Chapter Four
“Archie’s got something,” Sam said to Ruiz as she headed for the door without waiting to hear what the captain had to say.
Mike was outside, taking deep breaths of the cool spring air. Her brother-in-law’s complexion had gone ashen over the last few hours.
“We’ve got to figure out who this Brecken kid is.” She kept her voice down so she wouldn’t be overheard and accused of participating in the investigation. If their efforts yielded new information, she’d pass it on to Ruiz.
“Archie told you about the incel stuff?” Mike asked.
“Yeah. What do you know about it?”
“I watched a documentary a while ago, and it’s terrifying that my son could have anything to do with that crap. He’s certainly never seen me treat women the way those guys say they want to.”
“Can you go back to Celia’s and help figure out who this kid is?”
“Yeah, I will.” He started to walk away but turned back to her with tears in his eyes. “I… I was wrong to let him go out with his friends. If something has happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself—and Tracy won’t either.”
Sam hugged the man she’d loved as a brother for almost twenty years. “Let’s hope for the best while doing everything we can to find him.”
Nodding, he wiped his face and left for Celia’s.
Sam took a call from Dispatch, hoping it was news about Ethan. “Holland.”
“Lieutenant, we have a potential homicide at Vacation Inn and Suites on 10th Street Northwest. A body was found in a room where guests go to get ice. Patrol believes the victim was stabbed to death. Are you able to report to the scene?”
“I’m not, but I’ll send Sergeant Gonzales.”
“Would you like me to contact him?”
“I’ll do it. Thank you. Is there any news on the BOLOs for Ethan Hogan and Tomas Cambra?”
“Nothing new. Patrol is on the lookout for them.”
“Will you please call me if you hear anything? Ethan is my nephew.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure you get a call if there’re any updates.”
“Thanks.”
Sam spotted Gonzo down the street, on the phone.
He raised a brow in inquiry when he saw her coming toward him.
“Dispatch called. New body.”
With a grimace, he nodded. “I’ll be back to you,” he said into the phone.
“In an ice room at Vacation Inn and Suites on 10th Street Northwest,” Sam said. “Can you take it?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“I’m sorry to have to delegate—again.”
“Don’t sweat it. You would’ve called me in anyway, and besides, you need to be here.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Is Archie getting anywhere?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Sam filled him in on what Archie had learned from Ethan’s text messages.
“Are you kidding me? These kids are eleven and talking about teaching a girl a lesson because she called one of them an incel? Do any of them even know what that means?”
“I didn’t until Archie told me.”
“It’s unbelievable. Eleven, for fuck’s sake. I’ll get over to the hotel and keep you in the loop—and I’ll be back here as soon as I can.”
“Thanks, Gonzo.”
“Let me know if you hear anything about Ethan.”
“I will. My stomach is in knots.”
“Mine is, too, and he’s not my kid or nephew.” He gave her arm a squeeze. “Hang in there. We’ll find him.”
“I hope we find him before he does something he can never come back from.”
“I hope so, too.”
After Gonzo left to supervise the investigation at the hotel, Sam returned to Celia’s. It was getting close to eleven when Q walked her to the door.
Nick was seated on the sofa and stood when she came in. “There you are.”
“Here I am.”
He put his arms around her. “I was wondering if we should call Avery,” he said of their friend FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Avery Hill.
“I’m not leading this investigation. Calling him—in any capacity—could get me in a lot of trouble.”
“What if I do it?”
“Well, that’s a different scenario, I suppose.”
“He’s a friend, and if he could help, he’d want to.”
“Yes, he would. I suppose you can text him and see what he says.”
“I’ll do it. Are there any new leads?”
She filled him in on what Archie had found, and he was as shocked as she and Gonzo had been. “Apparently, there’s an entire subculture online devoted to the many ways these men believe women have done them wrong. According to Archie, it’s some pretty sick shit.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“I hadn’t either and still wish I didn’t know about it.”
“You don’t think Ethan would be involved with hurting a girl, do you?”
“I’d like to think no way, but how well do I know him anymore? He’s grown up while I was busy raising my own kids, chasing murderers and being second and then first lady. I hate to say I don’t know him the way I did when he was younger.”
“And naturally, you’re feeling guilty about that.”
“Well, kind of.”
“Sam, please tell me you know there’s no way even you could’ve stopped him from doing something stupid, if that’s what this is. You were a kid once. You remember how it is when your friends talk you into doing something you know you shouldn’t do, but you’re afraid to say no to them.”
