Chapter Twenty-Nine
Agent Q stayed with them while Vernon consulted with other agents who must’ve been summoned to support them as they took her into a home that was overrun with people.
“Have you heard anything from Jimmy?” Sam asked Q, wanting to take her mind off what she was about to do.
“I talked to him yesterday. He’s up and about and itching to come back to work—literally, he said. The wound is itchy, and it’s making him crazy.”
“Glad to hear he’s on the mend, but sorry to hear about the itching. When will he be able to come back?”
“In about three weeks. You’re stuck with me until then.”
“Happy to have you, but I wish Jimmy hadn’t gotten hurt protecting me.”
“I shouldn’t say this, and Vernon would have my head for it, but… In our line of work, saving a protectee leads to a certain amount of, shall we call it… swagger?”
Freddie chuckled. “In other words, Jimmy will always be the guy who saved the first lady.”
“That,” Q said. “Exactly.”
“Thank you for elaborating, Detective Cruz,” Sam said sarcastically. “I doubt I could’ve ascertained his meaning without your help.”
“Please. You’re about to fall over. It would’ve taken you two days to piece that together.”
“Don’t tell Vernon I said that, okay?” Q said. “I’d never want to be quoted as saying getting injured on the job is a good thing.”
“What happens in the SUV stays in the SUV,” Sam reminded him. “But I’m glad to know that saving my ass might’ve given Agent McFarland some bragging rights.”
“For the rest of his life,” Q said.
Sam would’ve been amused by that at any other time, but a visit with the parents of a murdered child cast a pall over everything. By the time Vernon came to retrieve them, she’d worked herself into an anxious mess.
“Sorry it took so long,” Vernon said. “We asked the visitors in the house to wait outside while we bring you in.”
“I don’t like disrupting them that way.”
“I understand, but it was too many people, and they were fine with it. They said the parents want to see you.”
She walked with Vernon and Freddie to the Aherns’ front door, where they were let in by a woman with dark hair and red, swollen eyes. It took a second for Sam to recognize her as the woman on the porch who’d freaked out the first time they met.
“I’m Court’s sister, Janelle. Thank you for coming by.”
“Of course. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. This way.”
She led Sam to the same room where she’d met Court and Jordy the first time she’d been there. Like then, they sat close to each other, hands tightly grasped.
Sam ached for them as Janelle told them she was there.
When they looked up at her, they barely resembled the people they’d been only a couple of days ago.
Court broke down.
Sam went to sit beside her, putting her arms around the grieving mother. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt my little girl,” Court said between sobs. “She’s… she’s my whole world. What do I do now? No one can tell me what to do.”
“I don’t have the answers you need, but I want you to know I’ll be right here by your side through this entire process.”
Though she was fully focused on Court, Sam saw Freddie wiping tears from his face as he stood in the doorway.
“It means a lot to us that you stopped by,” Jordy said.
“I so wish we’d been able to bring about a different outcome. Everyone who worked on this case is devastated by the loss of Luna. We’ve all come to love her as we tried to find her.”
“We appreciate what everyone did for her and for us,” he said. “Please let them know.”
“I will. When the time is right, I’ll tell you more about the grief group we run at MPD headquarters for victims of violent crime.”
He nodded to let her know he’d heard her.
“I won’t take any more of your time, but you have my number, and if you’d like, I can keep you informed about developments in the case.”
“We’d like to know that,” he said as Court nodded.
“I’ll take care of that personally. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.”
“Thank you again for coming by.”
Sam hugged them both before she got up to leave.
“Lieutenant.”
She turned back to face Court.
“They… they made her suffer before they killed her. Make sure they pay for that.”
“I will. I promise.”
Sam hooked her arm through Freddie’s and let him lead her to the door since she was blinded by tears.
No matter how many years she spent in the Homicide division, the senselessness of murder never got easier to comprehend.
That people could be so cruel to each other, that one person could steal another’s life…
She’d never become accustomed to how often that happened.
And when a child was murdered…
Nothing was worse than that.
Outside, Freddie wrapped her up in a tight hug.
Normally, Sam would tell him she was fine, but she wasn’t.
Not this time. That beautiful child hadn’t deserved to die this way, and when she thought of the many opportunities there’d been to put the Mayfields away for life, she became enraged on behalf of Luna and her parents, as well as Ethan, Tomas and their families.
The boys had thankfully survived, but would have to live with the horror and trauma of this incident for the rest of their lives.
After a few minutes, she pulled back from Freddie, wiped her face and tried to get herself together while he did the same.
Vernon handed them tissues, which they gratefully accepted.
“I’d ask how they’re doing…” Vernon said.
Sam shook her head and found there were no words, even for him.
“I’ll go to the Metro, Vernon,” Freddie said when they were settled in the back seat of the SUV.
“Got it.”
As they pulled away from the curb, Freddie put his hand on top of Sam’s.
She turned her hand to clasp his, thankful for his steadfast support through the few ups and many downs of this difficult career. On days like this, she wondered if she could bear to go back for more tomorrow.
They rode in silence until Vernon pulled up to the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.
Freddie looked over at her. “Will you be okay?”
“Of course I will. What choice do I have? We have to be okay so that we can make things okay for them. Not that they’ll ever be okay again, but we can help get justice for them. If you need to take some time tomorrow, go ahead.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know, and you do the same. After these last couple of weeks, no one would blame you if you took a month off.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He released her hand with a final squeeze and got out of the SUV. “Call if you need me during the night.”
“I will.”
He shut the door and took off at a jog toward the station, always eager to get home to his wife.
