Page 191 of State of Alert

“Slow but sure. I’m here with my team, and we have a question for you. Had you heard from Elaine about a potential suspect in Sarah’s case?”

“Many times over the years. She worked the case as hard as I did and had come up with several possibilities that I thoroughly investigated. None of them panned out, usually because they could prove they were somewhere else when Sarah was taken. I should’ve mentioned that the day we met, but I haven’t thought about her leads in years.”

“Had she mentioned anyone recently?”

“Not in the last three years or so.”

“Does the name Darryl Robinson mean anything to you?”

“Can’t say that it does.”

“This is very helpful. Thank you.”

“Of course. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

Sam disconnected the call. “So Elaine had brought him clues that went nowhere over the years. This time, she decided to take matters into her own hands.” Sam thought about it for asecond. “Wouldn’t Truehart be told about a restraining order against his murder victim’s sister?”

“Manassas is Prince William County,” Cameron said. “Springfield is Fairfax.”

“Ah, I see. That would explain why he didn’t know about it. Detective Charles, please bring Frank Myerson up to interview one. Let’s see what he knows about his wife’s shadow investigation.”

Neveah got up and left the room.

“What’re you thinking?” Gonzo asked.

“That Elaine stirred up a hornet’s nest, and maybe the hornet struck back at her.”

“How does that explain the daughter and her boyfriend running from us?” Freddie asked.

“Maybe they felt like they were about to take the fall for something they didn’t do and ran scared.” Sam had a sick feeling in her stomach over how certain she’d been that Zoe had killed Elaine. Was it now possible she’d been totally wrong about that?

“That’s possible, I suppose,” Gonzo said.

Sam turned to Malone. “How would we approach this Robinson guy?”

“Carefully. You have no proof that ties him to either case, so there’s no way you’re getting a warrant for his devices or DNA.”

“Unless…” She glanced at Walters. “If we could put him anywhere near Crestwood on Sunday, that’d give us probable cause for warrants.”

“I’ll review the film.” He took his thumb drive when he left the room.

“Cameron, get me everything you can find on this guy ASAP.”

“On it.”

Neveah returned. “Mr. Myerson is in interview one.”

“Thank you.” Sam glanced at Freddie to tell him to comewith her. They stepped into the interview room, closing the door behind them.

“Talk to me about Elaine’s involvement with Sarah’s case.”

His expression conveyed confusion. “She wasn’t involved with it, other than living with the trauma of it.”

“Did you know she was investigating the case the way a police detective would?”

“What? No, she wasn’t.”

“She was, and she had been almost from the beginning. Detective Truehart told us she regularly called him with suspects he should take a look at.”

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