“Yes, I remember that pressure.”
“It’s so much worse for these kids, thanks to cell phones, social media, the internet and a million influences that shape them in ways we’re just beginning to understand.
I was briefed on this subject a while back and told how young people are becoming radicalized online.
Homegrown terrorism has become a greater source of concern than foreign threats. ”
“We’ve had some briefings on that at work, too, but it hadn’t played into any of my cases, so I didn’t pay as much attention to it as I probably should have.”
“As much as the internet has revolutionized the way we live and work, it’s created a whole host of other issues that’re becoming more serious all the time.”
“Scary shit.” A shiver of apprehension went through her body. “If this turns out to be something big, I don’t know what’ll become of Tracy and Mike. They barely survived what happened to Brooke.”
“I know. I was thinking the same thing.”
“Auntie Sam.”
Nick released her so she could turn to see Abby.
Sam held out her arms to her niece, who came to her and held on tight. She had dark blonde hair and hazel eyes and looked like her mother had at the same age. “How’re you doing, honey?”
“I’m so worried about Ethan.”
“I know, baby. We all are.”
“He’s been so…”
“What?”
“He’s mean to me. He never used to be. It hurts my feelings.”
“I’m sure it does, and I’m sorry that he’s been like that.” Sam’s heart broke for Abby, who’d take her brother’s harsh treatment hard as such a sensitive soul. “Has he said anything to you that might help us figure out where he might be?”
“I’ve been trying to think about that, but I can’t remember anything that might help, other than him being kind of mean sometimes.”
“Thank you for trying to help. I’m sure we’ll find him soon.”
“What if we don’t? What if he’s gone forever, like Grandpa and Uncle Spencer?”
“He’s not gone forever.” Sam fervently hoped that was true. “He’s probably off having an adventure with his friends and lost track of time.”
She realized they needed to get Abby out of there, which Tracy would’ve determined herself if she hadn’t been so panicked about Ethan. “How about if Uncle Nick takes you back to our house for a sleepover with the kids? Nana is there, too.”
“I have Uma’s birthday party tomorrow.”
“Nana will get you there. What do you think?”
“I guess that would be okay. Will you tell me if you find Ethan?”
“Of course we will. Do you want to go with Uncle Nick?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to your mom and dad about it.”
“Thank you, Sam.”
“No problem.”
Abby took off to get her coat with a new sense of purpose now that there was a plan in place.
“Good call to get her out of here,” Nick said.
“Glad you agree. She doesn’t need to be here for this.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“I don’t want to call my mother and tell her Ethan is missing.”
“She’ll find out soon enough.”
“Still…”
“I know, babe, but asking her to help with Abby will give her something to do, so it’ll help them both.”
“True.” Sam placed the call to her mother, hoping she wasn’t waking her. When she stayed with the kids, she slept in a room in the residence that they’d assigned to her a while ago.
“Hey, how’s date night going?” Brenda asked, sounding sleepy.
“It was great until we got a call from Tracy that Ethan’s missing.”
“What?” her mom said on a gasp. “Missing?”
Sam gave her a brief recap of the evening’s events and told her Nick was heading back to the White House with Abby in tow. “I think it’d help for her to see you when she gets there.”
“I’ll be waiting for her. She can stay in my room if she wants to.”
“I’m sure she’d love that, and there’s a birthday party tomorrow she’s very eager to attend.”
“I’ll get her there. How’s Tracy? I mean… she has to be out of her mind with worry.”
“She is, but we’re doing what we can to help. She’ll be relieved to have you taking care of Abby.”
“Tell her I love her, and I’m praying for our Ethan.”
“I will.”
“You don’t think…”
“I don’t know much of anything yet. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Sam closed her phone and glanced at Nick. “Now I need to tell Trace and Mike that I made plans for Abby.”
“They won’t mind.”
He accompanied her to the kitchen, where her brother-in-law was on the house phone while Tracy listened intently to his side of the conversation.
When he finished the call, he shook his head. “Nothing new. No one seems to know who this Brecken kid is.”
Sam told them about the plan for Abby.
“That’s a good idea,” Mike said wearily. “Thank you for thinking of it.”
“Do you have contact info for the school principal?” Sam asked.
“Just her email,” Tracy said.
