Chapter Ten
Gonzo and Cameron arrived in the Embassy Row neighborhood where Patrol had taped off a crime scene and were holding back the spectators who were always so interested in someone else’s misfortune.
“What’ve we got?” Gonzo asked Patrol Officer Watts, who greeted them.
He’d met him during a previous case and recalled thinking that Watts, with his buzzed blond hair and lingering acne, looked like a teenager.
Newer officers were all so young these days.
They made him feel like he was sixty rather than thirty-six.
“White male, estimated early forties. Judging by the road rash on his hands and face, we think he might’ve been tossed out of a moving vehicle, but we can’t say for sure if he was already dead when that happened.”
The dead man was bald, with a dark goatee and a muscular build. He wore a plain white T-shirt and black gym shorts.
“No wallet, phone or ID,” Watts added. “ME is on the way.”
“Do me a favor and start a canvass of the area for camera footage.”
“My partner is already on it. I was just waiting to join her after you guys arrived.”
“Great job, Watts. Thank you.”
“You got it, Sarge.”
“What’re you thinking?” Cameron asked as he crouched for a closer look at the man’s injuries.
“No idea,” Gonzo said. “Hopefully, we can ID him quickly to start digging in.”
Cam pointed to faint lines on the man’s wrist. “Are those ligature marks?”
“Could be.”
They took photos of the man’s obvious injuries and wider shots to show the location of the body in relation to nearby landmarks and buildings.
Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Byron Tomlinson and his team arrived a few minutes later to collect the body.
Gonzo filled him in on what they knew so far. “If you could get us an ID first and foremost, that’d help, Doc.”
“Will do what we can.”
Gonzo and Cam waited until they’d loaded up the body for transport to the morgue before joining Patrol in canvassing the area.
A woman stopped them on the street. “Was that guy dead?”
“He was. Did you see anything that might help us figure out what happened to him?”
“A black SUV came speeding from that direction.” She pointed toward the circle in the midst of Embassy Row.
“The windows were blacked out, and it barely slowed down before he was pushed out the back door. It happened so fast, I hardly registered that they’d tossed a body before he landed with an awful sound.
” A shudder shook her. “It sounded like bones breaking or something like that.”
“What’s your name?”
“Nina Ward. I live around the corner and was out for a walk when I heard the squeal of tires behind me. I looked back at what was going on and saw the vehicle barreling toward me. I couldn’t believe how fast they were driving with so many pedestrians and bikes in the area.”
Gonzo wrote down the details. “How quickly would you say the whole thing unfolded?”
“Couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds from when I heard the tires squeal until the body landed on the sidewalk.”
“Would you mind sharing your contact info with me in case we need you to make a formal statement?”
“Sure, no problem.”
After she’d walked off toward home, Gonzo joined Cameron at the other end of the sidewalk. “Anything?”
“A flower shop on the corner got footage of the SUV speeding by. They didn’t get the body drop, but look at this.” Cam pulled up the video on his phone and zeroed in on the part he wanted Gonzo to see.
“What am I looking at?”
“Is that a diplomatic plate?”
“Very possibly. If so, this case just got a whole lot more complicated.”
Tracy arrived ahead of Mike for a two o’clock appointment with Dr. Anthony Trulo at his private practice office in Georgetown.
She dreaded having to sit in the same room with her husband and revisit some of the most horrifying days of her life, but she would do it because her children had asked her to.
Over the past few days, each of them had spoken to her about the state of her marriage.
Brooke had implored her to try to find a way to work things out. “He’s been everything to us, Mom, for as long as I can remember. I’ve forgotten that he wasn’t the one who actually fathered me. He’s been my dad from day one. I know he’s not perfect… Who is? But he’s ours.”
Her daughter’s words had brought Tracy to tears, and then Ethan had mentioned how guilty he felt to be the reason for their problems. “I know you’re mad at Dad because of me, and I can’t deal with that on top of everything else.”
“It’s not because of you, sweetheart,” she’d told their son. “It’s a difference of opinion that led to a terrible series of events.”
“He had nothing to do with what happened to me, Mom. Please don’t blame him. That only makes everything worse.”
At bedtime one night, Abby had tearfully conveyed how much she missed having Daddy there to tuck her in.
She brought her children’s heartbreak with her to Dr. Trulo’s office today and was going into this second session with an open mind and heart. The first one hadn’t gone well at all, and if anything, she and Mike had been further apart afterward.
