Chapter Twenty-Five
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A s Sam put down the phone, her mind continued to race with ways to prove that Zeke and Zoe hadn’t been holed up at his house all afternoon like they’d claimed.
She called Max Haggerty.
“What’s up?”
“Is it possible to determine whether a car was used during a certain time frame?”
“If there’re any tolls, you can get a warrant for the E-ZPass.”
“Are there tolls leaving Arlington?”
“Some, but that’s based on which direction they went. Depending on what kind of car it is, you may be able to detect acceleration, braking, idle time, driving patterns, Bluetooth activity and navigation use.”
“If we seize the car, will we be able to tell if it was driven at a certain time?”
“Again, depends on what kind of car it is and how old it is.”
“Thank you for the help, Max.”
“No problem. I was going to call you to say that while we found no outside fingerprints in the house—yet—there were fingerprints on the bat, which means the killer must’ve removed the gloves to dispose of it. The prints aren’t in the system, but the blood was a match for Elaine Myerson.”
“That’s confirmation of our murder weapon. Send over the full report when the lab is finished with it.”
“Will do.”
Sam put down the phone and went to consult with Cameron. “Are there pictures of Zeke’s car on his social media?”
“I think I saw something. Let me check.”
While he did that, Sam went back to the office to finish typing up the affidavit.
We’re further investigating both daughters and need access to their financial data to detect whether there were any significant withdrawals in the last few weeks. We believe the warrant is fully justified in light of the information we’ve been given about the state of their relationship with their murdered mother.
Cameron came to the door. “He’s got a two-year-old Mustang convertible.”
Sam picked up the phone to call Archie again. “I also need every piece of data from Zeke’s phone and Zoe’s after two p.m. Sunday.”
“That’s easy enough. I’ll send a report to your email.”
“Thanks.”
“What’re you thinking?” Cam asked.
“I want to know if there was any activity in Zeke’s vehicle or on their phones during the time he and Zoe were supposedly hunkered down at his house.”
“Why don’t we consult with Arlington Police and do a canvass of the neighbors around his house to see if they saw anything?”
“That was going to be my next thought, but you beat me to it. Can you arrange that?”
“Yep. I know people there.”
“That’s handy. ”
After Cameron went to see to that, she called Malone. “I want to seize Zeke Bellamy’s Mustang.”
“For what reason?”
“I want to see if we can prove that it was used during the time that Zeke and Zoe say they remained at his house. We’ve got the phones showing them there for the entire six hours, but phones can be left behind when people leave to commit murder.”
“I’ll request a warrant to seize the car.”
“Thank you. I’ll have the affidavit for financials on the Myerson daughters and the boyfriend momentarily.”
“I’ll get it to a judge.”
“Thanks, Cap.”
Sam returned to her office, reread what she’d written and sent it to Freddie for proofing. Once he made the needed corrections, he would forward it to the captain, so he could work his magic with a judge. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long to get the warrant and the data.
As she went to notify him that it was on the way, a Patrol officer arrived with Frank Myerson, who was rumpled and visibly annoyed.
“Thanks for coming in, Mr. Myerson.”
“Like I had a choice.”
“Officer Smith, please escort Mr. Myerson to interview one and stay with him until we’re ready to talk.”
“How long are you going to make me wait?”
“Not long.”
Smith gestured for Mr. Myerson to head toward the interview rooms.
“What’s that about?” Malone asked.
Sam hadn’t seen him approaching. She turned to him. “He’s pissed about being brought back in for another conversation.”
“If, God forbid, my wife had been murdered, I’d be camped out in the lobby waiting for updates. I’d want to help in any way I could. ”
Sam considered what he’d said. “I’ll mention that to him when we’re in the room.”
“You’re not liking him for being part of this?”
“I wasn’t until you said what you did about his attitude. I’m trying to imagine being annoyed with the people trying to figure out who killed my husband. And, my God, I hope I never have to say that sentence for real.”
