Chapter Five
Malone looked over at her. “Did you know that?”
Sam kept her eyes on the road even as her heart leaped into her throat. “Yep.”
“Jesus, Sam.”
“Yep.”
“That’s all you got?”
“Yep.”
Laughing, he shook his head. “Is Nick freaking out?”
“I don’t think so, at least not that he’s said to me. We’re in a deep state of denial that this is happening again.”
“People are going to be infuriated by this. Everyone loves her.”
“I know. She’s a lovely lady who deserved better from her husband of forty-something years.”
“Indeed she did. What possesses a guy in his position to take such a gamble?”
“I’d imagine the power goes to their head, and they think they won’t get caught.”
“The power goes to their head all right, just not the one on their neck.”
Sam sputtered with laughter. “Captain!”
“Oh, sorry. Should I not have put it that way?”
“Nah, you’re fine. It was funny coming from you.”
“I’m not always the prim and proper professional you encounter at work, you know.”
“I had no idea!” Of course she knew the off-duty side of him, as he’d been one of her father’s closest friends.
“Sure, you didn’t. I can’t get over this thing with Nelson. He’s the most scrutinized human being on the planet, and he can’t keep it in his pants while his wife is being treated for cancer?”
“Apparently not.” Sam’s stomach had turned when he referred to “the most scrutinized human being on the planet.” Dear God, that could be her husband before long if this went bad for Nelson. And it was already pretty damned bad.
“Did he think he’d get away with it?”
“He might’ve if the affair hadn’t become public.”
Malone sighed. “What a sordid mess.”
“I’d like to know how it became public.”
“You and me both.”
Following Malone’s directions, Sam pulled into Conklin’s condo and parked her black BMW in one of the designated visitor spots. “So tell me what to expect with Mrs. Conklin. I take it she wasn’t thrilled to hear we wanted to see her?”
“Correct. I had to talk her into seeing us. She said she’s already told us everything she knows.”
Sam looked over at him and found him staring at Conklin’s front door as a muscle in his cheek pulsed with tension. “You believe her?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Sam reached for the door handle. “Let’s go see what she has to say.”
“Sam.”
She paused and looked back at him.
“She particularly didn’t want to see you.”
“Gee, could it be because her husband held back info and evidence that could’ve helped me solve my father’s case years ago?”
“Something like that.”
“How’s that my fault?”
“It’s not.”
“If she’s uncomfortable about seeing me, that’s too damned bad.
She’s lucky she’s not locked up with her scumbag husband.
” Conklin had given up his coconspirators in exchange for his wife not being charged as an accessory.
Sam’s phone rang, and when she saw Darren Tabor’s name on the screen, she ignored the call. “Let’s get this over with.”
They got out of the car and walked to Conklin’s unit, which was one of four three-story townhouses in one of several similar buildings.
His was white with black shutters and a black front door.
Sam had never been there before and hadn’t known what to expect.
The place was nice, if you liked living in a complex where every house looked more or less the same.
While Sam hung back, Malone went ahead of her up the stairs and rang the bell.
A woman with blond shoulder-length hair came to the door.
She was younger than Sam would’ve expected and only the dark circles under her eyes gave away the ordeal she’d been through in recent weeks.
As far as Sam was concerned, she deserved those dark circles and every other negative thing that came her way.
She’d had Skip’s missing messenger bag in her possession and never thought to ask her husband what was in the bag or who it belonged to.
Why hadn’t she asked?
That was one of many questions Sam had for her.
“Come in.” The woman held the door for Malone and then led him and Sam inside a beautifully decorated space.
Sam wanted to hate everything about this house, but she couldn’t help but admire it. Had they hired a professional decorator with the money Conklin had made gambling while he was protecting her father’s killers? Another question to add to the growing list.
“Kaitlyn Conklin, this is Sam Holland,” Malone said.
“I’d say it was a pleasure to meet you,” Sam said, “but under the circumstances that’d be inappropriate.”
Kaitlyn glanced at Malone, probably hoping he would do something about Sam.
To his credit, he only said, “Can we sit?”
She nodded and took the seat located the farthest from where Sam sat.
Coward. Sam wished she’d brought her rusty steak knife to work today.
She hadn’t known she might need it when she left the house that morning.
The foolish thoughts kept her from howling with outrage at the display of police department awards and citations that lined the wall behind Kaitlyn.
As far as Sam was concerned, Conklin should have to give back every award, citation and promotion he’d ever received.
She also planned to make it her mission to ensure he never got a dime of his pension after the way his career had ended.
Pensions were for cops who’d served with honor and distinction. They weren’t for criminals.
Kaitlyn cleared her throat. “Um, what can I do for you?”
Sam decided to go for the jugular. “How long did you know your husband was hiding information relevant to my father’s case?”
“I didn’t know! I knew nothing about it until he was arrested.”
“Yet you had my father’s messenger bag in your possession and never bothered to ask who it belonged to or why your husband wanted it hidden?”
“I didn’t know what it was. It was in a box with some other stuff he asked me to keep at my office.”
“You didn’t question why he suddenly wanted to keep things at your office?” Malone asked.
“I know now that I should have, but at the time, I did what he asked me to do. I was busy. Work had been crazy… I didn’t look at what he gave me or ask him why he wanted me to take it.”
“Were you always so agreeable when your husband asked you to hide evidence in a murder investigation?”
Kaitlyn blanched.
“Sam. Stop.”
Ignoring the captain, Sam said, “Are my questions about my father’s murder making you uncomfortable?”
“I’m so sorry.” Her voice was soft as she blinked back tears. “I had no idea that he was involved. He always talked about your father in such glowing terms.”
“I don’t need to hear that. Especially not now that I know how little regard he had for my father or our family.
