checked his email. He’d only asked Bo’s help in speeding things up a short time ago, but miracles did happen, even in the world of FBI.
    ‘Who else knew about Beckett, Joseph? You said Maggie knew. How?’
    ‘Maggie knew about Beckett, but not his name. Maggie did therapy with Daphne, letting her take care of the horses.’ Then Joseph went still as he heard Daphne’s voice in his head.
    I’d whisper my secrets in her ear . Daphne had told Lulu the horse all about her agony. And then Maggie’s voice. She did what she always does when she’s upset . She went to the barn . Had a fifteen-year-old Daphne whispered her troubles to one of the Elkharts’ horses? And who had overheard?
    ‘Shit,’ he muttered. ‘Daphne still takes care of the horses when she’s upset. She said she whispered her troubles in their ears. The Elkharts have a stable on the grounds.’ He knew this because Maggie had told him that Scott Cooper had been the Elkhart’s groom before he’d started his own business coaching kids to jump.
    ‘If Travis had a PI following her, he could have overheard Maggie tell her story, maybe even say Beckett’s name.’
    ‘Or Scott Cooper could have overheard. He lost his business because Travis accused Daphne of having an affair with him.’ He told Grayson the story Maggie had told him that morning. ‘His wife left him and he had nothing. Had to depend on Daphne until he got his business back up and running.’
    ‘Could make a guy resentful,’ Grayson said. ‘You want me to check him out?’
    ‘If you would. Also check out Elkhart’s ex-head of security, Hal Lynch. He was there from the beginning, from the night she met the prick. If someone hired a PI for a background check, it probably went through him.’
    ‘You met him, too?’
    ‘Yes,’ Joseph said. ‘But neither of those guys are Doug. Doug’s twenty-nine. Cooper’s a good fifty and Hal’s pushing sixty.’
    ‘And Doug would have only been a kid himself when Daphne requested that death certificate. Nine years old.’
    Joseph thought hard, abruptly ceasing his pacing. ‘Cooper has a son. He said the son could help him move Daphne’s horses to a barn on his property.’
    ‘Cooper’s got property up by Daphne’s farm? That is pricey real estate. Starts in the six figures and goes up fast. I thought you said he had nothing.’
    ‘That’s what Maggie said.’ A dark suspicion crossed Joseph’s mind and he shook it away. ‘I don’t want to believe Maggie would be involved in anything to hurt Daphne, but almost everything I know came from her.’
    ‘I can check her out, too, if you want. But we know she’s not Doug.’
    ‘True. And she could have harmed Daphne long ago if she’d really wanted to. Damn. I’m so twisted up in my mind that I’m suspecting sweet old ladies. It’s making me crazy, knowing Doug’s out there, gunning for Daphne, and I don’t even have his face. And not even his whole name.’
    ‘He’s careful. He hasn’t left a print anywhere so far.’
    ‘He leaves prints,’ Joseph grumbled. ‘Just not where we know to look for them.’
    Grayson yawned. ‘Go get some sleep, Joseph. You’ll be able to think better when you’re rested. I’m at Zacharias’s house and it looks like this wake is breaking up. I’m going in to get Paige and go home and practice what I preach.’
    ‘I can’t sleep yet. I’ve got to let the locals know what I found on Beckett. Thanks, Gray. I appreciate it.’
    ‘You know you can call me at any time. I’m always there for you. And Daphne. She’s a good woman, Joseph. Makes damn good muffins.’
    Joseph thought about her muffins. ‘Yeah, I know.’
    ‘And, ah, we’re probably not talking the same kind of muffins.’
    Joseph laughed. ‘We’d better not be. I wouldn’t need to kick your ass. Paige would have it all pre-kicked for me.’
    He hung up and crept into Daphne’s room to get his briefcase. Once there, he couldn’t resist the urge to stand at her bedside and watch her, just for a moment. Or two. She slept deeply, her brow uncreased. She wasn’t dreaming, for now.
    He made sure she was covered up and crept back into his own room, closing the adjoining door behind him, even though he really wanted to climb under