“I felt the same way with my rhetorical example. It’s unthinkable.”
“Yes, it certainly is, unless you knew it was going to happen, and now you just want to get on with your new life without your wife causing so much strife.”
“It’s an angle.”
“Which means I need to advise him that he should request that his lawyer join us ahead of our chat.”
“Go to it, Lieutenant.”
“Can I just say… I love the way we all work together here, how we come up with new angles on a case through a passing conversation. It’s pretty cool, and to be honest, it’s the number one thing that keeps me here when I guess I don’t technically have to be anymore.”
“You do have to be. I don’t want to do this job without you doing yours. Besides, I’m only sticking around for you as it is, so don’t you dare quit on me.”
He and the chief had recently brought her to tears by telling her they intended to put off retirement until Nick left office so they could be there to run interference for her as needed. Because that’s what her dad, their best friend, would’ve wanted them to do.
“Haha, I won’t. Off to make Frank Myerson’s day by suggesting his attorney be present for our next discussion.”
“Keep up the good work, Miss Congeniality.”
Laughing, she said, “Will do.” She went to the interview room, nodded to Officer Smith and entered.
Myerson sat up a little straighter when she came in .
“I’d like to advise you that you have the right to an attorney being present for our discussion. Would you like me to call Mr. Dunning for you?”
“I thought you just wanted some more details about Elaine’s life. Why do I need him here for that?’
“I believe it would be prudent. Shall I call him?”
He shook his head, as if in disbelief that any of this was happening. “Go ahead.”
“I’ll be back when he arrives.”
In the pit, she stopped at Freddie’s cubical. “Will you please ask Roland Dunning to come in?”
“Did he request him?”
“Nope. I did. Malone just made a great point. He said if it was his wife in our morgue, he’d be camped out in the lobby, asking for updates and offering to help. This guy is pissed off that we requested more of his time to assist with the case.”
“That is an interesting take. I’ll call Dunning.”
“Thank you.”
As Sam was heading back to her office, a female Patrol officer came into the pit. “Lieutenant, there’s an Isaac Erickson here to see you.”
It took her a second to recall that he was Juan Rodriguez’s roommate. “Go ahead and bring him to my office, if you would.”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.”
Sam went into her office and sat, wondering what had brought Isaac to HQ.
The young man who came in looked as if he hadn’t slept for a minute since the last time she’d seen him. His hair was messy, and he hadn’t shaved. Wearing a NAVY T-shirt and jeans, he was the picture of grief. She immediately felt sick with guilt for what he was going through.
“Come in, Isaac.”
“Thank you for seeing me. ”
“Of course. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve been hoping to hear something about the investigation, but no one is telling me anything, and I didn’t know what else to do, so I came here.”
“Oh, um, well, we’re not working on that case anymore. NCIS has taken it over since Goldstein’s arrest.”
“Was he the one who killed Juan?”
Sam ached for the guy. “I don’t know anything about that. Have you spoken to NCIS?”
“They won’t return my calls.”
“How about I reach out to them and ask them to get in touch with an update?”
“That’d be good. I’ve been thinking about calling Juan’s mom, but I don’t want to bother her at such a difficult time.”
“Let me make some calls and see if I can get you some info, okay?” She flipped through her notebook to make sure she still had his number from the other day. “I’ll have someone call you.”
“I’d really appreciate that.”
“No problem.”
“Something about all of this feels so weird to me. I can’t explain it. But it doesn’t feel right.”
Sam had no idea what to say to that. She wanted to tell him his instincts were spot-on, but it wasn’t her place to tell him the truth. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks again for seeing me.”
“No problem.”
Sam was waiting for Agent Truver to answer her call when Freddie came to the door.
“What was that about?”
“A heartbroken best friend looking for info about his buddy’s murder.”
“Oh my God.”
“My thought exactly.”
Truver’s voice mail picked up .
