Page 136 of State of Alert

“In many homicide cases, someone close to the victim is directly involved.”

“Not this time.”

“So you say, but you can’t tell me where your daughters are after they took thousands of dollars out of their bank accounts and checked out to be in specific places that it seems they never intended to go.”

“Weren’t you a teenager once, Lieutenant? Did you ever sneak around?”

“Of course I did, but if my mother had been murdered, I wouldn’t have fallen off the grid. I would’ve stayed close to home and spent time with my family.”

“That’s you. Not everyone reacts the same way to trauma. My kids wanted their friends.”

“Mr. Myerson, your kids lied to you. Is that the first time they’ve done that?”

He hesitated, only for a second, but long enough to answer the question without saying a word.

“So it happens a lot, does it?”

“You have to understand. It was the only way they could do anything with Elaine tracking their every move.”

“How did they pull off lies if she was watching them?”

He seemed to be deciding whether to tell the truth or not.

“I feel that I need to warn you that you’re perilously close to being charged with obstruction, sir.”

He sighed deeply. “They have other phones that Elaine didn’t know about.”

“What. The. Fuck?”

“I’m sorry! I know I should’ve told you before now.”

“Do you think?”

Sam pushed her notebook and pen across the table. “Write down the numbers.”

Frank pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts to find the numbers, which he then wrote down.

Sam took the page from the notebook and went to the door, calling for Freddie.

He came around the corner.

“The girls had other phones that Elaine didn’t know about.”

“Holy crap.”

She handed the page to him. “Let’s get warrants moving for these numbers and see if their location, or locations, can be determined.”

“I’ll run this right up to Archie.”

“Tell him it’s 911.”

“Yep.”

Sam went back in the room. “Call Zoe on this number.”

Frank eyed her with trepidation. “I’m not sure I should do that.”

“I’m very sure you should, unless you’re looking to spend the rest of your natural life in prison.”

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