‘Yeah, yeah, promises, promises,’ Brewster said good-naturedly. ‘Tell your daughter’s other father to run my attachment through whatever scrubber he uses. It’ll be safe. No viruses. I’d appreciate a heads-up on this case whenever you can.’
‘Same goes.’ They disconnected, and Frederick found Clay and Taylor staring at him open-mouthed. Wordlessly he handed Clay his phone.
‘I’m forwarding the message to my own email,’ Clay said. ‘I’ll run it through a scrubber.’
Frederick kept his eyes on the baby swaddled to Clay’s chest. Safe territory. Babies couldn’t judge. ‘That’s what her son said you should do.’ But he could feel Taylor’s gaze on him and risked a glance.
Her mouth had curved into a sly smile. ‘You like her!’ she crowed. ‘Sally Brewster. You really like her! You old charmer, you.’
He frowned at her. ‘I’m not old.’
She clapped her hands, much as Julie did when she was happy. ‘Awesome. It’s about fucking time.’
Frederick shifted his eyes back to the baby. ‘Stop.’
She snorted. ‘No way. This is too good. I’ve got to tell Daisy. But first I’ll tell Ford. He’ll tell his mom. Then everyone will know.’
He grabbed her arm, but gently. ‘No. Don’t. It’s . . . Just please don’t.’
She sobered abruptly. ‘Dad, you deserve to be happy. You at least deserve a date with a nice woman. If this woman is nice, we are all going be just fine.’
It wasn’t ‘everyone’ he was concerned with. It was himself. ‘Just . . . back off, baby. Please.’
Her mouth tightened into a flat line. ‘For now, okay. But I’m not letting this go. Sounds like her son isn’t against her seeing you, from what little I could eavesdrop. You get a little reprieve until all this shit quiets down, but I will bring it up again.’
She got up and kissed his cheek, went around the desk to kiss Clay’s, then leaned in to nuzzle the baby. ‘He’s going to need feeding soon. I’ve got some of Stevie’s expressed milk in the fridge downstairs. I’ll warm a bottle and bring it to you.’
‘Thanks, honey.’ When she was gone, Clay met Frederick’s eyes. ‘You brought her up,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Who she is is totally on you.’
Frederick laughed in spite of his agitation. ‘Who she is is awesome.’
Clay smiled. ‘That is a true statement.’ He sobered then, turning to his screen. ‘Brewster’s son was telling the truth too. No viruses.’ He scanned the police report with a sigh. ‘Goddammit.’ He cast a furtive glance at the baby. ‘I hope he can’t understand what I say yet. I’ve got to stop cursing. Just maybe not this week.’ He handed Frederick’s phone back to him. ‘The attachment is safe to open.’
Frederick read it, then echoed Clay’s sigh. ‘We need to pass this on to JD so that he can tell Hyatt.’
Clay lifted a brow. ‘Or we could tell Hyatt. Or Joseph.’
Frederick eyed him over the desk. ‘You can do it. I guess Joseph is okay, but I do not trust Hyatt.’
‘I don’t either,’ Clay admitted. ‘But Stevie does. I’ll call him. I’ve got to tell him not to come to the christening anyway. He’s on the guest list.’
Shaking his head, Frederick took his share of the guest names and headed off to another room to begin making calls.
Chevy Chase, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 8.15 P.M.
‘What the actual fuck, Thorne?’
Thorne lifted his head from the table in the interrogation room where he’d been separated from Gwyn, Ford and Alec. JD Fitzpatrick had entered the small room – thankfully alone – and he was furious.
‘I don’t even know where to start with that question,’ Thorne said. ‘Give me a hint.’
JD dropped into one of the chairs with a heavy sigh. ‘Why didn’t you call me? I would have come with you.’
‘Because you ran yourself ragged all night and you needed to sleep. And when you woke up, you needed to stand watch over Lucy and my godson and Gwyn’s goddaughter.’ He pressed his fingers to his temples. ‘And because I didn’t expect to find any more dead bodies.’
