Chapter Twenty-One
While she waited for Malone to arrive, Sam read the reports on the murder of Dale Carver. Gonzo and Freddie had outlined what they’d learned during the canvass of the hotel guests and their discussions with hotel management.
Archie’s team was still reviewing the film, and Freddie had spent most of the previous day assisting with that laborious task.
He and Walters had put together the sequence of events around Carver’s room, indicating two men had been involved and had slipped in and out of the sixth-floor area without showing their faces on camera.
Malone had requested warrants for Carver’s cell phone and the data, and they were awaiting that so they could sift through the data.
Freddie had made a note about wanting to request warrants for the wife’s phone, too. Working a hunch here, he’d noted. Understand we need more to request this one. Will work on that tomorrow.
Sam got on her computer and looked up the Carver family from Spokane, Washington.
She searched for Dale and Trisha Carver and was led to a Facebook account for Trisha, who had posted photos of their young children, a boy and a girl who were adorable blonds with big blue eyes.
Their mother had documented their activities and posted about being a busy mom.
The most recent photos showed a newborn with Dale and Trisha, as well as a photo with the three siblings.
So pleased to announce the arrival of Zachery Paul, born on March 23, weighing in at seven pounds, eight ounces and twenty inches in length. Mom and baby are both doing great. Big sister, Reagan, and big brother, Cody, are thrilled to meet baby Zach. We are blessed.
Sam hurt for a woman she’d never met and might never know. To have three young children, including a newborn, and get the call that her husband had been murdered—it was an unimaginable tragedy. She wondered why Freddie wanted a look at Trisha’s phone and made a note to ask him.
Detectives Dani Carlucci and Gigi Dominguez came into the pit, stopping short outside her open door.
“What’re you doing here, Lieutenant?” Carlucci asked.
“Couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d come in and make myself useful.”
“Did you hear that Luna Ahern has been located?” Dominguez asked.
“I did. I just talked to Captain Malone.”
“We heard she’s in bad shape,” Carlucci said, frowning. “They aren’t sure she’s going to make it. You’d have to be a fucking animal to leave a child locked in a storage unit, not to mention what else she may have endured.”
Dominguez shuddered.
Her taller partner put an arm around her. “Sorry.”
“I’m fine.”
Gigi had been attacked and sexually assaulted in her home by the ex-girlfriend of Detective Cameron Green, who was now involved with Gigi.
Understanding that Gigi didn’t want to be treated differently, Sam said, “Anything new on the Carver case?”
“The financials are interesting,” Gigi said. “Everything is in the wife’s name. Dale didn’t have so much as a bank account to call his own.”
“What did he do for work?”
“He was in sales with an agricultural company and was here for meetings with USDA.”
“The wife’s sister told Gonzo that he was a recovering addict, so that might be why everything is in her name.”
“I saw that Freddie made a note about getting warrants for her phone,” Sam said. “What’s the thinking there?”
“His theory was that if Dale had started using again, maybe she hired someone to deal with him while he was out of town so she could be rid of him once and for all,” Dani said.
“They both have life insurance policies worth two-point-five million dollars each,” Gigi said.
Sam let out a low whistle. “That’s a hefty amount.”
“They were issued more than ten years ago,” Gigi said. “I dug a little deeper and found that Trisha Carver’s father owns a huge insurance company in the Spokane area. It might’ve been something he set up for them.”
Sam mulled over the new information. “So it’s not like she just got this huge policy for him and then bumped him off. She’s known all along that she’d cash in if he died.”
“They both knew that, which is a hell of a piece of information to walk through life with as a married couple,” Dani said. Affecting a darker tone, she added, “‘Don’t piss me off. You’re worth more to me dead than alive.’”
“How often do you suppose one of them trotted that out during a fight?” Gigi asked.
“Right?” Dani said.
“I want to know more about his addiction and recovery,” Sam said.
“We can talk to the sister in the morning,” Dani said. “She could fill in some more of the blanks.”
“I have her info here in the report,” Sam said. “I’ll call her.”
“Remember, they’re three hours behind us,” Dani said. “Not that I think they’re getting much sleep with this going on and a new baby to care for.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” Sam said. “I probably wouldn’t have thought of the time difference.”
“How’s Ethan?” Gigi asked.
“Last I heard, he was resting comfortably.”
“And Tracy?” Dani asked.
“Trying to recover her nervous system.”
