GONZO NUDGED HER into the elevator ahead of him.
“This is going to ruin him,” she said softly on the ride to the lobby.
“He’s already been to hell and back once. He’ll get through this.”
“She’s his reason to live,” Sam said bleakly. “He’s said that so many times.”
“She still will be. They’ve gotten through a lot already. They’ll get through this too.”
While she appreciated his assurances, she feared for the young man who’d become a friend to her under the most unlikely of circumstances. After the shoot-out had left him paralyzed, he’d vowed to leave his life of crime behind him. Sam had helped to get him the job he had now with the city. She’d been relieved to hear he was back at it after his medical leave.
They went to City Hall in search of Roberto, and when they walked in, all heads turned to take in the second lady, which made her want to scream. How she missed the ability to move through her day with the anonymity people took for granted until they lost it.
Following the signs to the Tax Assessor’s office, Sam arrived at the closed door and took a calming breath before she went in to find Roberto at the reception desk. At the sight of him in the chair, diminished by his injury, her heart went out to him over the new blow he would have to withstand.
“Yo, yo it’s my favorite lady cop!” His handsome face lit up at the sight of her. He had short dark hair and world-weary eyes. He’d worn a matching burgundy shirt and tie to work. Seeing him looking so professional made her proud of the progress he’d made. She hoped the news about Angel wouldn’t set him back too far.
“What brings you by?”
“Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Ah, yeah, sure. The conference room is open.” After asking someone to cover the desk for him, he rolled his chair into the conference room.
Gonzo closed the door behind him.
Sam introduced Gonzo to Roberto.
“Where’s my boy Cruz?”
“Home sleeping. We’re working round the clock to find these shooters.”
“Man, that’s so psycho. People can’t even walk around without having to be afraid. I told my peeps here that with my friend the lady cop on the job, those guys would be behind bars before long.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” How she wished she had gotten them before they’d gotten to his Angel.
“Heard you brought in Trace Simmons after the first shooting.”
Sam nodded. “He’s involved with the vic’s sister, but he checked out.” She wanted to continue making small talk, but that wouldn’t get this taken care of. “So listen, Roberto... The reason I came by... Last night, the guys we’re looking for, they grabbed a woman off the street.”
“Heard about that, and someone said she fell outta the car this morning? Is that true?”
Sam nodded. “Roberto...”
“What’s a matter with you, lady cop? You’re all pale and pasty.”
“It’s about Angel.”
His sharp gasp was followed by a cry. “Don’t you tell me she is dead. Do not tell me that.”
“She’s not dead.”
“Oh, thank you, Jesus.” He dropped his head into his hands and began to sob. “Please, whatever it is, just say it. Say it, Sam.”
“She was taken by the same men we believe are behind the shootings. They took turns assaulting her. She managed to escape, but she was injured and is in the hospital. She’s going to make a full recovery, but it’s going to take time.”
“Take me to her.” He wiped the tears from his face. “Please take me to her. Right now.”
“Let’s go.” Sam held the door for him as he rolled back into the office.
“My girlfriend, Angel,” he said haltingly to an older man whose beer belly made his tie about six inches too short. “She was abducted and assaulted. She’s in the hospital.”
“You’re just back from medical leave, and now you’re going again?”
“Please,” Roberto whispered. “She’s my whole world. She needs me.”
“She’ll still need you after work.”
“What’s your name?” Sam asked the guy.
“Jeff.”
She pulled her notebook from her pocket. “Jeff what?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Pen poised on the pad, she said, “So I can report your lack of compassion to the mayor, who’s a friend of my husband’s.”
Jeff’s face flushed with a color reminiscent of the shade that Lieutenant Stahl’s face would get when she challenged him back in the good old days before he tried to kill her. Twice. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we can work something out. Go ahead, Roberto.”
“Thank you, Jeff. Thank you so much.”
Sam stashed her pad in her back pocket and nodded to Jeff, who glared at her as she pushed Roberto’s chair to get him out of there faster.
“That was awesome,” Gonzo said when they were in the hallway.
“Mean people suck.”
“Can’t believe you played the husband card,” Gonzo said.
“I save that one for when I really need it.”
“Well done, Lieutenant.”
