Chapter Six
CHAPTER SIX
S am walked into the conference room, ready to rumble. “Where are we, people?”
In addition to Freddie and Gonzo, Detective Cameron Green and his partner, Detective Matt O’Brien, were in the room, as well as Gonzo’s partner, Detective Neveah Charles.
Freddie stood next tothe murder board they’d started for Juan, which included photos of him alive and in uniform and one from the morgue.
NCIS had done a damned good job of finding someone who looked enough like him to play this most unusual role. While Sam could see subtle differences now that she knew the truth, the others wouldn’t doubt the ID, especially since she wasn’t questioning it. And how had NCIS managed that? This whole thing was too bizarre for words.
“Juan Rodriguez, age thirty-two, a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, assigned as a special attaché to the president in conjunction with the National Nuclear Security Administration, was found in a clothing donation bin on New York Avenue after an intensive multiday search,” Freddie said. “He was reported missing by his roommate, also a Navy lieutenant commander, named Isaac Erickson. We were waiting for you, Lieutenant, but Isaac was going to be our first stop.”
“Agreed. What else?”
“We’re running financials for Juan, and Archie has his phone,” O’Brien said.
“Have you requested warrants for the phone?” They needed one for the device and another for the data.
“Yes, ma’am, and included computers, tablets and any other devices belonging to him, as well as the apartment itself.”
“Excellent. What else?”
“We interviewed the people at the donation site,” Gonzo said, “and requested security footage from the area. Their security camera stopped working about six years ago, and they’ve never gotten it fixed.”
How often did they hear about malfunctioning cameras? Every day.
“What do we have nearby?” Sam asked, referring to the cameras the department had situated around the city.
“Archie is checking on that.” Gonzo glanced at her. “Assume the family has been notified?”
“Yes, Nick called his mother. It was horrible. He’s her only child.”
Gonzo grimaced. “That’s awful. How’s Nick?”
“He’s taking it hard. He considered Juan a friend since they started working together. Juan was the one who tipped off Nick to what the Joint Chiefs were up to.”
“How hard are we looking at them?” Green asked.
“Very hard, but NCIS is handling that part of the investigation. They want us looking at the possibility of no connection to his work.”
Cam gave her a skeptical look. “Do you think it was random?”
“I don’t know. We’re just getting started, and you’ve heard me say before that it’s not wise to jump to conclusions. We’ll follow the evidence like we always do. ”
“But you like the Joint Chiefs angle for this?” Charles asked.
“It stands out as a potential motive. Juan telling Nick about their plot ended their careers and put them in legal jeopardy, not to mention endangering their fat pensions. These are people who’ve been successful all their lives and have taken a mighty fall. But what would be the point of murdering Juan after he’s already told the president what he did, and they’ve already been disgraced?”
“That’s a good question,” Gonzo said. “What’s the rationale for taking him out now?”
“Maybe they just wanted someone to pay for what happened to them after he told Nick,” Freddie said. “Pure revenge.”
“That’s possible,” Sam conceded, “but I still say it’s an awfully big leap to go from Joint Chief to murderer.”
“Don’t forget the stop at treason along the way,” O’Brien said.
“Noted, but we’re going to work this case the way we do all the others and follow the evidence. All other theories and hypothesizing should be kept to a minimum until we know more. Am I clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said as one.
Sam looked to her sergeant. “Due to Nick’s close professional ties to Juan, you’ll be taking the lead with the paperwork and the media.”
Gonzo nodded. “No problem.”
“Can you do a quick briefing of what we know so far?”
“Yep.”
“All right, everyone, let’s get busy. Cam, get on the financials, Neveah on Juan’s social media, and Matt, get me those warrants the second you have them. Let’s find some threads to pull.”
“What’s our plan?” Freddie asked her after everyone else except Gonzo had filed out of the room.
“I want warrants for Juan’s apartment and electronics before we leave here. Put Haggerty’s team on notice that they’ll be executing the warrant at the apartment.”
“I’ll do that and get with Captain Malone to see about expediting before I do the briefing,” Gonzo said.
“Hey, Tommy?”
