Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEEN
W hen the young officer manning the desk realized who’d strolled into the reception area of the Manassas Police Department, he nearly had a stroke. He still had acne and couldn’t be more than twenty or twenty-one.
“I, uh… May I help you?”
Sam flashed her badge and made the usual introductions. “I’d like to see Detective Truehart, please.”
“I… um… Let me see if he’s in.”
Freddie chuckled as the young man took off like his pants were on fire. “You’ve just given him a story to tell for the rest of his life.”
“Whatever.”
The officer returned a few minutes later. “Right this way, ma’am.”
“You can call me lieutenant.”
“Yes, ma’am. Lieutenant, ma’am.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Sam muttered as Freddie rocked with silent laughter.
Every cop in the place was on their feet, stretching their necks for a look at the celebrity in their midst as Sam and Freddie were led to the far back corner of the detectives’ area where Truehart had a small desk tucked away from the others.
He bore the grizzled, weary look of a seasoned officer, with snow-white hair, a red, ruddy complexion, tired hazel eyes and a build that might’ve once been muscular but was now ceding to age. Sam guessed him to be in his late sixties.
To his credit, he was the only one in the big, open room who didn’t act a fool over her.
He stood to shake her hand and Freddie’s as she introduced them. “Have a seat in my office.”
She appreciated his decorum as much as his wry humor. “Sorry to bomb in unannounced.”
“No problem at all. What can I do for you?”
“Have you heard that Elaine Myerson was murdered in her home yesterday?”
His amiable expression went slack with shock. “ What? No, I hadn’t heard that. What happened?”
“She was felled by a single blow to the head from an object that remains missing.”
“Oh God, poor Elaine. And Chuck. What that family has endured…” He shook his head as his shoulders sagged. “I can’t believe this.”
“We understand you’re still working on their sister Sarah’s case,” Sam said.
“That’s right. Technically, I’m retired and collecting a pension, not because that’s what I wanted, but because there’re rules, don’t you know? I come in every day and go over the case file from beginning to end, hoping to see something I’ve missed.”
“Have you ever had suspects?”
He shook his head. “Nothing that ever panned out. There were fingerprints on the body, but we’ve never been able to match them to anyone. I run them monthly, just in case, and I’ve checked the DNA found on her body against the family DNA sites and come up empty there, too. ”
“Chuck told us how much the family appreciates your dedication to the case,” Freddie said.
“People tell me I’m obsessed, that I should let it go. My own daughter was sixteen when Sarah went missing. She’s gotten to grow up, go to college, get married, have children. Sarah was cheated of all that, while the person who tortured and killed her is still out there living his life. Personally, I can’t live with that . I can’t let it go.”
“I’ve had a few cases like that,” Sam said. “Not as long-standing as yours, but no less frustrating. I admire your dedication, Detective.” She realized he’d probably also missed out on some deserved promotions due to his obsession with one cold case.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“We’re not sure, but after hearing about your work, we wanted to meet you, to let you know we’re on Elaine’s case and to ask if you have any thoughts to share that might help.”
“I wish I did. I haven’t spoken to Elaine in a couple of months because I had nothing new to tell her. Last we spoke, she was working a lot and dealing with teenagers. We laughed about that. My grandchildren are around the same ages as her girls and giving their mothers fits.”
“Did Elaine talk to you about how she was a highly overprotective mother?”
“She did. She struggled with letting the girls spread their wings, but I told her I didn’t blame her. I had the same struggles with my kids after working Sarah’s case. That someone could go missing like that, without a trace, only to be found weeks later after having been held captive somewhere. It haunted me. Continues to.”
Sam had never been more thankful for Secret Service protection for her kids than she was while hearing about Sarah Corrigan’s case. She would never have to worry about where they were because they had eyes on them at all times .
“I can certainly understand why,” she said. “Some victims just stay with you.”
“Yeah, they do. They become ours, if you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“A lot of these guys,” he said, waving his hand toward the other detectives, “they come in, do their tour and punch out. Never give the place another thought until they’re back on duty. That’s never been me. They make fun of me for still working after I’m technically retired, but it was never just a job for me.”
“I feel that so deeply.” Sam glanced at Freddie and then back at Truehart. “We both do. It’s never been just a job for us either.”
“That why you’re still doing it when your old man is in the Oval?”
Sam laughed at the phrasing. “That’s exactly why.”
Truehart nodded. “I figured that when I heard you were gonna keep the job. I decided you were like me. Nothing could make you want to give it up, not old age or even the White House.”
