Page 97 of State of Alert

“No matter what happens with our case, I want to help with yours if you’ll have us. If you want to make a copy of the case files for me, I’ll put some people on it as time permits. I can make a case for the possibility of it being linked to ours.”

“Do you think it could be?”

“I mean… Anything’s possible, but I’m not leaning in that direction. Not yet, anyway. But with the connection to the sister, I can justify spending some time on her case. Not that I think we’d do anything you haven’t already covered. It’s just that sometimes a fresh set of eyes—or two—can see something new.”

“You’d have no objection from me. I’ll make a copy of everything and get it over to your shop tomorrow. Thank you for the offer. It’s much appreciated.”

“You know what’s another hallmark of an outstanding police officer?” Freddie asked.

“What’s that, young man?”

“All you care about is justice for your victim, not glory for yourself.”

Truehart was visibly moved by Freddie’s comment. “She’s mine. If I could put away her killer, she and I could both rest in peace when my time comes.”

Sam stood and offered him her hand. “We’ll do everything we can to help you, Detective.”

He took her hand between both of his. “It was an honor to meet you.”

“No, sir,” Sam said. “The honor was all ours.”

They werequiet on the ride back to town. Sam had been ridiculously moved by Truehart and his dedication to Sarah’s case. It reminded her of Calvin Worthington, the teenager gunned down in his own driveway fifteen years earlier, and how the case had been solved in an afternoon because someone had finally decided to give a shit.

“Truehart makes me extra ashamed of what happened with Worthington,” Sam said.

“That wasn’t the same thing at all. It wasn’t your case from the get-go.”

“I was the responding officer.”

“You were in Patrol. No one was going to let you investigate it. No comparison, Sam.”

“Still… there was more I could’ve done much sooner than I did.”

“What matters is that his family has answers now. It never should’ve taken as long as it did, but that failing was on the department collectively.”

“You can’t solve them all, as much as you might want to.”Vernon met her gaze in the mirror. “‘Most’ is a pretty good track record.”

“I suppose so.” Sam ceded to their insistence but would never forget the massive failing that the Worthington case represented. By remembering it, she could hopefully ensure nothing like that ever happened again.

Back at HQ, Sam stopped at the morgue to check in with Lindsey.

“I haven’t had a chance to review the Myerson autopsy report, so give me the gist.”

“One blow to the back of the head fractured her skull and caused a brain bleed that killed her pretty quickly. It was straightforward, as these things go. The tox screen will tell us more, but I don’t expect any smoking guns there. She was in good health overall.”

“Any thoughts about what kind of object we’re looking for?”

“I’d say it was something smooth, like a baseball bat perhaps. There were no grooves or indentations in the wound that would indicate something pronged.”

“I’ll pass that on to Haggerty. Thanks for the input.”

“No problem. I wanted to tell you…”

Sam tipped her head, surprised to see Lindsey look so uncomfortable, and hoped her friend wasn’t still upset about Sam lying to her. “What’s up?”

“You’re going to hear from my sister, Margo, about a bridal shower.”

“Okay…”

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