Fatal Scandal: Book Eight of the Fatal Series (5 page)

“Work fast. This investigation will probably be taken out of our hands the minute the brass finds out who our vic is.”

“Got it. I’m all over it.”

“Keep me posted. I have a meeting with the chief at noon, and then I’ll find you.”

“Assume it’s okay to share what we know so far with the rest of the squad?”

“Yes.” Sam agreed reluctantly. The more people who knew, the more likely they were to have a leak, not that any of her people would breathe a word without her approval. Still, if she had her way, no one would know who their vic was until they’d found someone else who’d wanted her dead.

Tony emerged from his apartment.

“I’ve got to go. Talk to you shortly.” She closed the phone and returned it to her pocket. “What’s the verdict?”

“He said to give you the video now, but he wants a copy of the warrant on file. Just in case.”

Under normal circumstances, Sam would ask just in case of what. But these were not normal circumstances, and she’d take the cooperation where she could get it. “I’ll get it to you as soon as I have it.”

“Come into the office.” He led her to the back of the building where a hole-in-the-wall served as the “office.” From a machine located in the back corner, he removed a CD that he placed into a case and handed over to her. “The last twenty-four hours,” he said, as he placed a new recordable CD into the machine.

“Would you mind signing something to indicate that you turned it over to me?”

“Um, sure, I guess.”

“I’m not going to haul your ass into court or anything.”

“So you say now.”

Sam shrugged to concede the point. For all she knew, her entire case could hinge on him, and she had no right making promises she might not be able to keep. From her back pocket she pulled out the notebook she carried with her at all times and scratched out a handwritten chain-of-custody note that she asked him to sign. “Print your name and phone number under your signature and date it for me if you would.”

He did as she asked and handed the notebook back to her. “Is your guy upstairs in trouble?”

“I don’t think so.” She stashed the notebook back in her pocket. “Thanks for your help.”

Tony handed her his business card. “Send me that warrant when you have it. Email is on the card.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

“I like him,” Tony said. “He’s a good guy and a great father to that little boy.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Sam left the office and went back upstairs to speak to Gonzo.

He must’ve heard her coming, because the door flew open. “What the hell took so long?”

“Good news, bad news. Which do you want first?”

His jaw clenched. “Bad.”

Sam would’ve made the same choice in his situation. “Someone disabled the security camera yesterday.”

“Fuck,” he said in a low growl. “So what’s the good news?”

“The super gave me the video.” She held up the CD. “We might be able to see who did it.”

“But there’s no proof I never left the building last night except for my word and Christina’s.”

“At the moment, no.” Before he could flip out, she added, “We’re on it. Freddie and the rest of the squad are ripping up the rest of her life. If there’s someone else with motive, we’ll find them.”

“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Any second now it’s going to get out that she’s dead, and the media will be on me like white on rice.”

“Which is why you’re getting out of here while the getting is still good. Go to your parents’ place or to Christina’s family. Go somewhere else until this dies down.”

“And that won’t look like I’m running away?”

“It’s a holiday, for Christ’s sake. People have plans on holidays. Go have dinner with your parents and act like everything is normal. If you stay here, you’re going to get stuck here when the story hits the news.”

“My parents invited us home for the weekend, but we wanted to spend our anniversary alone,” he said grimly. “I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d gone.”

“I wish you had too.”

Chapter Five

Gonzo went into the bedroom he shared with Christina and began throwing clothes into a duffel bag he’d pulled from under the bed. He’d heard the saying “coming out of your skin” throughout his life, but he’d never experienced the sensation himself until now. He literally felt like he was going to implode.

“Tommy.” The sound of his name coming from the woman he loved had him spinning around to face her. “Take a minute. Try to calm down.”

“Where’s Alex?”

“I put him down for a nap.”

“We don’t have time for a nap.”

She came to him, resting her hands on his chest where she could no doubt feel his heart racing. “Breathe.”