“No matter what happens with our case, I want to help with yours if you’ll have us. If you want to make a copy of the case files for me, I’ll put some people on it as time permits. I can make a case for the possibility of it being linked to ours.”
“Do you think it could be?”
“I mean… Anything’s possible, but I’m not leaning in that direction. Not yet, anyway. But with the connection to the sister, I can justify spending some time on her case. Not that I think we’d do anything you haven’t already covered. It’s just that sometimes a fresh set of eyes—or two—can see something new.”
“You’d have no objection from me. I’ll make a copy of everything and get it over to your shop tomorrow. Thank you for the offer. It’s much appreciated. ”
“You know what’s another hallmark of an outstanding police officer?” Freddie asked.
“What’s that, young man?”
“All you care about is justice for your victim, not glory for yourself.”
Truehart was visibly moved by Freddie’s comment. “She’s mine. If I could put away her killer, she and I could both rest in peace when my time comes.”
Sam stood and offered him her hand. “We’ll do everything we can to help you, Detective.”
He took her hand between both of his. “It was an honor to meet you.”
“No, sir,” Sam said. “The honor was all ours.”
They were quiet on the ride back to town. Sam had been ridiculously moved by Truehart and his dedication to Sarah’s case. It reminded her of Calvin Worthington, the teenager gunned down in his own driveway fifteen years earlier, and how the case had been solved in an afternoon because someone had finally decided to give a shit.
“Truehart makes me extra ashamed of what happened with Worthington,” Sam said.
“That wasn’t the same thing at all. It wasn’t your case from the get-go.”
“I was the responding officer.”
“You were in Patrol. No one was going to let you investigate it. No comparison, Sam.”
“Still… there was more I could’ve done much sooner than I did.”
“What matters is that his family has answers now. It never should’ve taken as long as it did, but that failing was on the department collectively.”
“You can’t solve them all, as much as you might want to.” Vernon met her gaze in the mirror. “‘Most’ is a pretty good track record.”
“I suppose so.” Sam ceded to their insistence but would never forget the massive failing that the Worthington case represented. By remembering it, she could hopefully ensure nothing like that ever happened again.
Back at HQ, Sam stopped at the morgue to check in with Lindsey.
“I haven’t had a chance to review the Myerson autopsy report, so give me the gist.”
“One blow to the back of the head fractured her skull and caused a brain bleed that killed her pretty quickly. It was straightforward, as these things go. The tox screen will tell us more, but I don’t expect any smoking guns there. She was in good health overall.”
“Any thoughts about what kind of object we’re looking for?”
“I’d say it was something smooth, like a baseball bat perhaps. There were no grooves or indentations in the wound that would indicate something pronged.”
“I’ll pass that on to Haggerty. Thanks for the input.”
“No problem. I wanted to tell you…”
Sam tipped her head, surprised to see Lindsey look so uncomfortable, and hoped her friend wasn’t still upset about Sam lying to her. “What’s up?”
“You’re going to hear from my sister, Margo, about a bridal shower.”
“Okay…”
“I made her promise there won’t be any stupid games or other such bullshit and that she won’t go dumb in the head about talking to you.”
Sam laughed. “Appreciate that.” She shuddered. “I hate shower games. Why do we wrap our friends in toilet paper just because they’re getting married?”
Lindsey laughed. “Couldn’t agree more. I told Margo I want something classy and elegant. No nonsense. I think she understands, but I’m counting on you to keep her on track.”
“I’ll do my best for you, Doc. Who else is in the wedding party?”
“A cousin, who’s local, two college friends and a med school friend. The three of them live on the West Coast.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
“You’ll be glad to know I’ve spared you the wedding party group chat.”
Smiling, Sam said, “You really do know me, but don’t leave me out of anything I need to know. I assume there’ll be a bachelorette party?”
Lindsey recoiled. “Absolutely not. I’m not a twenty-two-year-old nitwit.”
“Aw, come on! I already bought the dildos and handcuffs.”
“If you were ever quoted saying that, the scandal would be enormous.”
“Let’s make sure that doesn’t get out.”
Lindsey pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. “Thank you for being in my wedding party, even though you don’t have time to breathe.”
“Anything for you, kid. Happy to be included. Back to work I go. Thanks again for the autopsy summary.”
“No problem.”
As she returned to the pit, Sam was glad to be back on track with Lindsey, even as she cringed at the many ways bridal showers could be ridiculous. For Lindsey, however, she’d step up to the bridesmaid plate with a smile on her face.
“Everyone in the conference room for updates.”