Sam moved as fast as she could to get Roberto out of City Hall and to the car.
He got himself into the front seat, and Gonzo stashed the chair in the trunk.
Sam took the back seat.
“Tell me everything that happened,” Roberto said. “Don’t leave anything out.”
“I think you should hear it from her.”
“That means it’s gotta be real bad.”
“It is,” Sam said.
He began to weep softly again, which broke her heart.
Sam took a gamble and texted Jeannie to see if she might be able to come in early and talk to Angel before her shift.
Jeannie didn’t reply right away, but she would when she woke up, and Sam felt confident that she’d be willing to help.
She also sent a text to Nick.
This case gets more screwed up by the minute. The girl that was taken? Is the girlfriend of my friend Roberto from the Johnson case.
He responded right away. Ah damn, babe. So sorry to hear that.
She’s badly hurt, but she saw their faces, and she may be the key to breaking this whole thing.
I hope so. When will I see you?
Later. Much later.
Okay, be careful. Love you.
Love you too.
When they arrived back at GW, Sam pushed Roberto’s chair into the hospital and took him up to Angel’s room where the Patrol officers on duty asked for identification from all three of them.
“I can vouch for him,” Sam said of Roberto. “He’s her boyfriend. I know them.”
“Go ahead, Lieutenant.”
Sam held the door for Roberto as he rolled into Angel’s room.
He took one look at her, bruised and battered in the bed, and began crying again. “Oh, baby. Oh my God.”
Angel held out her hand to him and they cried, their heads bent together.
Roberto wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead while whispering softly to her.
Watching them, Sam felt like she was coming out of her skin. She walked over to place a hand on Roberto’s shoulder. “I’ll be back to check on you guys in a little while.”
He pulled back from Angel to look up at Sam. “Thanks for coming to get me, lady cop.”
“Anything for you.” To Angel, she said, “I’m going to need your help.”
“Whatever I can do.”
“I have an idea I need to run up the flagpole at headquarters. I’ll be back to discuss it with you.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Let’s go,” Sam said to Gonzo.
“What’s this big idea?” he asked in the elevator.
“Angel said that one of them got a call while they were in the car that his mother died. What do you think about making the rounds of the local funeral homes who are hosting wakes for women old enough to have a son in his twenties with the first initial of D?”
“I think that’s a brilliant idea.”
“Let’s see what the brass thinks of it.”
* * *
“I DON’T LIKE IT,” Farnsworth said an hour later after Sam laid out her idea for him and Malone. “It feels disrespectful to me, marching into the middle of a family’s grief to look for a suspect.”
“It wouldn’t have to be disrespectful,” Malone said. “We take the young woman who was attacked and we let her have a look at the mourners to see if she recognizes anyone.”
“And how do we keep her safe while she’s doing that?” Farnsworth asked.
“That’d be my job,” Sam said.
“It can’t be you,” Malone said. “Everyone knows who you are. It’d have to be someone like Gonzo, who could pretend to be her significant other.”
“I want it to be me,” Sam said. “It was my idea. I can keep her safe.”
“You’ll cause a stir that’ll compromise the integrity of the investigation,” Malone said. “Everyone will be looking at you.”
“Yeah, and while they look at me, she can look at them.”
“I agree with the captain,” Farnsworth said. “It’s not going to be you.”
Fuming, Sam had to tell herself that it wasn’t about her. It was about finding these scumbags and making them pay for what they’d done. But once again she longed for the good old days when no one knew who she was. “Fine. Whatever. Do we have your authorization to proceed?”
Farnsworth thought about it for a minute. “With utmost respect to the deceased and their families. And the funeral directors are to be notified of what we’re doing.”
“Understood.” She turned to leave the chief’s office, nodding at his admin, Helen, on her way by. In the lobby, someone grabbed her arm, spun her around and punched her in the face before she could begin to catch up to what was happening.
“You fucking bitch! You ruined my life!”
Lying on the floor, Sam could see only stars and didn’t recognize the voice.
“What the fuck are you doing investigating your fellow officers?”
Oh, she thought. Offenbach is home, and apparently he’s heard he was busted having an affair when he was supposed to be at a conference. Oops. Sucks to be him.
