Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“I was in my first year in Patrol, and I took the call. I’ve never forgotten his mother’s agonizing grief or the way the case seemed to go cold almost immediately.
Stahl was the detective assigned to the case, and that was the first time I tangled with him.
I kept asking him what was being done to find Calvin’s killer, and he told me to mind my own business and stay in my lane.
He was so annoyed that a lowly Patrol officer questioned him.
Later, I realized that the fact my last name was Holland made it doubly galling for him. ”
“The file is rather thin for a homicide.”
“Exactly.”
He opened the file and flipped through the pages, scanning the reports. “You offered a more detailed description of events just now than the detectives who investigated it did.”
“They barely investigated it. I remember being enraged that they didn’t give it much attention, but it happened during an outbreak of shootings and domestics, and the case just got overlooked.
But I never forgot Lenore or her terrible grief.
When I saw her the other day for the first time in years, I knew exactly who she was and why she’d come.
She said she heard I’d closed my dad’s case after four years, and even though fifteen is a lot longer, maybe I could take another look at Calvin’s.
She reminded me he would’ve been thirty this year. ”
“Such a tragedy. You wonder how people survive this stuff. I look at Noah and think I’d die if anything happened to him.”
“I know that feeling, but the human spirit is resilient. Somehow, we survive things we think will break us. I know it’s nowhere near the same thing as losing a child, but a few weeks ago, I couldn’t imagine life without my dad.
And here I am, breathing and functioning and living without him.
Life goes on even when you’re sure it won’t. ”
“I guess so. Your grief group starts tonight, right?”
“It does.”
“That’s an incredible thing you’re doing. It’ll help a lot of people.”
“I hope so.”
“Do you mind if I keep the Worthington files to take a closer look?”
“Not at all. I’m knee-deep in the McLeod case, but I was planning to revisit Worthington after I close this one. I got the okay from the brass to devote some time to it.”
“I’ll get the files back to you tomorrow. Talk to me about Ramsey. His name has come up a few times during our investigation.”
“Is that right?” Sam asked, smirking. “He’s another of my BFFs within the department.”
“What’s his beef with you?”
“Good question. If I had to guess, it would be something like I’m female, younger than him, I have fewer years on the job and outrank him.
And that would be solely because of who my father was and the fact that the chief was my uncle Joe growing up.
There could be no other reason for me lapping him. ”
Avery rolled his eyes. “The fact that you excel at your job has no bearing on it.”
“None at all.”
“He’s jealous.”
“Maybe, but he’s also dangerous. I think he’s trying to railroad Gonzo out of spite toward me.” She filled him in on the details of what Gonzo had done and her suspicions of how it had come to light.
“Wow.”
“There’s a meeting tomorrow at which everyone who matters in this department will beg Gonzales not to take that deal. If he does, his career will be all but over. He needs to remind people why he ended up with an addiction to pain meds.”
“Absolutely. What happened to Arnold—and to him by extension—was one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced as an LEO. I can’t imagine what it was like for him.”
“It was a nightmare. Arnold drove him crazy with his earnestness, eagerness and overall puppylike demeanor. He was the sweetest kid, and Gonzo was good with him, but half the time he wanted to gag him. He was aggravated with him that night and told him he’d let him take the lead if he’d only shut up.
That’s the part that stays with Tommy now.
He believes he put him in front of that gun. ”
“He gave Arnold exactly what he wanted.”
“You and I know that, but you can’t tell him that. To him, he set his partner up to be murdered.”
“It’s an awful thing to live with.”
“It is, and who can blame him for doing whatever it took to survive it? Most people around here empathize with him, but not Ramsey. He’s out to ruin Gonzo’s career in some sort of misguided attempt to exact revenge on me. It’s all so screwed up.”
“I heard the reason he threatened you most recently is because someone uncovered signs of a possible extramarital affair.”
“Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.” He gave her a probing look. “You know anything about that?”
Sam made an effort to keep her expression neutral. “Not a thing.”
“He must have other enemies within the department.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. When you act like a jackass ninety percent of the time, that comes back around on you.”
“True. What about Conklin? Was there ever anything to indicate he wasn’t a good cop?”
“Only the thing when retired Captain Wallack went missing, and his wife told Conklin, who kept it to himself for two weeks, during which Wallack’s stepson forced him to shoot innocent people.”
“Did he say why he didn’t tell anyone?”
“Because he thought Wallack, who’s a recovering alcoholic, might’ve relapsed. He said he was trying to protect Wallack’s reputation. Conklin is in recovery, too. My dad was the one who dried him out and saved his career when things got out of control for him back in the day. Ironic, huh?”