Sam went into her office to take a closer look at Lindsey’s full report before she joined the others in the conference room to convey the ME’s findings to her team. “Cruz, please let Lieutenant Haggerty know we’re looking for a smooth object as the murder weapon, possibly something like a baseball bat.”
Freddie texted the info to Haggerty .
“Lindsey confirmed that Elaine died after a single blow from this smooth object. There were no puncture wounds or anything to indicate texture on the murder weapon. We spoke with Elaine’s brother, Chuck, in Manassas. He confirmed that Elaine talked to him about problems with her daughters, and we learned more about their sister Sarah’s abduction and murder.”
“That poor guy,” Neveah said. “To lose both his sisters to murder.”
“Indeed.” Sam worried about Neveah being close to murder all the time when her own mother’s killing from years ago remained unsolved.
“Did anything about him stand out as suspicious?” Cameron asked.
“Not to me,” Sam said, glancing at Freddie.
He shook his head. “Not at all. He was genuinely grief-stricken, in my opinion.”
“One thing he said stood out to me,” Sam said. “He mentioned Elaine had trouble with her daughters , plural, while the family led us to believe Zoe, the older one, was the problem.”
“You want to take a closer look at Jada?” Freddie asked, sounding surprised.
“I want to know more about where she was yesterday and speak to the people she was with. Call Frank and get the info on the family who took her to the Civil War sites.”
Freddie left the room to make the call.
“What else have we got?”
“I did a deep dive on the family’s social media,” Cameron said. “Elaine posted often, usually funny memes or pictures of sunsets and flowers. Not much about the family.”
“Did she have social media for work?”
“Yes, I was going to add that. As the chief communications officer for CVX, she was actively advocating in Congress for member countries, especially the three biggest petroleum-producing countries—the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia.”
“That’s an interesting angle,” Sam said. “You don’t often hear of those three countries working together.”
“In this case, and I’m quoting their website here, they collaborate on a number of issues of common concern and promote best practices in the industry while working with Congress to balance economic, environmental and climate concerns related to the petroleum industry.”
“Does that mean they work with Congress to keep the oil coming no matter what drilling does to the environment?” O’Brien asked.
“That’s not how I read it,” Sam said. “What did the colleagues have to say?”
“We talked to a few of her work colleagues, who were beside themselves over her death.” Neveah listed the names of the coworkers and their titles within the organization. “They reported that she was well liked, well respected in the office and within the industry, and a hardworking employee who could be counted on to deliver on time and with no drama. The executive director mentioned they’ve had a lot of staff turnover, so someone like Elaine, who’d been with them for years, was very much appreciated.”
“Did the ED give you any insight into their personnel issues?” Sam asked.
“Not specifically. I deduced that it was the usual problem organizations have attracting and retaining quality help.”
“I’d like to dig deeper into that angle. Go back to the ED and get some specifics about people who might’ve worked directly with Elaine and then left the organization, especially anyone who left under less-than-ideal circumstances.”
“Will do,” Neveah said.
“How about friends?” Sam asked. “What did Frank say about who she was close to?”
“He didn’t,” Gonzo said. “He said something to the effect that she was so busy at home and at work, she didn’t have much time for extras.”
“Are friends considered extras?” Sam was busier than anyone she knew, but made time for her loved ones—those who were related and those who weren’t. “The girls said she had a lot of friends. It would be odd to me if she didn’t spend time with some of them. Let’s talk to Frank some more about that.”
“We’re not looking at him at all?” Cam asked.
“Carlucci and Dominguez confirmed he was at the work thing all day yesterday.”
“Doesn’t mean he couldn’t hire it done,” Gonzo said.
“Where are we with the financials?” Sam asked.
“Still reviewing,” Cam said, “but nothing stands out. The usual bills, groceries, money moving in and out. The largest transaction in the last thirty days was paid to the mortgage company. They have about three thousand in credit card debt, close to twenty thousand in savings and a credit score over eight hundred.”
“I’d like to have those stats,” Gonzo said.
“Right?” Freddie asked with a laugh.
“So nothing in the financials to show any big withdrawals that might indicate hiring it done,” Sam said.
“Not that I’ve seen so far,” Cam said.
“I’d like to speak to some of the girls’ friends. What are you seeing on social media about who they were close to?”
“I’ll get you a list,” Cameron said.
“Divide up the friends and knock them out tomorrow after school.”
“Will do,” Cam said.
“I’ll be in late tomorrow. I’m meeting with Roni about my eulogy for Tom.”
“We’ll see you when you get here, LT,” Neveah said for all of them.