Chapter Twenty
Sam took the phone from him. “Mother-effer. I’ve already got one ridiculous case that refuses to be solved with vacation looming.” She opened the phone to accept the call. “Holland.”
“Lieutenant, we have a report of a homicide in Spring Valley.” The dispatcher gave her an address that sent a tingle down her spine.
It was a coincidence that she’d been there the day before.
She hoped that was all it was… a big fat coincidence.
“I’ll be there shortly. Please contact Detective Carlucci and Sergeant Gonzales as well. ”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam ended the call and then made another to the number she’d been given to request a Secret Service detail after hours. “I have to leave for work,” she said to the agent on duty.
“We’ll have a detail meet you outside momentarily, ma’am.”
“Tell them they have ten minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you.”
“You have no idea how much I appreciate you making that call, babe,” Nick said after she’d closed the phone with a satisfying slap.
“I’m trying to make it part of my routine.”
“Thank you.”
She shrugged. “If it gives you peace of mind, it’s a small price to pay. I have to admit I barely notice them during the day.”
“I’m glad it’s working out okay.”
“So, um, the murder happened at the Thorn home.”
Nick’s eyes went wide. “As in the guy who released the images from the party?”
“One and the same.”
“Oh shit.”
“If it’s him, it’ll be a thing, since we just slapped a lawsuit on him.”
“If it’s a thing, we’ll handle it. Keep me posted?”
“I will.” Sam leaned in to kiss him. “Thank you for this.”
“Thank you, my sexy cowgirl.”
“Yeehaw!”
“And the outfit, too. Keep those coming.”
Sam got up to put on her robe. “I’ll see if I can top this one.”
“Yes, please.”
“Don’t forget to clean up your rose petals, Mr. President, or you’ll set off a scandal among the housekeeping staff.”
“I’ll take care of it. Be safe out there, Samantha. I love you madly.”
She was about to leave the room, but returned to him for one more kiss. “Love you just as madly, and I’m always careful. I have so much to live for.” After another kiss, she said, “Get some sleep.”
“I’ll try.”
The last thing she wanted to do was leave him, but she tried to respond to every homicide, even if that meant leaving her husband to sleep alone while she hit the streets and went without sleep. The job stopped for nothing—even the president.
As Sam stood over the bludgeoned body of Bryson Thorn, she knew she had to take a step back from this one, which was why she’d requested Gonzo be called to the scene.
“What’ve we got?” he asked when he arrived ahead of Carlucci, who’d been asked to assist SVU with a sexual assault.
“Bryson Thorn, age forty-one. Found out here in the yard by his wife when she returned home from dinner with friends. That’s her over there.
” Sam nodded to the hysterical woman being comforted by Patrol officers on the pool deck.
“Full disclosure—Nick and I just sued him for violating the terms of the NDA he signed by releasing photos of Nick at the twins’ birthday party. ”
“Oh shit.”
“I’m going to need you to take the lead on this.”
“Yeah, sure. I can do that. What do we know?”
“Nothing yet. His wife came home and couldn’t find him, so she came outside to see if he was in the pool and saw him over here.”
“A place like this must have cameras.”
“That was going to be my next question.”
“Before you go, will you hold the flashlight so I can take photos?”
“Sure.”
After he was done taking photos of the body from every angle, Gonzo said, “I’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, frustrated to have to take a back seat on this one, but the last thing they needed was conflict-of-interest claims. She returned to her car and called Nick on the BlackBerry.
“Didn’t I just see you?”
“You did, and you’re going to be seeing me again very soon. Our vic is Bryson Thorn, so I’ve asked Gonzo to take the lead. I’m giving you a heads-up so you can prepare for when word gets out that the guy we’re suing has been murdered.”
“I’ll let Christina know.”
“Sorry to add to your already overflowing plate.”
“Not your fault. You didn’t kill him. Did you?”
“Stop! Don’t say that on a line the NSA is probably tracking.”
“They’re not tracking it.”
“I bet they are.”
Laughing, he said, “See you when you get home. This night is looking up.”
“Not for Thorn it isn’t.”
“I’m sorry that happened to him, but I’m not sorry we sued him.”
“Same. See you in a few.”
“I’ll be here.”
Sam ended the call and then used her flip phone to call Captain Malone.
“Hey.” He sounded like he’d been sleeping. “What’s up?”