“I can’t.”

“Try. For me.”

He drew in a rattling deep breath and released it.

“Do it again.”

“Chris—”

“Do it again.”

Resigned, he did as she asked.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t kill Lori.”

“Everyone will think I did.”

“Let them think what they will. We know the truth. We
know
it, Tommy.”

“I wanted to.”

“You wanted to what?”

“Kill her. When I found out she had her lawyers looking into me, investigating me, looking for something she could use against me. Then when she discovered my connection to Morton and went to the media with it, I wanted to kill her.”

“Thinking that doesn’t make you a murderer.”

“I told Sam, last night when she called... I told her I wanted to wrap my hands around Lori’s neck and squeeze the life out of her.”

Christina gasped. “You said that
out loud
? To
Sam
?”

“Yeah.” A wave of nausea had him swallowing repeatedly. “I was blowing off steam. How could I know that someone was going to actually
do
that to her?”

“Oh my God, Tommy. No wonder she came here thinking it was possible.”

“She knows I didn’t actually do it, Christina!
You
know I didn’t!”

“What if she tells someone you said that?”

“She won’t.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

“I know it. I know her. She’s not going to tell anyone.”

“If it’s her ass in the sling, she’ll protect herself before she’ll protect you.”

He shook his head. “If you think that, you don’t know her at all. She always protects her team before herself. Always. I’m not worried about her telling anyone. She’s one of the few people in this world I trust completely.” He kissed her forehead and held her close for a minute he didn’t have to spare. “We gotta get out of here. Sam’s right about what’ll happen when they release Lori’s name to the media.”

Her hands trembled as she gathered her hair into a ponytail. He hated that he’d caused her such distress. “We’ll be okay, babe,” he said with more confidence than he had. “As long as we stick together, it’ll be okay.”

“I’ll pack for Alex.” She turned and left the room, crossing the hall to the baby’s room.

Gonzo sat on the bed and dropped his head into his hands. How in the hell had everything gotten so fucked up so fast? He should’ve disclosed the connection to Judge Morton. He knew that. But he’d been so desperate to gain custody of Alex he’d kept his mouth shut, taking any advantage he could get. And now it had blown up in his face in every possible way.

Lori was
dead
. Jesus. After all she’d done to clean up her life in the last year, who would want to kill her? Was it someone from her past life as an addict? Had she met someone new and ended up in an abusive relationship? It was time to stop being freaked out and start acting like the detective he was.

His phone rang and he withdrew it from his pocket. He didn’t recognize the Virginia number, but he took the call anyway, despite the pang of fear that struck him at the possibility of more bad news. “Gonzales.”

“It’s Leon Morton.”

Gonzo automatically sat up straighter. “Oh, Your Honor.”

“I’m sorry to disturb you on a holiday.”

He didn’t mention that he’d already been thoroughly disturbed. “No problem.”

“I wanted to get in touch to apologize.” The judge’s speech was halting, as if he were pained. “I hate that this has happened, that you’re in such a tough spot.”

He had no idea how tough that spot had become overnight. “Thank you, sir, but it’s not your fault. I should’ve said something.”

“One of us should have. I was naïve to think it wouldn’t come out.”

“As was I,” Gonzo said.

“I wouldn’t change a thing about the outcome. Custody was granted to the right parent.”

“Thank you for that.”

“As you can imagine, the scrutiny has been damaging. I’ve decided to retire to prevent it from going any further.”

Gonzo felt sick again. With Morton out of the picture, all the scrutiny would be on him, which it would be anyway now that Lori was dead. “That’s probably for the best.”

“I just want to say, despite all this, I appreciate, we
all
appreciate, what you did for our family so long ago. My parents were able to rest in peace knowing Eva’s killer had been brought to justice, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. I’m sorry it’s come back to haunt you in this way.”