He stopped on his way out of the room and turned back. “Yeah?”
“Thanks again for taking the lead. I’ll be right there with you, but I need someone else to be the face of this one.”
“I get it. No worries.”
After Gonzo walked away, she looked to Freddie. “I wish I didn’t have to delegate so much lately.”
“It’s fine. We don’t mind, so don’t add that to your list of worries.”
“I appreciate you guys.”
“We know that. We get to work with the first-lady detective every day. Everyone in our lives thinks that’s wicked cool. It all comes out in the wash.”
“Wicked cool, huh?”
“Yes, you are, and that rubs off on us. Don’t sweat the stuff that doesn’t matter.”
“When did my grasshopper become a wise owl?”
He rolled his eyes. “Puleeze. I’ve been wise all along. How’s Nick doing?”
“Not well at all. He and Juan talked sports and kept it real, which is rare in his world these days.”
“I’m so sad for him, especially right after Fort Liberty.”
“Me, too. No president wants to see service members die on his watch, especially when he’s the motive.”
“Does that mean you secretly suspect the Joint Chiefs?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Did NCIS give you any insight into what they’re doing?”
“Not much.” Sam wanted to tell him the truth so badly, it hurt not to. The words burned the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say them. Not even to him, one of the few people she trusted implicitly. She hoped he and the others would understand when—not if—the truth came out about this case. More than anything, she despised the idea of disappointing them in any way, especially when they did so much to make it possible for her to hold down multiple roles.
Without them at work, she couldn’t even pretend to be first lady or try to be a halfway decent mother. Lying to them went against everything she believed in, but what choice did she have? If lying to them was next to impossible, what would it be like to lie to Nick’s face when she got home?
Dreadful.
“Sam?”
She realized he’d been talking to her while she spaced out. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“Will you go to Juan’s funeral?”
“I suppose so. Nick will want to be there.” Dear God, would they have to go through the motions of a funeral for a man who wasn’t dead? Sam had no clue how to manage this situation, and that was saying something. She almost always knew what to do. But this was truly unprecedented.
Her entire body vibrated with tension that she felt from her scalp to the bottoms of her feet. The tightness in her shoulders and chest was almost painful.
Matt O’Brien came back into the room. “We’ve got the warrants.”
Relieved to have something to do other than freak out about lying to everyone in her life, she said, “Let’s get going.”
Juan lived in a townhome in Adams Morgan, a trendy Northwest neighborhood known for history, culture, nightlife, entertainment and the arts. If Sam had been a single girl interested in living anywhere but Capitol Hill, she would’ve chosen Adams Morgan. Juan’s building had the standard DC red-brick facade with black shutters and brass detailing. She pushed the button next to the label that said Rodriguez/Erickson .
A few seconds later, a voice on the intercom said, “Yes?”
“This is Lieutenant Sam Holland with the Metro PD. We’d like to speak to Lieutenant Commander Erickson, please.”
After a long pause, there was a beep followed by a lock disengaging on the front door.
They stepped into a foyer with a coatrack and hooks for backpacks and other bags. Several pairs of running shoes were on the floor under the hanging bags.
“Come on up.”
Sam and Freddie climbed the stairs to where a young man with light brown hair and swollen blue eyes waited for them. He wore a gray NAVY T-shirt and athletic shorts. “Are you Isaac Erickson?”
He nodded.
“I’m Lieutenant Holland. This is my partner, Detective Cruz. We’re very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I still can’t believe it.”
“Could we talk for a few minutes?”
“Sure, whatever I can do.” Isaac led them into an open space with more brick and industrial ducting running across the ceiling. He took a seat on a sofa where he’d obviously been hunkered down. Takeout containers littered the coffee table along with soda cans and beer bottles. “Sorry for the mess. It’s been a rough week.”
Sam and Freddie sat across from him in leather chairs.
“No worries,” she said.
“I still can’t believe Juan is dead. It’s surreal. He was just here.”
“When did you last see him?”
“What day is today?”