“So remember how I told you Nick and I are suing the guy who violated the NDA and released the photos of him at the twins’ party?”
“What about it?”
“He’s been murdered by bludgeon.”
“Oh shit.”
“I’ve put Gonzo on lead.”
“Good call.”
“I wanted to let you know it’s apt to be a bit of a thing that he turned up dead shortly after Nick and I sued him.”
“You’ll need to keep your distance from this one.”
“That’s why I put Gonzo in charge. I’ve got my hands full with Pam Tappen, which is going nowhere fast.”
“Let’s start from scratch on that one in the morning. On another note, this afternoon, the chief asked me to talk to you about reopening Stahl’s cases.”
“What about it?”
“He’s not in favor.”
Sam was shocked to hear that. “Why?”
“Because we’ve had all the bad publicity we can handle in the last couple of months. Letting it be known that we have a bunch of badly handled cold cases under review isn’t the coverage we need.”
Sam was truly stunned. “Jeannie is working on a missing-person case in which nothing was done to try to find a teenage girl. Are you saying we need to stop what we’re doing there?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am, and so is he. The last freaking thing we need is coverage of all the shit we’ve screwed up over the years.”
“What about the missing child’s family? What do we owe them?”
“We can’t save them all, Sam.”
“We can at least fucking try!”
“This is coming from the top. If you have a beef, you’re going to have to take it up with him—and I’d recommend you tread lightly on this. He’s very adamant that he doesn’t want it. The FBI report is looming in January, and it’s apt to be damning. We don’t need to invite in more. Not now.”
Sam’s heart sank at the thought of having to abandon the review of the cold cases that’d been overlooked by Stahl.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but he’s right, Sam.
With the FBI report coming, Stahl being convicted, charges pending against Conklin and Hernandez, Ramsey being fired, and you solving the Worthington case in a single afternoon, the media has been merciless in its criticism of the department, the chief and everyone who works for him.
Our deputy chief was arrested for withholding information on the shootings of two fellow officers.
That’s a stain that’s going to stick to us for years.
Morale is already low. We don’t need to do anything to make it worse. ”
Sam sighed as she listened to him. Although she understood where he and the chief were coming from, she couldn’t bear to know there were cases that hadn’t gotten even the most rudimentary of effort from Stahl.
She started the car and drove away from Thorn’s house, leaving the details of that case to Gonzo to supervise.
“Tell me you get it,” Malone said.
“I do, but I don’t like it.”
“We don’t either. We hate that corners were cut and cases were given little or no effort.
That’s not who we are as cops or human beings, but unfortunately, not everyone we work with feels the way we do.
Having you on the job while you’re first lady gives us a chance to change the narrative around the department.
Your appearance on the Today show was very well received, and the grief group is getting national attention.
That’s the publicity we need now, as well as the bump of sympathy we’ll receive for the trial of Arnold’s killer, not another cold case solved in two days because we finally decided to care about it. ”
“But solving cold cases is good PR for the department. It shows the community we never stop looking for answers.”
“In this case, it shows the community that we had officers in command positions who didn't do the bare minimum for victims. That’s the story we can’t afford right now.
We’re not saying never on this. We’re just saying not right now when Stahl has just been convicted of attempted murder and we’ve got Conklin and Hernandez facing charges in your dad’s case.
With Calvin Worthington, people are focusing on the outrage of it taking only an afternoon to solve a case that should’ve been solved fifteen years ago. ”
Sam had so much more she wanted to say, but she recognized a brick wall when she was banging her head against it. “I hear you. I hate it, but I get it. You can let the chief know that we’ll stand down on the cold-case review.”
“Thank you. He’ll appreciate your understanding.”
“I’d also like to go on record as objecting to us working the sympathy card during the trial.”
“We’re not going to work it, but we will benefit from it. It’s just the nature of these things. You know that.”
“Sometimes this world is just too fucked up for me to stand. How could Stahl have let a teenage girl go missing and done nothing to try to find her? How did he live with himself?”
“I don’t know, and I’m glad I don’t know what it’s like to be that kind of person. He’s going to have the rest of his life to sit in prison and think about all the many ways he could’ve been a better person.”
“He won’t think about that. He’ll think about how I ruined his life just by being born.”
“You’re probably right about that. He lacks the ability to be introspective.”
That made Sam laugh. “Indeed he does.”
“One other piece of news, and then I’ll let you go. Ramsey has been charged with vandalism and B&E.”