Chapter Eighteen #2
“Yeah, okay. Sam, I know you have a lot on your plate, and your heart is broken over the loss of your dad, but you have to do whatever it takes to make sure that son of a bitch never again sees the light of day. After that, you can forget he exists.”
Sam nodded to acknowledge she’d heard him as she left the office. “Let’s go, people.” She led the way to the conference room and waited until everyone was settled.
The captain came in and took the last seat at the table.
“Cruz, go ahead and brief on what we learned at the White House this morning.”
As he went through the details of their conversations with the Secret Service agents, Derek and Tom, Sam tried not to think about Stahl or the trial or having to make a statement at his sentencing.
Under no circumstances could she picture herself doing that.
If she had her druthers, she’d never see that rat bastard again.
“Holy crap,” Jeannie McBride said. “The baby’s not his?”
“That’s what his aides are saying. He allegedly had a vasectomy after his last son was born, so there’s no way he could’ve fathered Tara’s child.”
“Is it okay to say that I can’t believe we’re sitting here talking about the president’s vasectomy?” Matt O’Brien asked.
“Detective Cruz and I said the same thing earlier. The challenge now is to figure out who did father the child and whether he might’ve been annoyed enough by the news of Tara’s affair with the president to kill her.
We’ve gotten DNA from the baby and we’re getting Nelson’s.
We’ll put a rush on the results, but it’s going to take a few days.
” To Malone she said, “When will we have the warrant for the cell phone carrier?”
“I’m hoping we’ll hear in the next hour or two.”
“That’s going to be key.”
“I’ll stay on it.”
“What else do we have?” Sam asked.
“I did some more digging into Tara’s financials and her background,” Jeannie said. “Her best year in business was when she worked for the Nelson campaign. In total, she earned more than seven hundred thousand dollars that year.”
“Whoa,” Sam said. “That’s five hundred thousand more than the figure we were previously given. If the media got ahold of the fact she made seven hundred grand while she was sleeping with the president, that’d make the story even more insane than it already is.”
“That info is publicly available,” Jeannie said. “It’s only a matter of time before they have it.”
“Great.” Sam released her hair from the clip and ran her fingers through it. “I feel like we’re getting nowhere fast here. What’re we hearing from Archie?”
“They’re going through security tape from other locations in Tara’s neighborhood, but they don’t have anything yet,” Cameron said.
“And no sign of her cell phone?”
Cameron shook his head. “We’ve got Patrol checking the trash in an eight-block radius around her building, but nothing so far.”
Sam glanced at the murder board that Jeannie, Cameron and Matt had started on one of the large dry-erase boards.
She studied the photo of Tara in life and the one from the crime scene in which the dark bruises on her neck were the primary difference.
“What do we think of the theory that she leaked the story of her affair with Nelson?”
“What would she have to gain?” Cameron asked.
“Getting the attention of the man who’d stopped returning her calls?” Freddie said.
“She was trying to stick him with the baby,” Sam said.
“What was her motivation in doing that when she had to know there were at least two men who could’ve been the father?
And did Nelson tell her that he’d had a vasectomy?
Did she know that?” Sam dropped her head into her hands.
“God, am I going to have to ask him these questions?”
“I think you might,” Malone said. “I want to know if she knew he’d had the vasectomy.”
“I can’t even…”
Malone laughed. “You can do it, Lieutenant.”
“Not until I get the report Hanigan promised me that will prove he had the vasectomy in the first place. In the meantime, I want to know who else she was talking to. We need those phone records.”
Malone got up. “I’ll go see what I can do to move that along.” Speaking directly to Sam, he added, “Come find me when you’re ready to do the other thing.”
“Okay.”
After he left the room, Freddie glanced at her. “What other thing?”
“Conklin wants to talk to us again.”
“I thought you already talked to him and he stonewalled you?”
“We did and he did, but apparently he’s had a come-to-Jesus in the meantime and wants to talk.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to let one of us do that?” His concern for her was etched into the furrow of his brows.
“I’m fine. After I see Conklin, I want to double back with Delany, the assistant who found her. If anyone knew who her boss was dating, it would be her.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Keep me posted on any developments.” Sam got up to leave the conference room, putting her hair back up as she walked toward the lobby to find Malone.
She wanted to get this chat with Conklin over with so she could get back to the case.
Who should be coming the other way but her nemesis Sergeant Ramsey, the last freaking person in the universe she wanted to see.
She kept her head down so there’d be no chance of making eye contact with the son of a bitch.
“Heard some interesting rumors about your good friend Gonzales floating around. Apparently, he was a bad, bad boy, scoring shit on the street.” He made a weird sound as he brushed by her. “Heard he’s in rehab and not out sick like everyone was told. Lies, lies and more lies.”
Sam kept walking, but her heart skipped a beat at what she’d heard. She already knew what Gonzo had done in the throes of his addiction, but how in the fuck did Ramsey know about it, and what did he plan to do with the information?
This was not good. If Ramsey had dirt on Gonzo, he’d do whatever he could to discredit him and her. Damn it. This was the last fucking thing she needed right now.