Her face throbbed from where he’d punched her, but she stayed on the floor and pretended to be unconscious while he continued to shriek about how she’d ruined his marriage and his career.
Um, heads up. You did that all on your own, pal.
It only took a few seconds, but it felt like much longer, for other officers to intervene.
Sam heard Malone’s voice and Farnsworth’s. She heard Offenbach being dragged away, still screaming about all the ways she’d ruined him. Then she heard Malone, close to her, and felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Sam.”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Is he done?”
“Are you okay?” Malone helped her sit up, wincing when he took a closer look at her face.
That punch was gonna leave a mark.
“Jesus, Sam,” Farnsworth said. “Someone get some ice! Hurry!”
Sam sat in the middle of a sea of cops and let them tend to her. What choice did she have, surrounded as she was? Even Helen had come out to watch the show.
“Let me through,” Gonzo said testily, stopping short at the sight of Sam on the floor. “What. The. Hell.”
“Offenbach wasn’t happy to see me. Can you imagine anyone not being happy to see me?”
Gonzo rolled his eyes and reached out a hand to her.
Sam took it and let him haul her up. The ground seemed to shift beneath her feet, and only his arm around her kept her standing.
“Easy, tiger,” he said. “Get your bearings.”
An ice pack was produced and pressed against her face.
Sam winced from the pain and the cold. “I’m fine. Go about your lives, citizens.”
“We should probably take her in to be checked,” Farnsworth said. “She took a hell of a shot.”
“You’re not taking me anywhere but to the pit to resume the investigation.” Under her breath, she said to Gonzo, “Get me out of here.”
He took her by the arm and perp-walked her back to the pit.
“Conference room,” she said.
Gonzo plopped her into a chair. “He just coldcocked you?”
“Never saw it coming. I don’t even know who he is.” In a department of thousands, that wasn’t uncommon. She knew a lot of people but not everyone.
“Apparently, he knows who you are,” Gonzo said with a laugh. “Keep the ice on it. It’s gonna be a mess.”
“Great. Nick will freak out. I hope there’s not a state dinner or something I have to go to this week.”
“Thankfully, the president is too busy trying to stay in office to host a state dinner.”
Malone came into the conference room looking frazzled and furious. “Are you sure you’re okay? Let me see.”
“I’m fine.” Sam took the ice pack off her face to give him a better look.
His expression turned thunderous. “Gonzo, take some photos of her injury so we have them.”
“I don’t want to press charges,” Sam said.
“That’s not your call.”
“The hell it isn’t. The whole department will be talking about how I got a pass on punching Ramsey but went after Offenbach. I’m not doing it. I won’t cooperate.”
“You’ll do what you’re told, Lieutenant.”
“No charges, Captain. Do what you’ve got to from a disciplinary standpoint for the mess he made with his lies but no assault charges. Between Stahl, Ramsey, Conklin and now Offenbach, I’m not going to be able to show my swollen face around here before much longer.”
Cameron Green came into the pit, looking pressed and well rested, wearing another dress shirt and tie. He did a double take when he saw the ice pack pressed to her face. “What happened?”
Gonzo filled him in on the incident with Offenbach.
“Holy crap. He just attacked you?” To Malone, he said, “He’ll be charged with assault, right?”
“The lieutenant tells me she won’t cooperate with assault charges,” Malone said, sarcasm dripping from his every word.
“Why the hell not?” Green asked. “He can’t just go around punching people.”
“It’s like this,” Gonzo said. “Our lieutenant has done some punching of her own in the past, and she’d rather not press charges when she wasn’t charged with assault when she did it. You see?”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“One thing you’ll quickly learn,” Malone said to Green, “is your lieutenant likes to keep things interesting.”
“I already know that,” Green said with a grin. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“I like him,” Sam said. “I like him so much.”
Malone shook his head, uttered something under his breath about her being unmanageable and stormed off.
“Is he pissed?” Green asked.
“Nah,” Sam said. “He loves me.”
“Sure he does,” Gonzo said, chuckling.
It was nice to see him amused and making jokes the way he used to. If she had to take a punch to the face to make that happen, it was worth it.
