Chapter Thirty-Six
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
S am was up early to get the kids fed and off to school before she headed to work. Her first order of business was to see what Frank Myerson wanted.
When he and Dunning were settled in interview two, she and Freddie went to meet with them. While Freddie engaged the recording device, she sat across from Frank and stared him down.
He looked away.
“You asked for this meeting, Mr. Myerson. What can we do for you?”
“I… I want to confess to the murder of my wife.”
Sam hadn’t expected that. She sat back in her chair, noting that Dunning didn’t seem surprised by Frank’s confession. “Where’s this coming from all of a sudden? What happened to ‘I didn’t kill my wife? I loved her more than anything’?”
“I do love her more than anything,” he said tearfully, “but our lives had become untenable. She was so inflexible with the girls. All we did was fight because she refused to listen to anyone else’s point of view. We were governed by a murder that happened more than twenty-five years ago, before any of us knew her. ”
“So you thought it would make everything better to commit another murder?”
“I didn’t want to hurt Elaine! I loved her with my whole heart. But we couldn’t go on that way.”
“If it was so bad, why didn’t you leave her and take the girls?” Freddie asked.
“I… I couldn’t do that to her. Her children were her life.”
“So you took her life?” Sam asked. “How does that make any sense?”
“You don’t understand.”
“You’re right. I don’t. What I think is happening here is that you’re deciding to fall on your sword to protect your daughter, who’s on the run with the boyfriend who probably helped her kill her mother.”
“That’s not true! Zoe had nothing to do with this.”
“I don’t believe you. I think she had everything to do with it, and you’ve decided to sacrifice yourself to save her because you failed to do that when Elaine was still alive.”
“I did everything I could for those girls!”
“Except get them out of a toxic situation with their mother,” Sam said. “My kids are everything to me. If they were being emotionally abused in their home, I’d take them and leave.”
“Sure you would. As if your husband would let you take his kids.”
“Let me? I do what I want, Mr. Myerson. I’m a full-grown adult with a mind and a bank account of my own. If my kids were in danger, you can bet your ass I’d take them and never look back. A lot of people don’t have the luxury of being able to leave. I do. You did. Yet you chose to stay, so in many ways, this is on you. But you weren’t the one to kill Elaine.”
“Zoe didn’t do this. She couldn’t have. Someone broke in and killed Elaine.”
“There’s no sign of forced entry, and there was no one else who wanted Elaine dead besides the people in her own home. ”
“We didn’t do this. Why won’t you look beyond us for other suspects?”
“We have. There are no other suspects.”
“There has to be! Zoe is a child ! She couldn’t have done this.”
“So are you saying now that you didn’t?”
“I’m saying you should charge me and forget about her.”
“That’s not how this works, Mr. Myerson. Surely Mr. Dunning told you that.”
“I did,” Dunning said.
“You’ll be arraigned later today for obstructing our investigation. If you’re released, I’d recommend you do what you can to get your daughter back here as soon as possible.”
“Why would I do that? So you can throw her in jail for the rest of her life?”
“Stop talking, Frank,” Dunning said.
“That’s the plan, isn’t it?”
“Detective Cruz, please let the U.S. Attorney’s Office know that we recommend Mr. Myerson be held without bail so he can’t assist his daughter in fleeing from justice.”
Freddie stood. “I’ll take care of that right away.”
Frank’s eyes narrowed as his face twisted into a nasty sneer. “You’re all drunk off your own power, aren’t you?”
“Not at all. You know what gets me drunk? Justice for murder victims who didn’t deserve to be murdered by the people they loved the most.” She stood. “This interview is over.” After clicking off the recorder, she left the room and asked the Patrol officer outside to please escort Mr. Myerson back to lockup.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Captain Malone was coming into the pit as she returned. “What did Myerson want?”
“To confess.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but it was bullshit and I called him on it. We’re asking that he be held without bail at his arraignment since he implied that he’d help Zoe stay in the wind if he was released.”
“Got it.”
“Any word from the marshals?”
“They found the silver SUV abandoned outside of Chicago.”
“Shit. So now they have no clue what they’re looking for.”
“They’re reviewing cars stolen in the area as well as bus and train stations and airports.”
“I hope something pops soon.”
“How’s it possible that two teenagers can lead us on a multiday, multistate chase?”
“They planned every step of this. That’s how. The sister should be here later today. I really want to talk to her.”
“Jesse said she’s not saying anything to anyone.”
“How can she be protecting them when they left her bound and gagged when they took off?”
“I don’t know what she’s thinking.”
“Maybe we can use Frank to get her to talk in exchange for dropping the charges against him.”
“That’s an idea.”
“We’ll float it when she’s back here. Can you get me an ETA on that?”
“Yep.”
While Malone headed to his office, she went into hers, planning to review the reports filed on the case thus far. Before she did that, though, she reached out to Archie to see how his friend was doing.
