AS SAM DROVE to HQ, she thought about what Brant had said about the two of them having the same goals. That was certainly true. Nothing mattered to her more than the safety of her loved ones.
Her phone rang, and she took the call from Gonzo. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’m okay, but I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be out for a while.”
“Trulo told me he suggested you take some time off.”
“That’s not what this is.” He paused before he said, “I’m going to rehab, Sam.”
Stunned, she said, “For what?”
“I, um, I’m apparently addicted to pain meds. I’ve been relying on them to get by, and it, well, it’s gotten out of hand.”
Unable to process what he’d said while driving, she pulled over and came to a stop. “You’re hooked on pills?”
“Yes.”
“Please tell me you haven’t done anything illegal to get them.”
“I wish I could,” he said with a deep sigh.
“Oh, my fucking God, Gonzo.” Her mind raced with the implications.
“I’m so sorry, Sam,” he said tearfully. “I’ve been a disaster since Arnold died, and I fucked up. But I’m going to fix it. I swear to God, I’m going to fix it. The place I’m going treats PTSD too.”
“I don’t even know what to say.”
“Just tell me I still have a job to come back to.”
“You know you have my full support, but if it gets out—”
“It won’t.”
Sam wished she shared his certainty. “Are you still at GW?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be by to see you this morning.”
“Okay.”
“I hope you know how much we all care about you, Tommy.”
“I do,” he said softly. “It means the world.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Reeling, she ended the call, pulled back into traffic and tried to make sense of what he’d told her. At least he was taking the steps necessary to get it under control, but he was addicted to pain meds. And she’d never noticed. What did that say about her as a friend and commander?
At HQ, the first person she encountered upon entering the lobby was the chief. Great. She’d expected to have two more hours to prepare for this meeting.
“A word, Lieutenant,” he said, his expression stern. Or possibly annoyed. She took a closer look. Definitely annoyed.
She began to tell him that she had a meeting to get to with Captain Malone, but the chief trumped the captain every day and twice on Sundays.
Farnsworth, the man she’d called Uncle Joe growing up, led her from the lobby to his suite of offices where his faithful assistant, Helen, was already on duty, looking far more perky than anyone should at six in the morning.
“Close the door,” the chief said as Sam followed him into his office.
He went around the desk and sat, gesturing for her to take one of his visitor chairs. “Just when I think I have you figured out, Lieutenant, you throw me a curveball. I spend one day in meetings at City Hall and come back to the news that you have custody of the Beauclair children. I think to myself, that can’t be possible because she’s the lead investigator of their parents’ murders.” He folded his hands on the desk and directed his steely glare at her. “Would you care to tell me how you ended up with custody of the Beauclair children while investigating their parents’ murders?”
“It just sort of happened,” Sam said, trying not to squirm. “It was very late, and they needed a place to go. Nick and I are licensed foster parents. It was really that simple.”
“As you and I both know, there’s nothing simple about it, and it’s a conflict of interest for you to be caring for the children of your murder victims.”
“I understand.”
“The children will be immediately removed from your custody—”
“But—”
He held up a hand to silence her. “Or you will be removed from the case. One or the other, Lieutenant. You can’t have it both ways.”
“I pick the kids,” she said without hesitation.
His brows went up, and his mouth opened before snapping closed. “Very well. You’re off the case.”
“Before you decide anything, I found out in the middle of the night that one of the children currently in my custody witnessed his parents being tortured and possibly murdered. My plan today was to figure out how best to use this witness account to help us nail the people who committed these murders. In light of this development, I shall be taking an unplanned personal day to tend to my foster children, who need me very much right now.” Sam stood, preparing to make a grand exit. “I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch with Sergeant Gonzales in the hospital, but I’m sure Captain Malone can oversee the investigation in my absence.”
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m wise to you, Lieutenant.”
“I’m following your orders. Sir.”
“Sit down.”
She sat.
“What did the child tell you?”
“Just to be clear—are you asking me that as your lieutenant in charge of the Homicide division or as the foster parent to the child in question?”
“Sam,” he said through gritted teeth, “I swear to God...”
She told him what Alden had revealed in the middle of the night.
For a long moment after she finished speaking, he stared at the far wall. He was so still that she wondered if he was breathing. Then he shifted his gaze toward her and said, “What’s your plan for using him as a witness?”