“It’s obscene,” Avery said with a forcefulness that Sam appreciated.
Good cops were appalled that Conklin had held on to secrets related to her dad’s shooting for four years.
And Avery was a good cop, even if he was a Fed.
“So when he didn’t report Wallack’s disappearance, was that the first time you knew him to do anything that wasn’t by the book? ”
She nodded. “You’d have to ask the chief and Malone and people who go further back with him than I do, but I think it was the first time anyone ever questioned whether he was legit.
I remember being shocked when I found out what he’d done and feeling sick that I had to report it.
Finding out another officer has done something questionable is the worst feeling, especially when he’s the deputy chief and a longtime friend of your father’s.
At least I thought he was. I’ve since found out otherwise. ”
“Have you had to report colleagues other times?”
“Here and there. Most recently when one of the department’s sharpshooters, Sergeant Dylan Offenbach, was off the grid during the sniper shootings, and our investigation uncovered that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
Rather than attending the conference he’d checked out for, he was off cheating on his wife, with whom he has five children and a sixth on the way.
He accused me of ruining his life, but if you ask me, he did that all on his own.
I heard he got busted down to Patrol, and he blames me for everything. ”
“You’re Miss Congeniality around here, aren’t you?”
Sam laughed at the title. “So it seems. The thing is, when I first started on the job, my dad gave me the most important advice I’ve ever gotten about how to do it right.
He said if you find out something your superior officers need to know, you report it to them immediately.
You don’t delay even to take a leak. You report it.
I’ve always lived by that rule, even when it caused me heartburn with my colleagues.
I’m not the one doing something I shouldn’t be doing. ”
“And they know that. They need someone to blame.”
“Whatever,” Sam said with a shrug. “The fact I’m a woman calling them out, not to mention the daughter of a martyred hero and the ‘niece’ of the chief, doesn’t help.”
“Not an easy spot to be in.”
“Nope, but when you try to do the right thing most of the time, you sleep pretty well at night. That’s not to say I haven’t screwed up, because I have. Show me someone who hasn’t, but I try to do the right thing, and that irritates people around here sometimes.”
“I see the same thing in our agency. People do stupid things and then can’t believe when they get caught and disciplined. That never sits well, but I want to say to them if you hadn’t done what you did in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“Exactly. Trust me when I tell you I take zero pleasure in catching a fellow officer doing something shady. Even Ramsey or Stahl or someone I can’t stand, because it makes us all look bad when one of us is bad.”
“That’s a fact. This has been helpful. Thank you for taking the time.”
“Can I ask you what the expected outcome of this investigation might look like?”
“I’m honestly not sure yet. I’m seeing some patterns here and there, but right now, we’re mostly talking to people.”
“Does that include people like Stahl, Ramsey, Hernandez, Offenbach and Conklin?”
“It may. I’d like to get their perspectives for my own edification. I’d like to hear their justifications, if nothing else.”
“Conklin would tell you he was protecting his wife. City Councilman Gallagher and the others involved in the gambling ring had threatened her if he didn’t stay in line.”
“I can see that as a valid concern, but if you don’t have anything to hide in the first place, then no one can threaten you with it.”
“Right. That was another of my father’s pearls of wisdom—don’t give them anything to use against you.”
“Have you ever thought about writing a book about being a high-profile female legacy Homicide detective?”
“Uh, well, no, not exactly. Reading and writing with dyslexia isn’t something I do for a hobby.”
“You ought to think about it. You could dictate it to someone else, the poor bastard, and have them type it up.”
“Haha, I could make Freddie do that.”
“I think it would be very interesting reading, and with your platform as the second lady, it’d probably be a huge bestseller.”
“Just what I want—more public attention than I already get.”
Avery smiled. “I’d read it. And I’m totally serious. I think your story would make for an amazing book.”
“I’m flattered you think so.” Sam took a surreptitious glance at the clock. She had ninety minutes until she had to pick up Roni. “Are we done for now?”
“We are. Thanks again.”
“I’m going to run home and see my kids before the meeting tonight. See you later.”
“Have a nice visit with the kids, and good luck with the meeting tonight.”
“Thanks.” Sam was almost relieved to find the pit empty when she emerged from the conference room.
She ought to care where everyone was or if anyone was still working, but right now, she wanted to see her kids before she had to be back.
In her office, she went to grab her keys and remembered that Freddie had her car. “Damn it.”
As much as she hated to admit it, the Secret Service was about to come in handy.