“It’s not your fault, so please don’t sweat it. We’ll figure it out.” He hated to think about Lori’s murder in terms of the upside—the end of the custody battle. That is, if he wasn’t arrested for her murder.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer. My best to your fiancée and Happy New Year to you both.”

“Same to you. Thanks for calling.”

“Least I could do.”

“Take care.” Gonzo ended the call and sat staring at the floor, thinking about what the judge had said.

“Who was that?” Christina asked as she came back into the room, carrying the monogrammed backpack her parents had given Alex for Christmas.

“Judge Morton.”

“Seriously? What did he say?”

“That he’s sorry about what’s happened but still grateful for what I did for his family years ago.”

She sat next to him on the bed. “That’s nice of him.”

“It was.”

“Did you tell him about Lori?”

“I didn’t see any reason to. He’ll find out soon enough. The whole world will.” He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Let’s finish packing and get the hell out of here before the shit hits the fan.”

* * *

At HQ, Sam went directly to the morgue where Lindsey McNamara had begun the autopsy on Lori Phillips. “What’ve you got for me, Doc?” Sam asked as she stepped into the cold, antiseptic-smelling space that always gave her the creeps.

“Nothing much so far. I just started.”

“Tell me you’ve got fingerprints on her neck. Tell me this was an act of rage and not something premeditated enough that our perp gloved up.”

Lindsey glanced at her. “Are you going to tell me who she is?”

“If I do, you’ve got to help me keep it quiet for a while.”

“How come?”

Sam blew out a deep breath. “She’s Gonzo’s baby mama.”

Lindsey’s green eyes widened with shock. “The stuff in the news, about his connection to the judge...”

“It’s a shitstorm that’s about to get a whole lot shittier.”

“Does he know?”

Sam nodded. “I saw him earlier. He’s a fucking mess.”

“But he didn’t... Well, of course he didn’t. But he probably wanted to, and the press will be all over him.”

“Which is why the rest of my squad is currently digging into Lori’s life, looking for motive somewhere else.”

“Damn.” Lindsey gazed down at the naked woman with the visible bruising on her neck and the stretch marks on her abdomen that indicated she’d once carried a child.

Was it weird that Sam was envious of stretch marks on a dead woman? Yeah, it was very weird, but she’d become accustomed to the odd longings that went along with her infertility. They struck at the strangest times.

“First he gets shot and now this,” Lindsey said with the empathy Sam had come to expect of her friend and colleague. That empathy was one of the reasons she was such a first-rate medical examiner. “The poor guy is having a hell of a run of bad luck.”

“I know. He was already down before this with the wound taking so long to heal.” Sam was worried about how much lower Gonzo could get before he’d hit rock bottom. “Anyway,” she said, shaking off those glum thoughts, “how was the anniversary celebration?”

Before her eyes, Lindsey blushed like a schoolgirl. “Great.” She, too, had met her boyfriend, Terry O’Connor, at Sam and Nick’s promotion party the previous New Year’s Eve. Terry was now Nick’s chief of staff, since Christina stepped down after the campaign to spend more time with Alex and Gonzo.

“That’s it? That’s all I’m getting?”

“There is one thing I could tell you.”

“I’m listening.”

“We got engaged.”

“That’s huge news! Congratulations. I’m so happy for you guys.”

“You’ve come a long way from the days of ‘Why does Nick’s world and my world have to collide?’” Lindsey said drolly.

“I like to think I’m maturing in my old age.”

Lindsey snorted with laughter. “That’ll be the day.”

“So how did he ask?”

“He kept it very simple and sweet. We went to dinner and then came home, and he asked me there.”

“So where’s the ring?”

“At home where it belongs, same place yours is when you’re working.”

“What’s it look like?”

“It’s gorgeous. A big solitaire surrounded by smaller diamonds and a diamond band. I love it.”

“Were you totally surprised?”

“Not totally. We’ve talked about it a few times, but I didn’t know last night was the night. I cried my eyes out when he asked, and he did too when I said yes. It was very... It was lovely.”