“My goal is to do everything I can to not have to use him as a witness. If we can sew up the case using other means, then that’s what we’ll do. I’m due to meet with Malone about our next steps.” She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes ago.” Clearing her throat, she added, “Sir.”
“I assume you’ll be consulting with Dr. Trulo about counseling and care for the child?”
“He’s second on my list for the day.”
After another extended silence, the chief said, “Carry on.”
“Sir?”
“Work the case.”
“I’m not relocating the kids at this point, because it wouldn’t be in their best interest. Their older brother is with them, and an aunt and uncle may be stepping up to take custody. I won’t have them for much longer.” Everything inside her rejected that realization, but with so many other things to deal with, she refused to get sucked into that rabbit hole. Not now anyway. There would be plenty of time after they were gone to fall apart. Right now, they needed her to find the people who’d murdered their parents and ruined their charmed lives. Hopefully, someday it would matter to them that she’d gotten justice for their family.
The chief returned her mulish stare with one of his own. “I’d like your assurances that this sort of conflict won’t happen again.”
“I’d like to promise you that, but I’m not sure I can guarantee I wouldn’t do the same thing again if I saw other children in distress.”
“Perhaps you need to spend some time thinking about your priorities, Lieutenant.”
Sam nearly recoiled from the shock of that statement. “Wow. Really?”
“Yes, really! You can’t go around taking in the children of murder victims when you’re the lead investigator on the case!”
“Why not?” Even knowing she was stepping way out of line couldn’t stop her from doing it anyway. “The kids had nothing to do with it. They’re innocent victims. And if I hadn’t taken in the Beauclair children, we might never have known that Alden witnessed the murders. Think about that.”
He rubbed his face with his hands, and when he looked up at her, she saw exhaustion in his eyes. “You know why I haven’t retired when I could’ve quite some time ago?”
Stunned by the unexpected segue, she shook her head.
“One word: You. Y-o-u. You are the reason I can’t retire.”
Sam had no idea what to say to that.
“Anyone else in this job would have your badge and your ass in a sling before the first week was out. What people say about you in the department? That you get away with murder even as you investigate murders?” Leaning forward, he said, “It’s true. You do. After you close this case, I want you to take an unpaid week off and think about whether you and this job are going to be able to coexist in the future. I’m putting you on notice, Lieutenant. I won’t always be here to run interference for you.”
Though his words shocked her, she didn’t hear much after “unpaid week off.” If she could close the Beauclair case before the weekend, she would be free to accompany Nick to Europe where she could do some “thinking” about whether she had a future as a member of the MPD. The timing would be convenient, but she couldn’t let the chief know that.
She gave him a defiant look. “I’m sorry if you feel my performance is less than satisfactory, sir.”
“No one thinks your performance is unsatisfactory, Lieutenant. It’s your methodology that could use some fine-tuning.”
They engaged in a staring contest that ended when the chief looked away. “Get to work, Lieutenant, and keep a lid on the fact that the kids are with you. We don’t need that all over the news. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Sam got the hell out of there before he changed his mind about taking her off the case, but as she made her way to the detectives’ pit, his words echoed through her mind. You are the reason I can’t retire. Well, damn. That kinda hurt. And he really thought she got away with murder while catching murderers? That was also news to her. In her mind, she did what she had to in order to get the job done, and if he thought someone could do it better, they were welcome to try.
Okay, well, not really, but she did an ugly job the best way she knew how. Later, when she had time to breathe, she would talk to her father about the things the chief had said and get his take on it. What if he felt the same way Farnsworth did but had never said so? Wouldn’t that beat all?
Shaking off those unpleasant thoughts, Sam found Malone in his office. “Sorry I’m late. I got waylaid by the chief.”
“Who wasn’t at all happy to hear you’re fostering the Beauclair kids.”
“I know. My ears are still ringing.”
“He wants you off the case.”
“So he said—until he heard that my foster child might actually be able to help us. Then he didn’t seem quite so determined to take me off the case.”
“You’re walking a very fine line here, Sam. He’s absolutely right that it’s a clear-cut conflict of interest, and you know that.”
“I do. But in the moment, all I saw were two little kids who needed something I could give them. You’ll have to pardon me if my first thoughts weren’t about my job.”