“What’re you doing here?” she asked Green. “It’s not four yet.”
“I heard from Vega’s army buddy, and he was willing to meet with me.”
“Where’d this meeting take place?”
“At a coffee shop in Alexandria.”
“In the future,” Sam said, “please let us know when you’re meeting with someone so we’ll know where to look if you don’t come back.”
“Oh, right. Will do.”
“What’d you find out?”
“Vega is in rehab. Since he left the Army, he’s been spiraling with PTSD issues and alcoholism. A bunch of his buddies got together, held an intervention and got him into treatment about six weeks ago. He didn’t want anyone to know where he was, so they kept it quiet.”
“Were you able to confirm that he’s at the rehab?” Sam asked.
“The friend had the admissions paperwork to prove it. I called the facility, but due to patient privacy laws, they couldn’t confirm he was there.”
“Hmmm, I’d feel better if you had confirmation.”
“So would I, but there is one more thing his friend told me. While he was overseas, he was in a car accident that injured his shooting arm. Apparently, he developed a tremor that he still has, which would make it impossible to shoot with any kind of accuracy. Apparently, that was a big part of the downward spiral, accepting the fact that what had made him special had been lost forever.”
“Wow, that’s too bad,” Gonzo said. “I feel for the guy.”
“So do I,” Sam said. “Let me ask you this... Did the friend tell you about the tremor voluntarily, or did he get a sense of why you were asking?”
“We didn’t really talk about the shootings. I had told him we were interested in talking to Vega because of his expertise, not because we thought he was involved. When we couldn’t find him, we became concerned.” He rolled his hand. “Et cetera.”
“I think we can rule him out, then,” Sam said. “Well done, Detective. Thank you for following up.”
“No problem.”
As Sam began to update him on the latest developments and the plan to visit funeral homes, Freddie came rolling in.
“Couldn’t sleep, so here I am.”
“We need to get some lives around here,” Sam said.
He recoiled at the sight of her. “What the hell happened to you?”
She filled him in on the incident with Offenbach, updated him on Angel’s assault and told him and Green about the funeral home plan.
“Ah, God, poor Angel,” Freddie said. “And Roberto...”
“He’s with her, and they’ll get through this.” Sam’s phone rang, and she took the call from Jeannie McBride, who’d been through an ordeal similar to Angel’s last year. “Hey, Jeannie.” Sam told her what’d happened and asked if she’d be willing to go in to talk with Angel. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but—”
“I’d be happy to help. I know all too well what she’s feeling today. I’ll ask Michael to come with me so he can talk to Roberto.”
“That’d be amazing. Thank you both so much.”
“No problem. I’ll be in after I see her.”
“Take your time with her. We’ve got things covered here for now.”
“Will do.”
“That’s a great idea, Sam,” Freddie said after she ended the call.
“I have one every now and then. Speaking of my brilliant beyond brilliant ideas, let’s get busy combing the local funeral listings for women old enough to have a son, first initial D, in his twenties. I want the name of any woman thirty-five or older who has died in the last twelve hours.”
“If it’s that recent, it’s apt to be a while before the notices appear online,” Green said. After a pause, he added, “I worked at a funeral home in high school.”
All eyes landed on Green in stunned amazement.
“Who works at a funeral home in high school?” Sam asked.
Green laughed. “My parents own a bunch of them. Funerals are the Green family business.”
“And you ended up a Homicide detective,” Sam said. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
The others laughed.
“Not if I don’t suggest the families make use of the Greenlawn Funeral Homes.”
“Greenlawn?” Gonzo said, incredulous. “That’s your family?”
“That’d be us.”
“Holy shit. That’s only the biggest funeral operation in the Metro area. You guys own more than a few funeral homes.”
Green seemed uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken. “Is that going to be a problem?” he asked his new partner.
“Not for me,” Gonzo said.
“It might actually be an asset,” Sam said. “How would you feel about accompanying Angel to a few wakes, to see if she can ID her attacker?”
“I’m happy to do whatever it takes to stop these guys.”
“So how come you didn’t go into the funeral business?” Gonzo asked.
“Too depressing.”
After a beat, they all cracked up laughing at the irony of him choosing Homicide over funerals.