“Sunday.” Was it still the same day that they’d closed Tom Forrester’s murder case with a high-profile arrest? Twelve hours later, Sam was running on fumes, and her knees and elbows hurt from tackling Harlan Peckham on a city street. She’d have bruises tomorrow, if she didn’t already.
“I saw him when I got home from work on Wednesday. He was on his way out as I was getting home. He said he’d see me in the morning, but when I got up, he wasn’t here. I hit him up but didn’t hear back. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it until I got to work and found out he’d missed muster for his morning rotation at the White House. That was when I started to get worried.” His gaze shifted toward them. “Juan loved working with your husband.” His voice took on a gruff, emotional tone. “He fucking loved that guy.” He wiped tears off his face. “Sorry for the f-bomb.”
“No need to apologize. Nick loved him, too. He’s devastated by Juan’s death.” The guilt cut deep over what Juan’s loved ones were being put through for the cause of national security. Sam hoped it would be worth it in the end. The tension inside her was similar to how she’d felt being wrapped in razor wire by Stahl and threatened with fire, a memory she certainly didn’t welcome.
“Anyway, work sounded the alarm that he was missing. NCIS quickly got involved and interviewed me and everyone who interacted with Juan daily and started to search for him.” With his arms propped on his legs, he held his face in his hands. “The whole thing is surreal.”
“How long have you known Juan?” Sam asked.
“We went to Annapolis together. Were roommates after the first year. Kind of been together ever since. Our friends tease us about being a couple, but we’re not. We’re just great friends who enjoy hanging out and keeping it real. Or, I guess, we did .”
The devastation on his face nearly broke Sam wide open. She wanted to howl. She wanted to tell him the truth and swear him to secrecy, but she couldn’t. They’d made her believe the greater good was at stake in this situation, and she had to believe that was true, or she’d go mad.
“Did Juan have a girlfriend? ”
“He had a friend with benefits who he was hoping to turn into a girlfriend, but she was playing hard to get.”
“What’s her name?”
“Jillian. I think her last name is Danvers, or something like that.”
“Where will we find her?”
“She works at a coffee shop down the street. That’s how he met her.”
“What’s the name of the shop?”
“Uh, I can’t remember it. I don’t drink coffee. That’s Juan’s thing. But it’s on 18 th , near the post office.”
“We’ll find it. Has she been told of his death?”
Isaac shook his head. “I haven’t pulled myself together enough to reach out to her. It was early days between the two of them, but he was excited about her.”
“Was he having problems with anyone that you knew of?”
Isaac looked up at her, seeming shocked that she’d ask that. “Uh, yeah . Ever since the thing with the Joint Chiefs, he seemed to have trouble with everyone. I told the NCIS people this. They know he was being hassled.”
“Who in particular was hassling him?”
“Might be easier to say who wasn’t. They knew right away that it was him who told POTUS what they were up to.”
“How did they know that?”
“White House visitor logs. They were able to show him going in when he wasn’t on duty, meeting briefly with POTUS and leaving in under fifteen minutes. They put two plus two together with what happened next, and the rest unfolded from there. Suddenly, he’s being contacted by top staff to the Joint Chiefs, his own chain of command is under fire for letting him go rogue, there’s talk of pulling his security clearance, he feels like he’s being followed everywhere he goes, he’s getting odd calls at all hours from unknown numbers with people telling him to keep his mouth shut or it’ll be shut permanently. So yeah, in short, he was having some trouble with people. ”
Sam took note of everything he’d said. “If everyone was angry with Juan, should I take that to mean that the plot to unseat the president went far beyond the Joint Chiefs themselves?” The implications of that sentence made her almost as sick as the lying did.
“We’d begun to think so. Although, the chain of command was upset because Juan went right to POTUS, skipping about fourteen layers between them, which is generally frowned upon in the military. Juan said he’d do it the same way again because the only one he was sure he could trust with the info was POTUS. He had faith in him to handle the situation appropriately. He couldn’t say that about anyone else in the chain. Who knew how pervasive the plot was or who else was involved or who would kill to keep it quiet? Juan said that even knowing how intense it would get for him, he wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
Isaac ran his fingers through his hair, which was already standing on end, probably from him doing that over and over as he absorbed the loss of his closest friend. “I just wonder if he would’ve done it if he’d known he’d pay with his life.” He took a deep breath and released it slowly as he seemed to come to some conclusion. “Yeah, he would’ve done it anyway. He was all about doing the right thing, and telling POTUS was the right thing.”