“You know as well as I do that our first thoughts always need to be about the job.”
“I’ll take the hit if you all feel I deserve one.” She’d already made her peace with the fact that she might never advance beyond the rank of lieutenant. “No problem. Do what you’ve got to do, but I wouldn’t have done anything different if I had it to do over again.”
“No one is questioning whether your heart was in the right place. That’s not the issue here.”
“I’m well aware of what the issue is, and like I said, I’m willing to take whatever hit you all feel is appropriate to get me back in line. In the meantime, I have a homicide investigation, two foster children, a sergeant in the hospital and a wedding to contend with. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t have the time to fully explore my many transgressions.”
Malone rolled his eyes. “Save the drama and tell me what’s up with Gonzo.”
“You heard me. He’s out on medical leave indefinitely.”
“What’s he got?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that, and I believe you’re technically not at liberty to ask me.”
“I’m not asking you as the captain. I’m asking you as his friend and colleague.”
“Who also happens to be his big boss.”
“Fair enough. How long will he be out?”
“I’m planning to see him this morning, and I’ll get the particulars.”
“Wish him well for me and let him know that we’ve got him covered here.”
“I’ll tell him. I’m sure that’ll mean a lot to him.” She looked down at the floor and then back at him. “The chief indicated that after we close Beauclair, I’m to take an unpaid week to think about the alignment of my personal and professional goals, as well as my impertinence.”
His brows lifted. “Is that right?”
“Uh-huh. If we’re able to close this in the next couple of days, that means you’ll be down three people in Homicide next week, in case you want to make some contingency plans.”
“Good to know,” he said drolly.
“I need to check with Hill to find out the latest on Piedmont, the former business partner who’s been in the wind the last three years. They caught him at Dulles trying to leave the area and can put him in the District the night of the murders.”
“That sounds like a slam dunk close to the case,” Malone said.
“Maybe so, but the description Alden gave us doesn’t match Piedmont.”
“A guy that rich could hire it done.”
“No doubt, but we still need to grab the guys who actually did the crime.”
“Agreed.”
“I have to figure out how to handle the info Alden gave us. I had Carlucci and Dominguez pull photos of everyone involved in the case, so we have them if we have to involve Alden, but my goal is to do it without him if at all possible. I’m going to talk to Trulo about how best to handle this process with a traumatized five-year-old.”
“I was going to ask what the plan was there.”
“I’ve got to talk to Carlucci and Dominguez before they leave, and then I want to catch Trulo before his appointments begin. After that, I’m going to see Gonzo.”
“Keep me posted. On all of it.”
“Will do.”
Sam left his office and went to her own, where her first order of business was a call to Avery Hill.
“Morning,” he said.
“How’s it going with Piedmont?”
“You won’t believe it if I tell you.”
“You’ve got my attention.”
“He and Jameson Armstrong were back in touch.”
Sam dropped into her desk chair. “You wanna run that by me one more time?”
“I know. It made my head spin too, but Piedmont told us he’d reached out to Armstrong about three months ago to say that if he was willing to help Piedmont make some money, he would take back the threats he’d made against Armstrong’s family. Apparently, Piedmont was dead broke and out of options.”
“Can you confirm any of this?”
“Actually, we already have. He produced his financials that show every account down to less than a thousand dollars.”
“And we know those are all his accounts?”
“We’re still confirming that, but he turned over everything, including offshore accounts to our investigators, and they’re all tapped out. In addition, Armstrong’s assistant in his DC office has confirmed that he’d been in touch with Piedmont and met with him the day of the murders.”
“This is too coincidental. How could he not have been involved?”
“I thought the same thing until we told him Jameson and Cleo Armstrong had been murdered. He was inconsolable for hours after receiving that news.”
“Was he putting on a show?”
“It didn’t seem that way to us. His grief seemed genuine.”
“I’m extremely confused right now. This guy who threatened Armstrong’s family to the point that they felt the need to relocate and live under different names, comes out from under his rock years later, and Jameson takes the call and agrees to do business with him?”
“It wasn’t that simple. Jameson made him come to DC to get the money, so he could look him in the eye and tell him this was it, the only money he was ever going to get in exchange for Piedmont swearing to leave him and his family alone. Piedmont had a cashier’s check for twenty million dollars on him when he was apprehended. The check was drawn on the accounts of JAE in Delaware.”