Thanks for checking in. She’s doing okay. Today she asked for me to come into her room. She said she remembers my face and that I was kind to her.
That’s great news. What’s SVU saying about the investigation?
Nothing yet, but Erica is on it.
Let me know if there’s anything I can do.
Thanks. Sorry to leave you hanging in the middle of a case .
Sergeant Walters has been great.
Glad to hear it.
Keep me posted on how she’s doing.
I will.
Sam hoped they caught a break in the case that could explain what’d happened to Archie’s friend and that he wasn’t setting himself up for heartbreak.
Archie was full of heartache as he stood by Harlowe’s bedside, holding her hand while she sobbed through another examination of her injuries. He couldn’t bear to see her traumatized or in pain, and he couldn’t understand why she mattered so much to him when he’d seen her twice in his life before yesterday.
The doctor said she was much improved over the day before, and if she continued to make good progress, she could be released in a day or two.
“Where will I go?” she asked Archie tearfully.
“You’ll come home with me, and I’ll take care of you.”
“Why would you do that for me?”
“Because I want to.”
“I… I don’t remember you.”
He used a tissue to wipe the tears from her face. “You remember my face and that I was kind to you.”
“Who are you?”
He’d already told her who he was, but he’d keep telling her until she retained the info. “My name is Archie, which is a nickname for my last name, which is Archelotta. Everyone calls me Archie. I’m a detective with the DC police, specializing in information technology.”
“You… you’re a police officer.”
He’d also told her that—repeatedly. “Yes. You’re safe with me. I promise.”
“Tell me again how you know me. ”
“We met at a friend’s party in Georgetown a couple of weeks ago. Remember Deb and Joe? You know her from yoga.”
Her lovely brown eyes were frantic as she shook her head. “Why can’t I remember anything?”
“Shhh. It’s okay. You will eventually.”
“What if I never remember?”
“I’m sure you will when you’re ready to.”
“Maybe it would be better if I didn’t.”
He ached to think of her recalling being assaulted, but he wanted her to remember her life and loved ones.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he told her, even though he couldn’t promise any such thing.
“Thank you for being kind to me.”
“Of course.”
“You… You must have somewhere to be.”
“I’m right where I want to be.”
He couldn’t say why that was true. All he knew was that he wasn’t going anywhere as long as she needed him.
Sam received a call from a Detective Jones from the crime lab at three o’clock that afternoon.
“We’ve got the Mustang tied to your case and are able to show that it traveled thirty miles on Sunday afternoon, between the hours of three and five p.m.”
Bingo , Sam thought. “Anything else?”
“The Bluetooth was used from 3:12 p.m. to 3:32 p.m. and then again from 3:40 to just after four o’clock.”
That put Zoe and Zeke in the vicinity of the house around the time of the murder.
“Can you shoot this over to my email?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you very much.”
She went out to the pit to share the news with the others. “ Now we can prove that Zeke’s Mustang was used within the time-of-death window.”
“That’s huge,” Cameron said.
“Yep.” Sam loved the feeling that came with putting the pieces together to tie perps to murder.
Freddie came into the pit. “Uh, Sam, Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy are here.”
She had to think for a second about who that was. Zeke’s parents. “What do they want?”
“To talk to you and only you.”
“All right,” she said with a sigh. “Show them into interview one.”
Sam wanted to be able to record the conversation, and she couldn’t do that in her office or the conference room. She grabbed a bottle of water and her notebook from her office before she went to see what the Bellamys wanted. The were holding hands and looking terrified.
“I’m Lieutenant Holland.”
“I’m Greg Bellamy, and this is my wife, Lillian.”
“I’d like to record our conversation.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Do you both agree?”
They glanced at each other before nodding.
Sam engaged the recording device, noted who was in the room and that they’d given their permission to be recorded. “You asked to see me?”
“Our son, Zeke, is missing,” Greg said, “and no one will tell us where he is or what’s going on.”
“We believe he’s on the run with Zoe Myerson after they killed her mother.”
Lillian gasped. “ What? He didn’t kill anyone! He’d never do something like that.”
“We’re not sure which one of them took a baseball bat to the back of Mrs. Myerson’s head, but we’re fairly confident they were both there. ”
“There’s no way,” Greg said. “He has a scholarship to play baseball at Villanova next year. He’d never endanger that by being involved in something like this.”
“We can prove that his car was used during the time of Mrs. Myerson’s murder and that his Bluetooth was engaged for two twenty-minute rides, which is how long it would take to drive from Arlington to Crestwood.”
“You’re trying to pin this on my son when it was that girl who did this,” Lillian said. “She hated her mother!”
“How do you know that?” Sam asked.
She looked down, seeming embarrassed maybe. “Zeke told me. Ever since he met her, Zeke has been obsessed. She’s all he talks about. He’s let his grades slide, and he’s missed a couple of practices, which is unthinkable. This is his senior year , Lieutenant. Every game counts. If he misses practice, he’s not allowed to play in the next game. Villanova made it clear that the scholarship is contingent upon him having a successful senior season. He has to get back to practice.”