“This is Sam Holland. Issac Erickson was just here looking for information about his dead roommate. Someone needs to tell him what’s going on. Call me to discuss.” She closed the phone. “I hope I hear from her soon. Isaac needs to be brought into the loop. It’s unfair that they’re doing this to him.”
“Agreed. I figured they would’ve told him by now.”
“I’m ashamed to say I never gave him a thought after we spoke to him the other day.”
“We’ve been a little busy.”
“Still… I should’ve demanded that Truver tell him the truth, too.”
“Not your circus, not your monkeys.”
“What the hell did you just say?”
“You’ve heard that saying before.”
“No, I haven’t. Say it again. Slowly this time.”
First, he rolled his eyes, then he said it again.
“I really like that. How could you sit on a gem like that for all this time?”
“You’re mad at me for not saying that to you sooner?”
“Yes, I believe I am. I count on you to keep me hip and relevant.”
“Where is that in my job description?”
“Under other duties as assigned.”
“What’re you two fighting about?” Gonzo asked when he joined Freddie in the doorway.
“She’s making up new rules as she goes along.”
“It’s called leadership, young grasshopper,” Sam said.
“Except your rules have nothing to do with the job, old owl.”
Gonzo snorted out a laugh.
“That name is not going to be a thing,” Sam said.
“I really like it,” Gonzo said.
“I expect better from you.”
“Why?”
Sam laughed at how the two of them cackled like little boys pulling one over on Mom. “Did you need something, Sergeant?”
“Yes, in fact, I wanted to talk to you about Ninth Street. We’ve got to move out of our place by the thirtieth of this month, so I wondered if we can start to move some crap into Ninth.”
“Absolutely. I’ll get you the keys, and Nick and I will find some time to get over there to move our stuff to the third floor so it’s out of your way.”
“We really appreciate this.”
“Glad to have someone using the place. No sense in it sitting empty. Speaking of sitting empty, I talked to Celia about my dad’s house for you, Frederico.”
“ What? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. When is your lease up?”
“Not until June.”
“Well, by then, Celia might be ready to turn her place over to you. She said she doesn’t want to be there without my dad, so it’s probably time since she’s living with us full time anyway.”
“Wow, this is incredible. Elin and I were talking about trying to find a bigger, safer place in the next few weeks, but the thought of the search exhausted us before it even began.”
“Now you don’t have to.”
He gave her a tentative look. “Do you know what the rent would be?”
“Whatever you’re paying now.” Sam was fairly confident Celia wouldn’t mind if Sam worked out the details. “She owns the house outright, so anything you pay her will be a nice extra income after she pays taxes and insurance.”
“I can’t believe this. Elin will flip. A whole house in the District! We thought we were years away from being able to swing that.”
“Same, brother,” Gonzo said. “Thanks for making this possible, Sam. We sure do appreciate it. ”
“We’re thrilled that you guys can use the houses while we don’t need them.”
“And Skip’s house…” Freddie said. “That means so much to me.”
“It’ll mean a lot to us to have someone who loved him living there.”
“What happens after Nick leaves office?” Gonzo asked hesitantly.
Sam shrugged. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Celia will stay with us wherever we end up. No one will get evicted, so don’t worry about that.”
“We’re not worried, but if you want your house back, all you gotta do is say so.”
“Understood. We’ll probably have to go somewhere with better security than what we had on Ninth. We’ll see what happens.”
“You know how you’re always worried about how you’re asking too much of us since everything changed for you?” Freddie asked.
“Yeah, that weighs heavy on me.”
“Look at everything you do for us, and don’t give that another thought, you hear?”
“What he said,” Gonzo added.
“My two best friends.”
“Likewise,” Freddie said.
“Same,” Gonzo said.
“Let’s get back to work and close this case. My husband’s going on the road for a few days. There’s sex to be had.”
“For the love of God,” Freddie muttered as he walked away while Gonzo laughed.