Chapter Fifteen
While Freddie went to check on Thelma, Sam texted Tracy. Checking in to see how it’s going.
It’s going. We’re talking to your lovely Dr. Trulo, and he’s helping.
We made a lot of progress today. Mike took ownership of the mistakes he made, which makes a big difference to me.
We went for coffee after our session and talked about a lot of things.
He’s moving back home, and we’re going to work on it. That’s where we are right now.
Sam was elated to hear that Mike would be moving home. That’s tremendous progress. I’m so glad to hear you’re talking. How do you feel about it?
I feel better than I did. I’m not completely “over it,” but him taking ownership really helped. He gets it. That matters.
Yes, it does. Call me if you need to talk.
I will.
Love you.
Love you, too.
Hit me up later.
Tracy replied with a thumbs-up emoji.
Sam was so happy for Tracy—and for Mike. While she felt for both of them and wanted them to find their way back to each other, she’d empathized more with Tracy in this case.
Sam, too, hadn’t understood why Mike would allow their eleven-year-old son to wander the city with his friends.
He was too young for that kind of freedom.
Then Ethan went missing, and their marriage blew up under the strain of those excruciating few days when they hadn’t been sure they’d ever see their son again.
The trauma wouldn’t soon fade for any of them.
She’d no sooner had that thought than Captain Ruiz appeared at her door. “Is this a better time?”
No, it isn’t. “Sure, come in.”
Ruiz walked in and closed the door behind her. The captain was about five seven, with a curvy body, dark curly hair and brown eyes.
Sam gestured for her to take one of the visitor chairs. “What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to talk to you about the Mayfield case.”
“What about it?”
“I believe you already know what I want to talk about.”
“How I failed to follow orders during the case?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Okay.”
With her hands folded on the desk, Sam waited for Ruiz to articulate her concerns.
“I understand that you were upset about your nephew being missing.”
“I was extremely upset. He, his siblings and cousins are very important to me. Hearing he was missing was one of the most traumatizing moments of my life.”
“Which is why you were asked to stand down and let others handle the investigation.”
“Right.”
Ruiz tipped her head as she studied Sam intently. “Are you being intentionally obtuse?”
“I’m sorry. What?”
“You keep agreeing with me that you were defying orders, and yet, you understood what you were being told to do.”
“Oh, I figured we agreed that both those things were true. I understood I was being told to stand down, and I defied orders by investigating the case anyway, doing the one thing in this whole world I’m allegedly good at to help find my beloved nephew.
Yes, I did that. And you want to know what?
I have zero regrets. Not a single one. He’s home safe where he belongs, and everyone who loves him can breathe easier knowing he’s safe.
That’s literally all that matters to me. ”
“It doesn’t matter to you that your detectives and others within the department witnessed you defying orders and investigating a case that involved your immediate family? Does it matter that when you give them the same order, they may defy you?”
“I’d never expect one of my detectives to sit passively on the sidelines if a member of their family was missing.
As the people closest to the missing person, they could be enormously helpful in bringing their loved one home safely.
They know better than anyone who the person’s friends are, where they spend time, where they might’ve gone, etcetera. ”
“Granted, but you know as well as I do that someone close to the person can become a liability very quickly.”
“That is true, but in this case, I was an asset, not a liability. I was able to facilitate multiple levels of investigation simultaneously while you and your team pursued other avenues. The end result was that two of three children came home safely. The loss of Luna is a tragedy we’re all still processing.
My only regret was not putting the pieces together fast enough to save her, too. ”
“I feel like we’re talking in circles here.”
“I get that you’re concerned about rules and regulations and the need for subordinate officers to follow the orders of their commanders.
I truly get that, and ninety-nine percent of the time, I’m on the same page with you about that.
In this one case, there was no way I could sit idly by and do nothing when I have the skills and experience to help bring about a successful conclusion.
I apologize that I stepped on your toes and was out of line and for anything I did that I shouldn’t have done in the effort to bring my nephew home. ”
“It’s not just this one case, Lieutenant. You’re known for frequently coloring outside the lines.”
“Am I?”
Ruiz’s huff of disbelief almost made Sam laugh. Thankfully, she was able to contain the laughter that would’ve only further infuriated the captain. “Please don’t act like you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about!”
“I get results, Captain. I get convictions. I’m not sure what else you could want from me beyond a ninety-plus-percent case-closure rate and a nearly perfect prosecutorial track record.”
“There’s a right way and a wrong way to achieve those goals.”
“My way works, and I have many, many families who tell me regularly how much they appreciate my efforts to gain justice for their murdered loved ones. It matters to them, Captain, that the person who took the life of someone they love isn’t out there going about their business while their lives are forever changed by violent crime.
It matters to them that the person who killed their loved one is locked up for life.
That’s what I give them. That’s my entire focus every time I step foot in this place.
That’s all I think about until the killer is in custody.
If you want me to do the job a different way, then please, by all means, tell me how I should be doing it. Tell me how you’d do it.”
Ruiz stared her down for a long moment. “Clearly, you’re not interested in any kind of self-reflection or constructive criticism, so I’ll leave it at this: Be careful, Lieutenant.
Your protectors won’t always be running this place, and someday you may have to actually answer for your lack of discipline. ”
“Duly noted.”
When the captain got up to leave, Sam exhaled a deep breath of relief to be done with that mess.
Why was it that when some people achieved a certain rank or status, they had to flex their muscles with their subordinates whenever possible?