As Vernon drove her home, she caught him taking occasional glances at her in the mirror, checking to make sure she was all right.
“It’s always so much worse when it’s kids,” she said after a long silence.
“I know.”
“And to find out that their parole officers lost track of them. I fear that’s going to haunt us all.”
“It might,” Vernon said, “but maybe it should.”
“Yeah, I guess, but it’s just another hit on top of all the others.”
“I know it’s almost impossible but try to leave it all behind and get some rest tonight.”
“I’ll try.”
He pulled up to the door at the White House a short time later, and when George, one of the ushers, came out to greet her, she wondered if Vernon had called ahead to say she was in rough shape. Her suspicions were confirmed when Nick followed George out the door.
“I’ve got this, George,” Nick said as he helped her out of the car. He put his arm around her and took her inside and straight up the stairs to the residence.
“I really need to see my kids.”
“They’re asleep. They all conked out early.”
“That’s okay. I can still kiss them good night.
” She stopped first at the twins’ room, adjusted their covers and kissed their soft, sweet heads and whispered that she loved them.
Then she went to Scotty’s room and did the same with him, giving Skippy, the dog, a pat on the head before she left them to sleep.
They went into their room and closed the door, sealing off the outside world for a few precious hours.
“I hate that I haven’t seen them in two days and missed a whole weekend with them. What kind of mother does that make me?”
“A working mother who was sucked into a particularly difficult situation and handled it as well as she could, as she always does. Ethan needed you this weekend more than our kids did.”
“In the meantime, my kids are at home sick with strep, and I’m nowhere to be found.”
“They’re fine, your mom took great care of them, and I was with them most of this afternoon and evening. They’re much better and will be able to go to school tomorrow.”
Sam sat on the bed, too tired to even get undressed. “That’s good news.”
Nick sat next to her, took her hand and said, “What do you need, love?”
“I don’t even know. I’m all over the place tonight. I’ve just come from seeing Luna Ahern’s parents.”
“I know. I heard.”
“Did Vernon call ahead?”
“Maybe, but I’m glad he did.”
“Me, too. It was a tough one. I also found out that Probation had been looking for them for a long time and had lost track of them while Asher Mayfield was trafficking girls through his storage units.” She shuddered as she said those words.
“If only they’d sounded the alarm or said something or tried a little harder or asked for help looking for them, who knows what could’ve been avoided here? ”
“So now, on top of everything else, you’re feeling guilty because you weren’t able to prevent this from happening?”
“I’m sad that there’re so many of them and so few of us and that there’re always going be some who slip through the cracks, which allows things like this to happen.
I’m not blaming the Probation team. I’m sure they did what they could to find people who knew how to stay missing, but I wish more could’ve been done. ”
“The odds are stacked against you, babe, with far more bad guys outnumbering the good guys. You’ll never win them all. That’s just how it works.”
“I don’t like how it works. I don’t like that so many of them slide through the gaps in the system and keep committing crimes that ruin people’s lives forever. Those poor parents… Life as they know it is over, and it’s so senseless.”
“Murder is always senseless.”
“That sounds like something I would say, and it’s probably trademarked.”
He smiled and rested his head against hers. “How about I draw you a bath?”
“That’d be awesome.”
She rested her head against a pillow, processing the events of the day until he returned.
“Bath is ready, love,” Nick said.
Sam walked into the bathroom, dropping clothes as she went, and slipped into the tub a minute later, sighing from the pleasure of the hot water and bath oil. “This was just what I needed.”
“Don’t fall asleep. Not sure I could get you out of there.” He left the room for a few minutes and returned with a glass of wine that he handed to her as he took a seat next to the tub, holding a short glass of bourbon for himself.
He touched his glass to hers, and while she soaked, he silently provided his love and support, giving her space to cope with a difficult day.
“Scotty must be in his feelings about Ethan.”
“He is, and he’s eager to see him. I told him we need to give Ethan a little space right now.”
“Maybe we can arrange a phone call for them tomorrow. I’ll ask Tracy about it.”
“How are things with her and Mike?”
“Not good at all. She’s talking about divorcing him and asking for full custody.”
“No way.”
“Yeah,” Sam said with a sigh. “It’s bad. I’m not sure they’ll be able to come back from this.”
“Wow, I can’t imagine the two of them not together.”
“Me either. They’ve been a couple since I was still a kid. And you know I consider him a brother.”
“Hell, I do, too.”
“As much as I love Mike, though, I totally see where Tracy’s coming from. Apparently, he told her she was being overprotective and hysterical, among other things he never should’ve said.”
“Yeah, that’s not necessary.”
“The minute he seemed to side with Ethan, she lost the fight, and I’m not sure she’ll forgive him for that. Especially now that Ethan has to live with having been involved in something that led to the violent death of another kid. How does he even begin to cope with that?”
“I don’t know, but hopefully, with time and patience and therapy, he’ll get back on track.”
“I hope so, but I hate that this’ll always be tied to him, and that’s the part Tracy is the most upset about, too. In addition to his own ordeal, of course.”
“I’m sure Mike is just as upset about all of it.”
“Of course he is, but he made a huge mistake in judgment that led to this. It makes no sense when you consider what they went through with Brooke.”
“I’ve been grappling with that myself, like how does he not become a more protective parent after that?”
“Exactly. But as much as I see Tracy’s point, I sure as hell feel for him, too. He certainly never wanted anything like this to happen.”
“No, he didn’t. What do you think will happen now?”
“I have no idea, but I’m really worried about them all.”
“I am, too.”