Page 46 of Remember Her Name

“Prison,” said Josie. “He was part of the human trafficking ring we uncovered here.”

“The big one,” said Noah.

Turner squeezed his foam basketball in his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. “The one with the serial killers? Yeah, I remember seeing the news coverage about that, and theDateline, and the documentary.”

Josie grimaced. “There’s a documentary?”

None of the officers who had worked that case and lived to tell about it had been approached by a documentary filmmaker. Not that anyone would want to relive it.

“It’s mostly about the families whose loved ones were victims. You know, how their remains were found and returned. Closure and all that. It doesn’t even mention you guys, or most of the pieces of shit who were arrested for their participation—although I guess there were too many to cover. Lampson’s name never came up.”

Josie wasn’t surprised. His name had always been like a curse in the city of Denton. Lampson was one of the vilest human beings Josie had ever encountered. Who would want togive him airtime? Though she was surprised there had never been more than a couple of episodes ofDatelinedelving into the network of men who’d been involved in trafficking and who had protected Lampson for years.

“He shot Luke Creighton,” Josie added. “Almost killed him.”

Turner leaned forward in his chair, eyes wide with surprise. “Luke Creighton, our K-9 guy?”

“Yes,” Josie said. She didn’t offer any details of her prior relationship with Luke. Turner only knew that Luke meant something to her because she’d asked him to be respectful of Luke the first time they met. It was one of the few times Turner hadn’t been a complete asshole. In fact, he always treated Luke with respect.

“This guy sounds like a true-crime buff’s wet dream. What’s Kellan Neal’s problem? That all his convictions that involved Lampson’s work were tainted?”

Noah spun his chair around. “Not just Neal’s convictions. Any ADA whose cases relied on Lampson’s testimony. A lot of them were overturned. It was a shitshow.”

Turner tossed the ball toward the net. Missed. “I bet. But who cares if Neal’s son-in-law had something going with Lampson’s granddaughter?”

Gretchen’s chair squeaked. She took off her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes. “Neal probably doesn’t want his daughter’s name tarnished by the association with Lampson, even though it’s a weak connection.”

“But who cares about Lampson?” Turner said. “Remy Tate is the connection between our two victims.”

It was a good point. Who would want to kill Remy Tate’s wife and his mistress and why? Another mistress? There hadn’t been any evidence that Remy had been involved with anyone other than Stella, according to his phone records. Maybe there had been someone in his life before Stella? Before Cleo?

Where did the polaroids fit in?

Gretchen stood up, massaging her lower back, and joined Josie at the board. “No, I don’t think that’s the connection.”

“You just like to disagree with me for the sake of it, don’t you?” Turner stood up, fished a dollar out of his jacket pocket and leaned across the desks, dangling it over the jar next to Gretchen’s keyboard. “Parker.”

Gretchen scowled at him. “Keep it, jackass.”

With a smirk, Turner curled his fist around the bill and stuffed it back into his pocket.

Noah sighed loudly. “Focus, please. Both of you.”

“Gretchen might be right,” Josie said. “Maybe it’s not about Remy Tate but about Neal and Lampson.”

“We should at least consider it,” Noah agreed. “The killer targeted Neal’s daughter and Lampson’s granddaughter.”

Gretchen said, “Neal and Lampson both worked for the DA’s office, right?”

Josie nodded. “Yes, but Neal had retired before Lampson moved over there.”

“So we’re looking at someone who wants to get revenge on ADAs and their investigators?” Turner asked.

“Possibly,” said Noah.

“Maybe for a case gone wrong?” Gretchen said, almost to herself. “Except that they never worked together in the DA’s office.”

“But they did work together when Lampson was with the police department,” Noah said. “Lampson testified in plenty of Neal’s cases. Maybe these killings are revenge for a conviction Neal won but that got overturned once Lampson’s corruption was uncovered.”

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