Sam didn’t want to have to be the one to tell her that her son’s baseball career was likely over. Even if he hadn’t participated in the murder of Elaine Myerson, he’d helped Zoe run from the law and would be charged accordingly.
Unless, of course, he was willing to testify against her. Then they might be able to work something out.
“Has your son ever been out of touch with you like this before?”
“No!” Lillian said. “Never. He’s a very good boy. He’d never do something like this to upset us under normal circumstances. It’s that girl. She’s got his head turned around so hard that he can’t see anything but her.”
“How would you feel about issuing a public appeal for him to contact you?” Sam asked.
“We’ve been able to keep this situation a private family matter,” Greg said. “His coach has been told he’s down with the flu, too sick to even go to the doctor. If it gets out that he’s on the run with a murder suspect… His whole life will be ruined.”
As a parent, Sam empathized with them. How could she not? But she also owed them the truth. “I’m sorry to be blunt, but I’m fairly certain that Zeke ruined his life when he chose to support Zoe in killing her mother and then running from the law.”
Lillian’s eyes filled with tears. “That can’t be true! Tell her, Greg. He’s an honor student and athlete with a scholarship . He made a mistake! That’s all this is.”
Greg put his hand on top of Lillian’s. “The lieutenant is right.”
“No! He’ll come back and straighten this out. I know my son. He couldn’t hurt anyone! Remember how he used to save the baby bunnies from the dogs? He wouldn’t kill someone or help anyone commit murder! That’s not who he is. Tell her, Greg.”
He put an arm around his distraught wife. “He’s always been a very good boy. Never gave us any trouble until he met Zoe. After she came on the scene, he was very different. He became almost unmanageable.”
“But he still did what we told him to,” Lillian added.
“When he wasn’t sneaking around with her. She had a hold on him. We tried to help him see that his relationship with her wasn’t healthy, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“I overheard her telling him how her mother abused her and her sister,” Lillian said. “That she locked them in their rooms and wouldn’t let them do anything.”
“Neither of the girls told us anything about being locked in their rooms,” Sam said.
“Do you think she told him that to make him sympathetic to her?” Lillian asked as Greg looked down at the table.
He was putting the pieces together faster than his wife, who was still in denial .
“Is there anywhere out west he would go to hide out?” Sam asked.
“No,” Greg said. “There’s nowhere… Wait. What was the name of the camp he attended in Colorado Springs that one summer? Remember how much he loved it?”
“Herron Creek?” Lillian asked.
“Yes, that’s the one. He talked about it for years afterward, but he could never go back because of baseball commitments in the summer.”
“This is helpful. I’ll pass that information along to the marshals.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Lillian asked.
Sam pushed her notebook and pen across the table to them. “Give me your contact info, and I’ll keep you apprised of any developments.”
Greg wrote down the requested info. “I know you have no reason to believe us, Lieutenant, but our son is a good boy. If there was a plot to kill Zoe’s mother, it certainly wasn’t his idea, and in my wildest dreams, I can’t picture him harming anyone.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me. I’ll keep you posted, okay?”
“Should we go there?” Lillian asked. “To Colorado Springs?”
“Absolutely not. Go home and wait to hear from me. Please don’t make this worse by getting in the way of law enforcement.”
“We won’t,” Greg said. “Thank you for your time, Lieutenant.”
“No problem.”
She walked them out and then returned to the pit.
“What was that about?” Freddie asked.
“They told me how Zeke is an honor student with a baseball scholarship to Villanova, and there’s no way he’d ever have anything to do with killing someone. ”
“Do you believe them?”
“Strangely enough, I do. They said he was under Zoe’s thrall and had changed a lot since she came into his life. He’d stopped caring about school and baseball and the things that’d been important to him. They told me about a summer camp called Herron Creek that he once attended in Colorado Springs that he loved. I want to pass that info on to Jesse. They said they didn’t know of anywhere else out west that he might go.”
“I’ll give Jesse a call,” Freddie said.
“Before you do that,” Sam said, acting on a hunch, “what social media does Zeke have?”
“Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.”
“If I wanted to message him on those platforms, how would I go about that?”
“I can do it on your behalf.” He sat in his cubicle and booted up his computer. “What do you want to say?”
Sam thought about it for a minute. “‘Zeke, this is Lieutenant Holland with the DC police. Your parents just came to see me, and they’re very upset and worried about you. They told me you’re an honor student with a baseball scholarship to Villanova. You must’ve worked very hard for all of that. If you reach out to me, I can bring you home without any publicity. Your parents want you home to finish your senior year and move forward with your life. Running from law enforcement will result in charges. I don’t want that for you. Please give me a call so I can help you.’”
“Got it,” Freddie said. “I’ll message him on all three platforms with your number.”
“Thanks. Let me know what Jesse says.”
“I will.”