Page 192 of State of Alert

“Where did you find proof of this?”

“In an iCloud folder on her laptop that was labeled as a recipe folder.”

“I know nothing about that.”

“Did she speak to you about her sister?”

“Not much lately.” He sat back in his chair, seeming to give it more thought. “When we were together about a year, I told her I couldn’t bear to hear about her sister’s murder every day for the rest of my life. I said I empathized tremendously with what she and her family had been through, but it was just too difficult to make that part of our daily life going forward. I wanted her to move on from it. I guess she never really did.”

Who would?Sam wanted to ask him. “Thank you for the insight. This helps.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“Perhaps later today. Jada will be brought here within the hour. We’d appreciate you being there when we speak to her.”

“Whatever I can do to help.”

“Your cooperation will go a long way toward seeing any pending charges against you dropped if we’re able to identify another suspect.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll keep you up here until Jada gets here. Is there anything we can get for you?”

“A coffee would be good.”

“I’ll grab that,” Freddie said.

Outside the room, Sam said, “Put a Patrol officer outside the door.”

He nodded and took off to get the coffee and the officer.

While she waited for someone to come mind the door, she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and thought the case through from all angles. She’d been so certain that Zoe—and possibly Zeke—were involved. Now she wasn’t sure of anything.

Her phone rang with a call from a Virginia number.

“Holland.”

“This is, um… Zeke Bellamy. I got your message on Snapchat.”

Sam stood up straighter. “Zeke, I’m so happy you called.”

“You said my parents are upset.”

“They’re very upset and terrified you’re ruining your very promising future by doing something stupid.”

“Zoe… she said we had to run, that you were blaming us for her mother’s murder, and we couldn’t stand by and take the fall for something we didn’t do.”

Sam closed her eyes and exhaled. “Where are you, Zeke?”

“Are we in trouble?”

“Not if you do the right thing and come home. I can send someone to bring you back, but you have to tell me where you are.”

“Will we be arrested?”

“No, you’ll be escorted back to DC by the U.S. Marshals. We just want to get you both home safe. Can you help us do that?”

“I want to, but Zoe… She says if we go back, we’ll get charged with murder because… We went to her house that day. She snuck in to get something, but no one knew she was there. I waited for her outside while she went in.”

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