Sam would never understand that kind of leadership.
It hadn’t been her dad’s style, and it certainly wasn’t hers.
She didn’t need to remind everyone she was in charge.
The people who needed to know that understood and respected her authority.
She shook off the unpleasant encounter and went out to the pit to see where they were with the investigation.
“All good with Ruiz?” Freddie asked.
“Who knows? She had an ax to grind, and she grinded it.” Sam shrugged. “I hope she feels better now that she has that off her chest.”
“I assume you told her you have no regrets?”
“I did. That went over as expected.”
“Welp… What can you do? Not everyone will agree with our methodology, but they can’t argue with our results.”
“That’s exactly what I said, and thank you for including yourself in our methodology.”
“We’re a team, you and me.”
Smiling, she said, “Yes, we are, and I never take your support for granted.”
“I know that.”
“Let’s talk to Thelma again.”
When they arrived outside the room, Sam nodded to the Patrol officer who was standing watch. “Thanks for your help.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
As Sam and Freddie entered the room, Thelma looked up at them with an expression of pure dread, as if to ask, What now?
“What did you know about Louis before you married him?” Sam asked.
“He… um… He was from upstate New York and had two older kids he wasn’t close to, as well as three brothers and a sister he was close to, for the most part, anyway.
He’d been a teacher in the past, but he left that job because he couldn’t stand the kids or their parents.
He said he wasn’t sure which was worse.”
“What did he do for work when you met him?”
“He was running a handyman business and was doing quite well. He later went to work for a construction company, managing their projects.”
“This is a question I ordinarily would never ask a woman who’s been stuck in a violent relationship, but could you have left?”
“Every time he got even so much as the slightest hint that I might be considering leaving, he’d remind me again that he’d hunt me down and kill me—and my daughter—if I dared to leave him.
Because I’d seen what he was capable of, I stayed, but I’ve kept my distance as best I could while living in the same house. ”
Sam’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the caller ID to see that it was Vernon. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back.”
She stepped out of the interview room. “What’s up?”
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got people from the Russian Embassy out here, demanding access to the body of their countryman.”
“For fuck’s sake with this day.” She massaged the spot between her brows where a headache was forming. “Let me talk to one of them.”
“It’s on speaker,” Vernon said. “Go ahead.”
“We can’t release the body until our medical examiner has completed her work.”
“You don’t touch the body,” he said with a heavy Russian accent. “We take him.”
“That’s not how this works. If you give me a phone number, we’ll notify you when you can pick him up.”
“We pick him up now.”
“Sam,” Vernon said in a lowered voice, “this is not a good situation. We need them out of here or you out of there.”
She walked toward Malone’s office. “I’ll get someone to deal with them. Stand by.” After closing the phone, she ducked her head into the captain’s office. “We’ve got Russians storming the morgue entrance. My detail is freaking out. Can we send some people out there to get rid of them?”
“Yeah, I’m already on it. I was just headed that way to make sure Patrol has it under control.
” Sam walked with him toward the morgue.
“We just talked to Thelma Bingham again. The more I talk to her, the more I’m seeing her as a victim of this guy and not a perpetrator.
He threatened her life and that of her daughter if she tried to leave, and after seeing him kill her son with his bare hands, she believed him. ”
“I tend to agree. You’ll have to sell it to McDermott, of course.”
“Of course. I spoke with Ruiz.”
“How’d that go?”
“She’d probably say it was a waste of her time.”
“Sam…”
“What? I was nice and respectful, and I engaged in the conversation.”
“I’ll bet you did.”
“I did! She doesn’t agree with me that family members should be involved in cases where we’re able to be helpful like I was.”
“Oy vey, Holland. I’m sure I’ll be hearing all about it.”
“She did mention that I won’t always have my protectors in place around here. I can’t imagine what she’s talking about with that nonsense.”
A huff of laughter was his only response.
Lindsey came out of the morgue as they approached. “So, weird thing… I can’t find any cause of death for Ivanov. Other than the postmortem injuries sustained when they pushed the body out of the moving vehicle and possible ligature marks on his wrists, there’re no injuries of any kind.”
“Isn’t poison the murder weapon of choice for Petrov dissenters if a hotel balcony or high-rise window isn’t available?” Malone asked.
“That’s my thought, too. I’ve sent the tox screen to the lab and will keep you posted on what they find.”
“Thanks, Linds,” Sam said.
“What’s going on out there?”
“The Russians want their guy back, and my detail is not happy.”
Lindsey shook her head with grim amusement. “This place gets nuttier all the time.”
“Sure does.”
Sam and Malone pushed through the morgue door and encountered a full-on conflagration between Patrol, Vernon, Q and the Russians, who’d arrived in two black SUVs with diplomatic plates.
Speaking of international incidents…
Vernon appeared out of the scrum and hustled her back inside.
“Hey, it was just getting interesting out there.”
“Not funny, Sam. These guys are pissed off. They’d love to get their hands on you.”
He was as stressed out as Sam had ever seen him.
“Thanks for letting me know there were Russians after you,” he added.
“They’re not after me.”
“Maybe not, but you’d be one hell of a prize.”
“Everyone is on my case today.” The grinding anxiety from earlier resurfaced with a swiftness that stole her breath.
“Why’d you just go pale?”
“I don’t know. I’m feeling weird lately.”
“Weird how?”
“Super anxious. I have no idea why or how to stop it or—”
A massive explosion rocked the building and knocked them off their feet.