Did you know my dad took him in after his first marriage ended and he went on a drinking bender that threatened to ruin his career?
He slept in my room. I didn’t know that until my mom told me recently.
My dad saved his career and possibly his life.
Don’t you think he deserved better from your husband than what he got? ”
A sob erupted from Kaitlyn. “He deserved much better. I’m as disgusted as you are by all of this.”
“I doubt that.”
“What do you want from me?” Kaitlyn’s chin quivered and her big doe eyes glistened with tears.
“I want to know every single thing you know about your husband, his career, his friends inside the department.” Sam produced a copy of the anonymous note they’d received, tucked into a sympathy card. “I want to know who would’ve sent this to me after my father died.”
As Kaitlyn reached for the paper, Sam noticed the other woman’s hand was trembling and took satisfaction in her nervousness.
She ought to be nervous. Her husband had covered up an attempted murder of a police officer who’d been his friend for thirty years and the murder of another officer who’d been killed years earlier.
Sam watched intently as Kaitlyn read the message.
“I have no idea who could’ve sent this. Paul hardly ever talked to me about his work. He would say he needed to leave it at the office and get a break from it when he was home.”
“Someone knew that he and Councilman Gallagher were involved. I want to know who that is.” Gallagher and two other prominent city businessmen had run a secret gambling ring for years that Conklin had gotten sucked into.
The three coconspirators had resorted to the murders of two police officers to keep their cash cow from being discovered, and Conklin had known that the entire time Sam was desperately trying to figure out who’d shot her father.
“I don’t know! I never met Gallagher, Santoro or Ryan or had any idea he was involved in anything with them.
I didn’t know until the rest of the world knew.
” She broke down into sobs. “Do you know what it’s like to realize you didn’t know the man you were married to for years? Do you have any idea what that’s like?”
“No, I don’t.” Maybe that made her a heartless bitch, but so be it. She had no patience for this woman or her rat fink husband.
“You’re so smug. Do you honestly think you know everything there is to know about your husband?”
“Probably not, but one thing I know for certain is that he’s never been an accessory to murder.”
“I didn’t know that about Paul!”
“So you said. Tell me this—when he asked you to take my father’s messenger bag and do something with it, what did you think of that request?”
“That was a particularly busy week for me at work, so I tossed it in my car and never gave it another thought.”
“It didn’t strike you as at all odd that he was asking you to basically hide something for him?”
Kaitlyn met Sam’s gaze with defiance that only further irritated Sam. “No, it didn’t.”
“That’s kind of funny, don’t you think, Captain? I mean, if my husband asked me to basically dispose of something outside of our house, I’d at least stop to ask him what it was I was disposing of.”
Kaitlyn smirked and shook her head. “Paul always said you were a cocky bitch.”
“Did he?” Sam smiled widely at Malone. “I bet he thought that was an insult, right?”
“He said you were allowed to do what you want because your dad was good friends with the top brass.”
“He said that, did he?”
Kaitlyn leaned in, her expression filled with hatred. “Everyone says that.”
Sam rubbed her hands over her eyes, affecting a childlike pout. “Oh, my feelings are so hurt! Captain, how will I go on?”
Malone’s subtle eye roll amused her, even if the things Kaitlyn said left a sting in her gut.
She knew perfectly well that not everyone within the department thought she got special treatment due to her father’s long friendship with Farnsworth, Conklin and Malone.
But certainly some people thought that, and even though she knew how hard she’d worked to get justice for her victims, the idea that people thought she only succeeded due to favoritism rankled.
“I think it’s time for you to leave my house.”
“And I think it’s time for you to think long and hard about who might’ve sent that note. If we find out you had information material to this investigation, we won’t hesitate to charge you.”
“You can’t charge me. Paul made a deal.”
“If you’re holding out on us, the deal is null and void for him—and for you.
So do some soul-searching. Think about who else might’ve known about this and let me know.
” Sam placed her business card on the coffee table.
“If we discover later that you held out on us, we will charge you, deal or no deal.”
Sam got up and headed for the front door, eager to get out of the house where the answers to her father’s case had been for four of the longest years of her life. If she lived forever, that would never make sense to her.
“I want to see Conklin,” Sam said to Malone when they were back in the cold air that washed over her like a balm after being inside that stifling house. I need to know who sent that note, and I bet he knows who it was.”
“What makes you think he’ll tell you?”
“Maybe he’s feeling guilty for what he kept from me for all that time. It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”
Malone leaned against the car, arms crossed, expression serious. “I don’t know if it is.”
“What do you mean?”
After a long pause, he removed the aviator sunglasses that covered his gray eyes.
“I’ve thought a lot about this after we talked earlier.
You’ve done an admirable job of powering through this, of losing your father suddenly and then solving the case.
But this—you seeing Conklin—that might be too much, you know? ”
“I get what you’re saying, but if other people knew, I want to nail them. Don’t you?”
“You know I do.”
“Then what choice do we have but to confront him with this?”
“Well, we could confront him, but it doesn’t have to be you who does it.”
Sam thought about that for a second, trying to take her emotions out of the equation, but that was nearly impossible in this case.
“I feel so betrayed by him, as a daughter, a friend, a fellow law enforcement officer. It’s worse, in some ways, than what Stahl did.
At least I always knew Stahl hated my guts, but Conklin…
He pretended to be a friend to me and my father while keeping a secret that blew my dad’s case wide-open.
He knew who did it. All that time… Maybe it’s not in my best interest to see him, but I want to anyway. ”
Malone pondered what she’d said. “All right then, we’ll do it in the morning. But if it goes bad, I reserve the right to end it. That’s nonnegotiable.”
“I can live with that.” As they got back into the car, Sam was determined to make sure she got what she needed from Conklin before it went bad.