Page 78 of State of Alert

“How long ago was her sister murdered?”

“Um, more than twenty-five years ago, I’d say.”

Sam wrote a note to Freddie.Ask someone to get everything they can find on the murder of Sarah Corrigan in Manassas about 25 years ago.She tore the page out of her notebook and handed it to him.

He got up and left the room.

“Zoe wasn’t sure if the murderer was caught.”

“No one was ever arrested.”

“Your girls believe that played a big part in why your wife was overprotective with them.”

“It did. Elaine was traumatized by what happened to Sarah. She told me that when we first met and had a lot of anxietyabout her own safety, my safety and that of the girls. It was a bone of contention between us as a family. While we certainly understood where it was coming from, it didn’t make it easy to live with the constant surveillance and high-level fear. I worried that our girls would turn out to be afraid to live their lives.”

Freddie came back into the room and returned to his seat. “Cam and Matt are back.”

Sam nodded. “I’d like to play you the last few minutes of Zoe’s interview.”

Freddie cued up the recording on his phone and pressed Play.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

They listened to Zoe talk about how she knew how lucky she was to have all the things she did but how difficult it was to have a parent who refused to allow her to become more independent as she got older. She went on to say that she admired her mother for the way she led her life and how much her mother’s dismissal of her feelings for Zeke hurt her.

Sam watched Frank battle his emotions as his daughter spoke. “What do you think of what she said?”

“It’s all true. Elaine made Zoe’s life very difficult and was dismissive of how she felt about Zeke, which I didn’t think was fair. I mean, Zoe is old enough to know her own heart and how she feels about someone. I told Elaine it was a mistake to diminish her feelings. While this was a problem for all of us, my wife was a good person who did a lot for others.”

“What was your marriage like?”

“We had our ups and downs, like any couple. The teenage years with the girls have been rough, but I was hopeful it would get better as they got older and left home. Although I feared Elaine would get worse about trying to control them after they moved out.”

“Was your wife under the care of a physician for her anxiety?”

“She took anxiety meds and saw a psychiatrist every week for years and twice a week recently.”

“Do you know the doctor’s name?”

“Colleen Barker in Woodley Park. Elaine liked her a lot and said she’d been a big help to her, but I was frustrated that the therapy hadn’t relieved the pressure in our home.”

“Would you be willing to sign a release that would allow us to talk to her?”

“Yes, I suppose so, if you think it would help.”

“We’d appreciate it.”

“Okay.”

“I hope you understand that I have to ask whether you think either of your daughters could’ve harmed their mother.”

“Absolutely not. They didn’t get along, but Zoe would never have hurt her, and Jada tended to avoid the conflict rather than engage.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Were you angry enough to want your wife out of the picture?”

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