“I can’t imagine,” Gigi said. “What a terrible thing. Did Ethan say anything about what happened?”
“Just that Brecken Mayfield befriended them, and the dad gave them a ride. They were pushed into Asher’s car, zip-tied and their phones apparently used to lure Luna before they were shut off. Ethan said he hadn’t texted Luna, so the texts must’ve come from the Mayfields.”
“It’s so sick,” Dani said. “All because Luna wasn’t interested in Brecken?”
“We believe that was the primary reason.”
“This is why I stay away from all men,” Dani said. “How do you know which ones you can trust?”
“You trust the one who never wavers in his devotion to you,” Gigi said quietly, speaking from some experience.
“You choose the one who’d push you out of the way of a speeding car and take the hit so you aren’t hurt.
You choose the one who shows up, every day, with the same exact intentions he had the day before. That’s the one you choose.”
“Well said,” Sam said softly. “And I’ll add that you choose the one you couldn’t possibly live without once you know he’s in the world.”
“Yes,” Gigi said. “That, too. For sure.”
“You guys got lucky. Not everyone does.”
“That’s very true,” Gigi said, “but just because you haven’t met him yet doesn’t mean he’s not out there waiting to find you.”
“If you say so,” Dani said with a grin for her partner. “For now, I’m all about avoidance.”
At seven, Dani and Gigi handed off to the day shift and went home to get some rest. On the way out of the pit, Sam saw Gigi squeeze Cameron’s arm before they parted company.
She loved the two of them together and had encouraged their relationship.
They rarely worked on the same shift, and neither of them supervised the other, so it was no big deal to her.
She enjoyed seeing them happy, especially after what they’d been through with exes who’d refused to take “no more” for an answer. Gigi had been badly beaten by her ex-boyfriend, and then they’d both faced a nightmare at the hands of Cameron’s ex-girlfriend Jaycee.
They were still facing a wrongful death lawsuit from Jaycee’s family, which claimed she and her mother had died because of Cameron and Gigi.
That was false. Sam was convinced the lawsuit would go nowhere, but it was still stressful for her detectives—and friends—to have to deal with that on top of the emotional fallout from the trauma.
When the day team was gathered in the conference room, Sam updated them on the developments from overnight. “I’m still waiting to hear something about Luna’s condition. I heard from Tracy that they all got some sleep overnight, and they expect Ethan and Tomas to be discharged later today.”
The others expressed relief that both boys had been found safe.
“Moving on to the Carver case, Gonzo and Freddie, can you please provide an update on what we know so far?”
Gonzo began with a recitation of the facts of the case thus far and the canvass he’d overseen at the hotel. Freddie picked it up with the review he’d done with Sergeant Walters from IT and how that part of the investigation was ongoing.
He’d no sooner said that than Walters came to the door, holding up a thumb drive. “Cruz asked me to bring this down and walk you through it.”
Walters went to the computer terminal at the front of the room and projected video onto the screen that showed a man in a black hoodie strolling confidently through the lobby toward the elevators.
“We picked him up getting off the elevator on the sixth floor about twenty minutes before the time of death assigned by the ME. He goes into the ice room and doesn’t come out.
But what’s interesting is that another guy, dressed similarly, entered the sixth floor from the stairwell.
Here he comes now. He knocks on the door to Carver’s room, and he’s admitted as if he’d been expected.
“Both men ensured their faces weren’t picked up on video, which means they knew where the cameras were.”
Which spoke to premeditation, Sam thought.
“Keep watching,” Walter said.
A few minutes after the guy was admitted to the room, Carver came out, carrying the ice bucket.
“Wait for it,” Walters said.
Another minute passed before the other guy ducked out of the ice room and exited the hallway at the stairwell.
“Total setup,” Gonzo said.
“I was thinking professional job,” Cameron added.
“Well done, Sergeant Walters and Detective Cruz,” Sam said. “Thank you for your hard work on this case.”
“Glad to help.” Walters ejected the thumb drive and handed it to Gonzo, who was seated closest to him. “We’ll continue to work on reviewing on the outside cameras in the area to see if we can find anything else that might help. We’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks again, Sarge,” Gonzo said. “Great job.”
Walters was smiling as he left the room.
“Well,” Detective Neveah Charles said, “now we know how it went down. What’s our next move?”
“When considering motive,” Gonzo said, “I keep coming back to the wife.”