Chapter Fourteen
“Tell us what Louis did,” Sam said as a buzz worked its way down her backbone the way it did whenever they were about to get a big break in a case.
She glanced at Freddie and couldn’t wait to tell him what a great call he’d made about interviewing Thelma, which might bust this investigation wide open.
“My kids… Their father died when they were young, and we struggled for years after we lost him. I was so heartbroken and absolutely lost without him to help me get through life. He was… He was everything to me.”
Freddie left the room and came back with a box of tissues that he put on the table in front of Thelma.
“I struggled terribly, especially with making enough money to pay the rent and for daycare and food and clothes. I was underwater all the time, constantly living in fear that we’d end up homeless.
” She used a tissue to wipe the tears from her face.
“I met Louis through a work friend, and he was so kind and reassuring. My mother and sisters were opposed to me marrying him because he could be stubborn and argumentative at times. But he seemed to really love the kids as much as I did, so when he asked me to marry him, it was such a relief to know I wouldn’t be supporting them by myself anymore. ”
More tissues were used to wipe up the flood of tears.
“For a while, everything was great. We moved into Louis’s townhouse, and he seemed happy to be part of a family, even though he had older kids who were in college by then.
He was kind to my kids, and they liked him, too.
But over time, I started to notice things he’d kept hidden from me before we were married. ”
“Like what?” Sam asked, glancing up from the notes she was taking.
“For one thing, he drank. A lot. Every night after work, he’d start in on the whiskey and soda the minute he got home, right up until he passed out in his recliner hours later.
The kids began to annoy him with their ‘racket,’ as he called it.
I tried to keep them quiet, but they were kids…
” She sighed. “He was particularly hard on King.”
“How so?”
“My little boy was exceptionally bright. He’d skipped third grade altogether and was enrolled in classes for gifted students.
Louis would mock him and tell him he thought he was an actual king and too good for his own stepdaddy.
That kind of thing. King didn’t understand what that even meant and tried to stay out of his way.
But the older King got, the harder it became to avoid the mocking, the derision, the racism…
Louis would say the last thing the world needed was another uppity N-word. ”
What a revolting thing to say, Sam thought, especially to a child.
“I begged him not to use that word in our home or to speak to my son that way, but Louis told me I was welcome to leave at any time if I didn’t like the rules in his home.
” Sobbing, she dropped her head into her hands.
“It’s my fault. I should’ve left the first time he said that to King.
I should’ve left him. But I knew what it’d be like to try to support us on my salary alone and how impossible it would be to feed two growing kids and provide for them…
So I stayed. And I’ve regretted that every day since he… ”
“What did he do, Thelma?”
“They got into a huge fight over the way King spoke to him.”
“How did King speak to him?”
“He hardly said a word to him, and when he did, it was usually a one-word answer, the bare minimum. He went out of his way to avoid Louis, but that just added to Louis’s ire where my son was concerned.
He couldn’t do anything right. The kids begged me to leave…
They said they’d rather be homeless than live with him for another day, but I was terrified.
We’d have nowhere to go. I hadn’t seen my mother and sisters in years by then.
The few friends I used to have were long gone.
I couldn’t imagine trying to make it on my own with two kids to care for.
” She looked up at Sam, her face ravaged.
“I can’t tell you how much I came to regret that decision. ”
After another long pause to get herself together, she continued.
“That night, the night it happened, he asked King if he’d taken out the trash, and King said yes as he walked past him to go upstairs.
Louis grabbed his arm and spun him around.
The next thing I knew, he had King on the ground and was strangling him.
They were rolling on the floor, and King was choking and gasping.
I screamed at Louis to stop. I jumped on top of him, and he threw me off like I was a rag doll.
I begged him to stop… But he just kept choking him until King stopped fighting back. ”
Sam ached for King, Amara and even Thelma…
“What happened next?” Sam asked.
“He seemed surprised when he snapped out of the rage and saw that King wasn’t moving.
Then he panicked and told me to do something with him.
I was hysterical, but I asked what he expected me to do.
I couldn’t move him. He outweighed me by fifty pounds at that point.
That’s when Louis rolled him up in an area rug and carried him down to the garage.