JD’s expression relaxed at that. ‘I thought you didn’t trust me.’
Thorne laughed mirthlessly. ‘You’re just about the only cop I do trust. I don’t want you to get into trouble because we’re friends.’
JD smiled at that. ‘Aw, Thorne, I think you almost care.’
Thorne met his eyes. ‘I do care. And I care about Lucy. I love her like a sister and I don’t want to see her widowed. Or worse.’
Sobering, JD nodded. ‘I agree. Okay, so here’s what needs to happen now. Joseph spoke to me after Detective Rivera called him for reinforcements at Darian Hinman’s house.’
‘It was Hinman? The dead body?’
‘The ME will have to make the determination, but it appears so. Same height, weight and hair color. They’ll compare dental records, probably.’
Because the victim’s face was beaten past recognition. Just like Patricia’s. Just like the two Circus Freaks drug dealers found with their bodies stuffed with Sheidalin matchbooks.
Thorne hadn’t even had an opportunity to address that setup. Tavilla was keeping him hopping. And scared. ‘Was it just Hinman?’ He thought of that huge mansion. ‘Was anyone else found?’
‘No, just Hinman. He was single and had only a few household staff with key access. We’re working on figuring out where they are now and why no one noticed he was missing.’
That was a good question. A VP of a company couldn’t just not show up for work without raising flags. ‘What was stuffed in his body? Am I allowed to know?’
JD’s expression instantly smoothed out. Became unreadable. And Thorne knew the answer was not going to be good. ‘Actually, it was another medal,’ he said.
Thorne closed his eyes. ‘Darian was on that championship soccer team with us during our senior year. Please tell me it was his.’ But he knew it wasn’t going to be.
‘No.’
Thorne opened his eyes, met JD’s. ‘It was mine?’
JD nodded. ‘Afraid so. Or one that someone had engraved to look like yours.’
‘Which is why they’ve kept me separated from Gwyn and the others.’
Another nod. ‘And she is loaded for bear. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this upset.’
‘Am I finally under arrest?’ Thorne sucked in a breath. ‘Wait. Don’t tell me they sent you in to arrest me.’
‘No. I’m not here to arrest you. I’m here to take you and Gwyn home. Or wherever you’d like to go, as long as it’s not out of town. Joseph is collecting Ford and Alec as we speak.’ He stood up and held out a hand. ‘Come on, before Gwyn wears a trench in the floor of her interview room.’
Thorne didn’t move, just sat there staring up at JD. ‘Why am I not under arrest?’ he asked.
JD sat back down. ‘Because you, Thomas Thorne, are a lucky fucker. Rigor’s passed, so the ME put TOD somewhere before thirty-six hours ago.’
Thorne did the math. ‘Sometime before Monday morning. When I was either with everyone at Gwyn’s house or at Jamie and Phil’s with Gwyn. So I might have an alibi?’
‘Yes, but maybe something even better than that. Hinman’s security system has cameras inside and outside, all feeding to two DVRs. Only one DVR had been stolen. The other was hidden in a storage shed. Apparently, Mr Hinman had suspected his lovely young ex-wife of cheating on him, which would have triggered the prenup he’d made her sign. He’d known that she knew about the first DVR, so he’d had a second installed in the gardener’s shed. Rivera found it when he did his first search of the property.’
‘And he’s still alive, right? Rivera?’
JD looked startled. ‘Yeah, why?’
‘Because I want to thank him, and for that I have to allow myself to remember his name.’
JD chuckled. ‘Yeah, you can let yourself get attached. Anyway, Hinman was captured by the security camera leaving his house at eight forty Saturday night. At nine fifteen, all his household staff got a text from his phone telling them to clear out and not come back until next week.’
‘Spoofed?’
‘Not sure yet. Hinman’s phone hasn’t been found. They’re pulling his call log now, but it’ll take a little while.’