“Write down the address. I’ll have Freddie send her an email to tell her what’s going on and ask her to help us figure out who this kid is and where we can find his parents. We’ll tell her it’s an emergency.”
Tracy swallowed hard at the word emergency and wrote down the email address.
Sam walked it out to Freddie and asked him to send the message, even as she wondered whether the principal would see it so late on a weekend night.
While he did that, Sam called her old friend Roberto, who had a job with the city that she helped him get after they both survived their involvement with the Johnson crime family—her as an undercover cop and him as a former member of Johnson’s gang.
He was now a paraplegic after being shot during the final standoff that had led to the death of young Quentin Johnson.
Sam had helped Roberto get the job at DC City Hall.
“Hey, hey, hey, First Lady Cop. Were your ears ringing?”
“Sorry to call so late.”
“Never too late for a call from you. I was just telling my Angel that I needed to reach out about getting a wedding invite to you. If we send it to 1600, will you get it?”
“Why don’t you send it to my sister Tracy’s house just to be sure?” Sam gave him the address. “I’m looking forward to the wedding, but unfortunately, this isn’t a social call.”
“What can I do?”
“I need the personal cell number of the superintendent of schools. You got any way to get that for me? It’s urgent.”
“I’m on it. I’ll call you back.”
“Thanks, friend.”
“Anything for you.”
Sam closed her phone, feeling more anxious with every minute that went by without any word from or about Ethan.
Shortly after Sam sent Abby off with Nick to the White House, a young woman appeared at Celia’s front door, introducing herself as Detective Sergeant Allison Brewer, commander of the Juvenile Investigative Response Unit. “Sergeant Gonzales asked me to come by.”
Sam welcomed her into Celia’s home. “Thank you for coming. I’m Lieutenant Holland.”
“I’m aware,” Brewer said with a small smile. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“I really appreciate you coming so late on a Saturday, and I need another favor right out of the gate.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not the lead on this investigation. Captain Ruiz is, and I’m not supposed to be involved due to a family connection to the case. That said, I want to help, and Sergeant Gonzales, who works with me, suggested calling you in.”
“What am I looking at with Ruiz if she finds out I was here?”
“You could say we called you before assignments were made, and we were looking for advice more than investigative help.”
“That’s a slippery slope.”
“You could add, ‘When a lieutenant asks me to come, I come. Work out the command shit separate from me.’ That way, it’s all my fault. Would that work?”
“You’re okay with that?”
“I’d never want to get you in trouble for coming when we asked you to. I’ll take all the blame for dragging you into it.”
“Um, well, okay, then. What’s going on?”
Sam briefed her on what they knew so far, which wasn’t much, about Ethan and Tomas’s disappearance. “Lieutenant Archelotta from IT has been working on the devices and uncovered an exchange in which the word incel was used.”
“That’s concerning. We’ve seen a huge uptick in activity regarding incel culture and toxic masculinity and have been increasing our presence in the schools in recent months, trying to educate boys in particular about the dangers of being involved in online spaces devoted to misogyny.”
“I’m flying blind on that topic. What do you suggest?”
“Ruiz should call in the FBI. They’re much deeper into this space than we are.”
Sam retrieved the secure BlackBerry she used to communicate with Nick. Send the message to Avery. We need their expertise on this. Ask him to call me as a friend, not as the Homicide LT.
Nick responded right away. Will do.
“What’re you doing?”
“I’m asking my husband to contact our friend Agent Hill so the request doesn’t come from me.”
“This is making me very uncomfortable, Lieutenant. You were ordered to steer clear of the investigation, but you’re calling in the FBI?”
“My husband is asking a friend to help.”
“Is that how the brass will see it? Is that how Captain Ruiz will see it?”
“I’m not concerned about that right now. I want to find my nephew.”
“As do I, but I’m not willing to risk a rap. If it’s just the same with you, I’m going home. If Captain Ruiz requests assistance from my team, we’ll gladly provide it, and I suggest you loop her in on these matters so she can pursue them. I hope you understand.”
Sam held back a frustrated retort that wouldn’t accomplish anything in the effort to find Ethan. “I understand.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I get it.”
“I want you to know I admire you very much.”
“That’s nice to hear. Thank you for coming.”
“I’ll pray for your nephew.”
As the woman departed, Sam wanted to scream with frustration and a powerful feeling of impotence. She was used to taking whatever action necessary to serve her victim of the moment, but in this most important of cases, she was being forced to stand down.