“Did he tell you about it before he told POTUS?” And yes, it was weird to refer to her own husband by his acronym, but everything about her life was weird these days. That they even had acronyms…
Isaac shook his head. “He didn’t tell anyone. He went straight to POTUS. He told me after the fact, though.”
“How did that go?”
“He came home rattled. Like, really undone. Pacing and drinking, which he rarely did when he had to work. Took an hour of me asking what the hell was wrong with him for the whole story to come pouring out. ”
“What did you think when you heard it?”
“At first? I thought he was making it up until I realized how seriously undone he was. Like, hands shaking and everything. He kept telling me to stay away from the windows, as if he was afraid someone would take a shot at us.”
“Why was he afraid of that if he’d already told POTUS what he knew?” Freddie asked. “What point would there be in killing him after the damage was already done?”
“I guess because he was a witness with information that could be used against them.”
“Why would that matter, though?” Freddie asked. “Heads were already rolling. The case against them was being built almost immediately after Nick… er, I mean, POTUS was notified. What did one naval officer know that would make it worth adding murder to the list of charges?”
“Other than revenge for messing up their plans—and their lives—I don’t know the answer to that, but I sure do wish I’d done more to protect him.”
“What could you have done?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know, but I could’ve done more than go about my life like his hadn’t been turned upside down.”
“Did you ever feel personally unsafe after this started?”
“Not really.”
“What does that mean?” Sam asked.
“I didn’t feel like anyone was out to get me personally, but there was this… I don’t know how to describe it. Like an aura of tension, I guess I’d call it. I kept my wits about me when I was out and about, and I know Juan did the same.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us that you think might be relevant? We tell everyone to really drill down because often it’s the smallest thing that can blow the lid off an investigation.”
“I’ve been drilling for days and not finding anything other than the gigantic Joint Chiefs elephant in the room.”
Sam put her card on the table. “Call me if you think of anything else. ”
He picked up the card and gave it a close examination. “Is it weird?”
“What?”
“To be investigating a case tied to your husband the president?”
“Every single thing about my life is weird. Everything.”
“What she said,” Freddie added, making the young man smile.
“I imagine it’s about to get even weirder.”
You have no idea , Sam thought.
“We’re going to need you to relocate while Crime Scene detectives examine your apartment. Is there somewhere else you can stay?”
“Can I stay if I’m not in their way?”
“I’m afraid not. We have a warrant for the search.”
Freddie handed him the piece of paper.
“I’ll call a buddy and borrow his sofa.”
They waited for Isaac to pack and then called a Patrol officer to deliver him to his friend’s place, after getting a key and promising to keep him informed. They had walked out onto the street when Freddie’s cell phone rang.
“It’s Gonzo,” he said to Sam. “Hey, what’s up?” After a second, he said, “Let me check with her. He says we’ve been called to a homicide in Crestwood. What do you want to do?”
Sam thought about it. “Go see if you can track down Juan’s FWB at the coffee shop while I go to Crestwood.”
“What’s an FWB?”
“Friend with benefits. I forget you never had one of those. You married the first woman you f?—”
He scowled. “Do not finish that sentence.”
Sam gave him a shit-eating grin. “Is any part of that sentence false?”
“Go to Crestwood. You’re irritating me.”
“Then my work here is finished.” She handed him the key to Juan’s apartment. “Come back to let in Crime Scene and then go home.”
“She’s all yours,” Freddie said to Vernon as he stormed off toward the post office to find the coffee shop.
“Oh, glory and praise,” Vernon said with a smile for Sam. “What did I do to deserve this?”
“You won the lottery.”
“Where to, my prize?”
Sam stifled a laugh so as not to encourage him. “Crestwood. Jump on Beach Drive toward the park.”
“I might need a little more insider info than that.”
“I got you covered.”