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Sam flinched. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah. Looking at the date stamps on the videos on Driscoll’s laptop, it appears that Driscoll saw Dr.Scott making advances toward Rochelle in his office. She was a troubled girl and had spent time in juvie. She was receptive to his advances and I guess Driscoll was titillated. The recordings in Scott’s living room started a few days after that appointment, and that’s when Driscoll saw him murder Rochelle.”
Sam looked shaken. “Which was what Colton meant when he told his third wife that he ‘knew things’ about his therapist.”
“Yes. Dr.Scott dropped Driscoll as a client a few days after that, which matches up with when he could no longer pay. I dug into Driscoll’s finances from five years ago and found he’d bounced two checks to Dr.Scott. We only looked at three years of Driscoll’s finances when we first started digging. If we’d gone deeper then, we would have seen the connection to Dr.Scott a lot earlier.” And maybe saved Skyler’s life, at least. But that train of thought was unhealthy.
She’d still think it, though, because it was true.
Sam drew a breath, regaining his composure. “How did he know to frame me?”
“The videos on Driscoll’s laptop show that Scott was actively searching for cameras in his apartment starting the day after you first called me.” She exhaled. “Navarro was so hopeful that we’d had a break on the serial killer case when we found Jaelyn Watts’s body, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He made an appointment with his therapist.”
Sam’s face darkened. “Dr.Scott.”
“Yes. So Scott knew that someone had seen him burying Jaelyn. I think he thought that he’d been followed to the grave site. But he’s also paranoid, so he started checking his house for cameras and listening devices. Driscoll’s cameras caught Scott doing this. CSU found that footage saved to Driscoll’s laptop, too. But Scott had security cameras, as well, and he caught Driscoll lurking outside his living room windows Friday evening.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would Colton go to Scott’s house if he knew that Scott had found his cameras?”
Kit sighed. “Because he saw something in Scott’s living room that he couldn’t resist.”
Sam’s shoulders slumped. “The victim between Cecilia Sheppard and Skyler?”
He was sharp. “Yes.”
“Because the scam happened this past February, so his scholarship lure didn’t work. How did he lure this girl?”
“He had photos of her in a school play. And texts from his phone telling her that he was an agent and asking her to meet him. She did.”
“Her family didn’t know?”
“Another foster kid. His browser history showed that he researched his victims very well before approaching them.”
Sadness filled Sam’s green eyes. “He knew how to pick them, and I guess Colton was addicted to watching Scott kill. Is that why Scott wore a mask when he got to Colton’s house the day he killed him? He expected more cameras?”
“That was our guess. Like I said, Scott’s not talking. But I got sidetracked. You asked how Scott knew about you. We think that Driscoll told him. Scott’s camera shows him holding a gun to Driscoll’s head when he caught him lurking outside. Scott’s browser history shows that he looked you up late Friday night—before he killed Driscoll—and he started cyberstalking you. Your Facebook post from Joshua Tree was a gift.”
“How did he know that I knew Skyler?”
“She tagged Siggy on her Instagram. He’s smart, Sam. He did a search on your dog, on your parents, on Joel. On Dr.Carlisle and her family. Even on Laura Letterman. Anyone who was important to you. He saw Siggy’s name, googled Skyler, and saw that she had a dog-walking business and that she lived in your building. She’d tagged you a few times over the years. Usually thanking you for helping her set up her business or helping her with her college applications.”
“What about Rita? How did he know I’d met her?”
“He’d bugged his office. He was recording everything we said, and his bugs could pick up cell phone calls. Pop called me when I was in Scott’s office and told me you were having apple pie with Rita. Scott figured he’d frame you for her murder, too. That’s why he had your car stolen. We think he’d planned to continue the murders and use the RAV4 he bought to frame you for them.”
“Why not just use my RAV4?”
“I think he was afraid it’d be tracked. Your car’s been located, by the way. A few pieces of it, anyway. It was at a chop shop and the owners were quick to ID the guy who sold it to them.”
“The guy in the hoodie who stole it from Joel’s driveway?”
“Yes. He said a guy with gray hair and glasses in a black Mercedes gave him three hundred dollars to steal the RAV4 and get rid of it. He’s lucky, actually. He’s still alive. The body of the boy who found Skyler was discovered in an abandoned warehouse yesterday.”
“Shit,” he whispered.
“I know.” The boy hadn’t known he was making a deal with the devil. “How are Skyler’s parents?”
“Grieving. But they told me that they never believed I had anything to do with her death. Still, it was kind of you to visit them and tell them in person that I wasn’t involved.”