He put him in the trunk of his car and told me to come with him, or he’d tell the police that I was the one who’d killed him.
All I could think of when he said that was Amara and what would become of her if she ended up alone with that man.
So I went along with him. I did what he told me to do. I said what he told me to say.”
“Where was Amara when this was happening?” Sam asked.
“She was at a sleepover at her friend’s house.”
“Would it surprise you to learn that she came home in the middle of this incident and witnessed the whole thing?”
Thelma’s mouth fell open. “What? No, she did not.”
“Yes, she did. That’s how we found out about it. That’s why you and Louis were taken into custody today.”
“Today…” Thelma blinked twice as she seemed to make the connection to the date. “She reported it today?”
“She did.”
“She’s… She’s eighteen today. I bought an ice cream cake for her.”
“Do you understand why she waited until today?” Sam asked.
“I guess so she’d be an adult and able to decide what comes next for herself.”
“That’s right. And what’s next for her is that she’s fully prepared to testify against you and Louis for murdering her brother and covering that up for six years while you accepted the community’s generosity after the tragic murder of your son.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“You knew who did all this time and didn’t report it.”
“Do you want to know why?”
“Yes, please enlighten me.”
“Because he told me that he had friends ready to do away with me and Amara if I breathed a word of it to anyone. And, he said, he’d make sure we suffered for every year he’d been forced to put up with us. After what I’d seen him do to my son, I believed him.”
“Thank you for sharing your story with us,” Sam said, appreciating the courage it’d taken.
“What’s going to happen now?”
“We’ll confer with the Assistant U.S. Attorney and see what she thinks.”
While they stood to leave the room, Thelma nodded and reached for another tissue. “I don’t care what happens to me, but I hope that son of a bitch spends the rest of his miserable life in prison.”
Freddie ended the recording before he followed Sam into the hallway where Hope and Malone waited for them.
“Wow,” Hope said. “Like with Amara, I believe her.”
“I do, too.”
“Same,” Freddie said.
“Ditto,” Malone added.
“Will this be enough for McDermott on top of what Amara gave us?” Sam asked Hope.
“Let me go back to her. I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Hope.”
After she and Malone had walked away, Sam turned to Freddie. “Talking to her was a very good call on your part. Well done, Detective.”
“Thank you. What do you think will happen now?”
“If there’s any justice in this world, then Louis Bingham will be charged with first-degree murder. Let’s do a deep dive into him and see who we’re dealing with.”
They ran into Malone on the way back to the pit. “The White House has identified our John Doe as Sergei Ivanov, a well-known Russian activist who’s been on the front lines of criticizing the Petrov regime.”
“Oh my God, Gretchen Henderson’s Russian is our John Doe,” Sam said. “Holy shit.”
“Um, what?” Malone asked.
She filled him and Freddie in on the news about Gretchen that the rest of the world would soon learn. “Keep that between us until it’s made public.”
Freddie folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. “Jeez, I hate this for Nick. It’s the last thing he needs.”
“I knew she was bad news,” Sam said. “I knew it.”
“You did?” Malone asked. “Really?”
“Oh yeah. From the word go, I didn’t get a good vibe from her.”
“Did you tell Nick?” Freddie asked.
“I did, but they were already committed to her, and it would’ve looked bad for him to backpedal at that point.” After a pause, Sam added, “I, um… I need a minute.” To Freddie, she added, “Start that deep dive on Bingham, okay?”
“Yeah, I’m on it. Are you okay?”
“I… I don’t know what I am. I need to talk to him.
I’ll be right back.” She went into her office and closed the door, leaning back against it for a minute, eyes closed, trying to imagine what must be happening at the White House.
She pulled the BlackBerry from her back pocket and called him, not expecting him to answer.
“Hey.”
“I just heard...”
“That you’ve got Gretchen’s Russian in your morgue?”
“Yes. Nick… What happens now?”
“That’s the question of the day here. The FBI is talking to her. I’ll be surprised if they don’t file some sort of charges, but I don’t know exactly what to expect. That part of it will be determined by the AG and the Justice Department.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’ll deal with it and keep pushing forward.”
He sounded exhausted and demoralized, which infuriated her on his behalf. “I wish there was something I could say other than I love you and I’m here for you.”