As she entered Dr. Trulo’s office, her phone chimed with a text she’d been waiting for all day. Pled not guilty. Probable cause hearing in two weeks. Court was running late. I’m almost to Trulo’s.
She’d hoped against hope that the charges would be immediately thrown out because of the circumstances. Tracy was disappointed that the case would continue.
Dr. Trulo greeted her with a warm, friendly smile. “It’s nice to see you, Tracy.”
“It’s nice to be seen.” Her sister loved this man, and Tracy could see why. “I haven’t been getting out much. I enjoyed seeing the spring flowers blooming on my way here.”
“It’s my favorite time of year.”
“Mine, too. Mike is on the way.”
“Have a seat.” He took his usual spot in a leather chair while she sat on the sofa, leaving room for Mike to her left. “How’s Ethan doing?”
“It’s an hour-by-hour thing. Sometimes I think he’s feeling better, but then we’re right back to day one with his grief over Luna and questions about why this happened to them.
Your daughter has been a godsend to us,” Tracy said of Dr. Christi Trulo-Carpenter, who specialized in youth and family counseling.
“I’m glad to hear that. She’s a gem.”
“She sure is. Ethan really likes her, which of course makes all the difference in a situation like this.”
“That’s absolutely critical. She has a deft hand with youngsters. Always has. When she was younger, she was an in-demand babysitter for all our friends.”
“I can see why.” Tracy checked her watch. Mike was five minutes late. “Should we start without him?”
“We can, if you’d like.”
“I hate to waste the time.”
“How’ve you been feeling about things since our last meeting?”
“Confused. Upset. Torn. Angry. Sad. All the things.”
“That’s understandable in this situation. Talk to me about feeling torn.”
“My kids are suffering because of our separation. That’s really weighing on me.”
“I’m sure it is, but as much as you love them, you can’t live your life entirely for them.”
“I can’t? Really? I wish someone had told me that twenty-one years ago.”
Dr. Trulo laughed. “I wish someone had told me forty years ago, but it’s something every parent learns as they evolve. As much as our children are our whole world in many ways, we have our own lives to consider as well.”
“I’m guilty of always putting them first, which is what got me into this situation.”
“Please don’t be hard on yourself for prioritizing your kids. You’re not the first mom to get lost in the weeds of parenthood, and you certainly won’t be the last.”
“I feel like I tried to do everything right, you know? I made huge sacrifices personally, financially, professionally, to be as present for them as I possibly could be, and yet… Two of my kids have been victims of violent crimes. That’s the part I’m having the hardest time reconciling.
How could this have happened to my family twice? ”
“It’s truly not fair.”
“My father used to tell us that life isn’t fair, that we shouldn’t expect it to be.”
“He was a wise man, your dad.”
“Yes, he was, and I’ve never felt entitled to fairness, but this…”
“It’s too much for anyone to bear, but it sometimes helps to look for the gratitude.
While something terrible happened to Brooke, she hasn’t let it stop her from pursuing her education, or from falling in love and having a wonderful relationship with her young man.
And Ethan, as horrible as his ordeal was, used his own savvy to save himself and his friend from potentially being murdered.
Your kids are resilient, Tracy, and they probably get that in large part from you. ”
Tracy reached for a tissue on the coffee table and mopped up tears that seemed to materialize out of nowhere lately.
“Please don’t think I’m not grateful every day that they survived when other children involved in both incidents didn’t.
I think about those kids and their parents all the time. I ache for them.”
“Of course I know that, but sometimes, in the midst of calamity, it can be difficult to recognize the blessings.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ve been so focused on the trauma that it’s been impossible to see anything else.”
“Which is totally understandable. The trauma is recent and raw, and by no means am I minimizing it. I’m hoping I can help you find some kernels of hope to hang on to as you navigate this difficult season.”
“You make a good point about finding the blessings. Every time I see Ethan’s cute face, I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude that he’s still here, that he’s safe.”
“You know Ethan won’t always be at home where you can see him and ensure his safety.”
“I can’t even think about that.”
“You really need to, Tracy. He’ll be back to school before long, wanting to be with his friends and get on with his life.”
She was shaking her head before he ended the sentence. “I can’t.”
Dr. Trulo tipped his head and smiled. “You have to, Mama. He didn’t save his own life to spend it in lockdown. And you have to get yourself right about this for Abby’s sake, too.”