“I’m feeling a little misty myself just hearing about it.”

Lindsey cocked an eyebrow at Sam. “You? Misty?”

“I know! Don’t tell anyone.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

Sam looked down at the waxy remains of Lori Phillips. “Are we weird to be standing here having this conversation with a dead body laid out in front of us?”

“Most people would probably think so, but this is what we do and who we are. If we couldn’t be normal in the midst of all this senseless death, we’d probably be locked up in a loony bin by now.”

“True.”

“And I have no doubt whatsoever that you’ll get justice for this poor girl. No matter what she was putting our friend through, she didn’t deserve this.”

“No,” Sam said with a sigh, “she didn’t. Let me know when you’ve got your report done.”

“Don’t I always?”

“Thanks, Doc.” Sam left the morgue and headed for the stairwell to the second floor. Coming down the stairs as she went up was Sergeant Ramsey from the Special Victims Unit. He scowled at her as she went past him. “Always nice to see you too, Sergeant.”

“Fuck off.”

Sam spun around. “Excuse me?”

He kept going down the stairs. “You heard me.”

Sam stormed up the remaining stairs and took a left to go to SVU when she’d planned to go to IT. She walked through the rows of cubicles, drawing the attention of every detective she passed as she made her way to the lieutenant’s office in the back.

Without knocking, she strolled into the office of SVU Lieutenant Davidson and slammed the door.

“Help you with something, Lieutenant?” Davidson asked without looking up from what he was doing.

Sam refused to talk to the top of his dark head, so she waited until he finally looked up at her. “Ramsey.”

“What about him?”

“He just told a superior officer to fuck off.”

“Did he?”

“He did.”

“Okay.”

“What do you plan to do about it?”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“See that you do.”

“Um, yeah, I said I would. Anything else?”

Sam knew she ought to quit while she was ahead, but what fun was that? “You know what they say about tone at the top?”

“What about it?”

“You might want to let your people know that insubordination is unacceptable around here and isn’t good for their career development.”

“
You
might want to get your own house in order before you start butting into mine.”

“My house is in fine order, thank you very much. Yours, on the other hand, could use some work.” Satisfied to have the last word, Sam opened the door and went back the way she came.

Detective Erica Lucas raised a brow in Sam’s direction as she passed Erica’s cubicle.

“Lieutenant,” Erica said.

“Detective. Nice to see you.”

“You too. How’s your niece doing?”

“Much better. She’s going back to school in Virginia to finish up her senior year.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Thank you again for your sensitivity with her.”

“No problem.” She glanced at the lieutenant’s office. “Everything all right?”

Sam lowered her voice so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Just another run-in with my good friend Ramsey.”

Erica rolled her eyes. “Watch out for him. He hates your guts.”

“Any idea why?”

“I have my theories.” Erica’s gaze darted around nervously. “Let’s grab a coffee off campus sometime soon.”

“We’ll do that.”

Nodding, Erica said, “I haven’t seen you since your husband’s promotion. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I think.”

Erica laughed and shook her head. “I can’t imagine.”

“Neither did we.”

“I’d love to hear all about it.”

“I’ll call you about that coffee.”

“Sounds good.” Sam left SVU and headed for IT where she received a much friendlier reception from Lieutenant Archelotta, the one fellow officer who’d seen her naked during their brief fling several years ago.

“Hey, Sam. What brings you up to my neck of the woods?”

She produced the CD from Gonzo’s building. “Could you take a look at this for me and see if you can isolate the person or persons who disabled the security camera in an apartment building?”

“Sure, I’ll put one of my guys right on it.”

“How’d you end up working on the holiday?”

“Nothing better to do,” he said with a sheepish grin. “You?”

“Caught a homicide first thing.”

“Oh, damn. So, I haven’t seen you since everything happened.” He stretched to look around her. “Where’s your Secret Service detail?”