“This happens on the same day Armstrong and his wife are tortured and brutally murdered? How can it be unrelated?”
“We’re asking ourselves the same thing, but Piedmont’s profound shock and grief over the news of their deaths was legitimate. Everyone who witnessed it had the same impression.”
Sam released a deep breath. “Are you willing to rule him out as complicit in the murders?”
“I believe so.”
“Let me ask you this. If he cared so much about them, why did he make their lives a living hell for years after the company imploded?”
“He says much of that was ‘heat-of-the-moment’ and shock when he found out his longtime friend and partner had basically handed the government their case against him. He admits to being enraged and saying things he came to regret, but he never had any intention of harming Jameson or his family. Or so he says.”
“The head spins.”
“I know. I feel the same way, but like you said at the outset, sometimes the obvious answer isn’t the correct one.”
Sam blew out a deep breath. “We had a break overnight.” She updated him on what Alden had told them.
“Ah, God. How do you go about using him as a witness?”
“We don’t, unless we absolutely have to.”
“Let me know what we can do to help. Whatever you need.”
“I will. Thanks for the update and let me know if you get anything else from Piedmont that might help.”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Sam ended the call and sat for a long moment attempting to make sense of what she’d learned from Avery and trying to figure out their next move. She went through the folder of photos she’d requested from Carlucci and Dominguez. Attached to the folder was a note from Dominguez that they’d been called by Detective Lucas to assist with an SVU investigation.
The photos included Jameson Beauclair’s former partners, Piedmont and Dave Gorton, several of his current business associates that Green and McBride had interviewed and Victor Klein, the man who’d been in the traffic altercation with Cleo Beauclair last Friday.
According to DOB on his sheet, he was twenty-nine. She studied the mug shot of Klein, a big guy with dark hair and hard brown eyes, which dovetailed with Alden’s description of one of the men who’d attacked his parents. Klein’s face was devoid of expression, which made it impossible to get a read on him.
Sam picked up the phone and called one of her favorite government employees ever—Brendan Sullivan, who’d been such a huge help to Sam in the case involving her ex-husband. Brendan had been Peter’s parole officer. He answered her call on the second ring.
“Brendan Sullivan,” he said, sounding rushed.
“It’s Sam Holland.”
“Oh, hey. What’s up?”
“Got a question for you. Does the name Victor Klein mean anything to you?”
“He’s one of mine. Why? What’s he done?”
“Maybe something. Maybe nothing. What can you tell me?”
“He’s an arrogant punk who thinks the world owes him something, and when it doesn’t deliver, he has no problem taking it.”
“You think he’d be capable of rape, torture and homicide by fire?”
“Are we talking about that home invasion in Chevy Chase?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“Is this an official or unofficial inquiry?”
“Unofficial at this point.”
“I can tell you he’s someone who had every advantage—a nice family, good schools, college, etc. But he’s always working an angle, a get-rich-quick scheme. He ended up in the can for his role in a robbery ring that landed several victims in the hospital with serious injuries.”
“What kind of injuries?”
“Broken bones, lacerations, concussions. If he sees a chance to make easy money, he stops at nothing to get it.”
“If we were talking about the home invasion in Chevy Chase, you think he’d be capable, hypothetically speaking, of course, of raping a man’s wife while the husband is bound and helpless, and then binding them both before setting them on fire after knocking some teeth out so they can’t be easily identified?”
After a long silence, Brendan said, “I assume they were rich?”
“Filthy.”
“Then yeah, I can see him doing that or helping someone else to do it.”
Sam felt a tingle in the area of her backbone, which was almost always a good sign. “Do we know his associates?”
“I could make a few calls and see what I can find out if that would help.”
“It would.”
“What put him on your radar?”
“He was in a traffic altercation with the wife a couple of days before the home invasion.”
“I’ll get on it and call you when I have something.”
“Appreciate the help.”
“Not a problem.”
Sam called Carlucci. “Are you guys still with Lucas?”
“No, we’re on our way back to HQ.”
“Can you pick up Victor Klein on the way?” She passed along the address Sullivan had given her, which matched the address on the accident report.
“We’re on it,” Carlucci said.
“Call for backup before you go in.”
“Will do.”