Page 114 of State of Alert

Despite the apparent dead end, Sam wasn’t satisfied for some reason. “I think I’ll still pay her a visit just to dot the I’s. Can you track down the mom’s location during the day?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

There was that word again. “What else do we have on the Myersons?”

“Not much,” Cameron said. “We went back a year on thesocials, and nothing stood out. If there was dirty laundry, they kept it in the house. We’re going through texts now and finding a lot of animosity between Elaine and her daughters.”

Even though she knew about the animosity, she wanted details. “Like what?”

Cameron sifted through some pages. “Last Friday, for example, Zoe wanted to go to the movies with her friend, who drives. Elaine replied, ‘Not in her car. You can go on the Metro.’ To which Zoe said, ‘Fuck the Metro. I’m going with my friends.’ Elaine threatened to shut off her debit card. Zoe said, ‘Go ahead. My friends will pay for me because they love me.’”

“Jesus,” Sam said. “It was nonstop with them.”

“Seemed that way.”

“How is it possible the girls aren’t involved in this somehow?”

“They both have alibis,” Gonzo said, “and just because they’re assholes doesn’t make them murderers.”

“That’s true. I’m spoiled by my teen, who isn’t an asshole—not yet, anyway.” Sam was convinced he never would be. “Were there contentious texts with Jada, too?”

“Yeah, she was less aggressive with her mother than Zoe, but Zoe was older and sick of the restrictions.”

“What kind of stuff did she fight with Jada about?”

“Two weeks ago, Jada texted her that she was going to walk home from school, and Elaine freaked out.”

“Because of what happened to her sister,” Sam said. “That points right back to the greatest trauma of her life.”

“We got the files from Manassas about that,” Cam said. “I’ll dig in after this.”

“Thanks.”

“Elaine’s teenage daughter probably didn’t care about the aunt she never knew who was abducted, tortured and then murdered,” Cam said. “Jada said, ‘I’m already halfway home, so chill.’ Elaine told her to not use that word with her—or ‘relax’—which was another word they used frequently that Elaine didn’t care for.”

“Were there texts between the dad and daughters?”

“Those were about rides to practice or pickups from various things. The mom supervised their comings and goings. He seemed almost like a bystander. Every so often, one of the girls would plead with him to talk to Elaine, but those texts went unanswered.”

“How could they stand the nonstop fighting and tension?” Sam asked.

“Gigi and I were talking about that last night,” Cam said. “It would drive us crazy to live in a war zone like that.”

“Me, too. I hope I never have those kinds of issues with my kids.”

“Oh, you’ll probably run up against a little tug-of-war from time to time, but I suspect you’ll be more reasonable than Elaine was.”

“Easy for me to be reasonable when my kids have Secret Service protection.”

“True.”

Neveah handed Sam a piece of paper. “Address for Trina Gauthier’s office at the USDA. She said she’s there all day.”

“All right everyone, let’s get to it. Neveah, could I have a minute, please?”

Neveah followed Sam into her office and closed the door. “What’s up?”

“Two things. One, I’m checking in to make sure this case isn’t triggering for you.”

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