Page 100 of State of Denial

“You got it.”

Sam made a call to Lenore Worthington, also on speaker.

“Hey, Sam. How are you?”

“Doing well. And you?”

“It’s been a strange month. I thought finding out why Calvin was murdered would fix things, but at the end of the day, he’s still dead.”

“Grief group is tonight. We had to move it to Wednesday this month because Dr. Trulo had a conflict. I hope you can make it.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I need it.”

“I just heard from the AUSA that the preliminary hearing is a week from Monday at four at the federal courthouse.”

“We’ll be there.”

“I’m planning to attend, too. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yes, you will. Thank you for all you do, Sam. Closing the case, hosting the grief group, following up with victims’ families. It makes a difference.”

“Thank you for saying so. I needed to hear that.”

“Any time you need some reinforcement, call me. I’m always here.”

“Will do. See you soon.”

“She sounds pretty good, all things considered,” Freddie said.

“As we both know, the answers don’t change the reality for victims’ families.”

“No, they don’t.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to check in with Lieutenant Haggerty.”

“Do your thing, boss man.”

He rolled his eyes at her and made the call to the commander of the Crime Scene Unit, putting it on speaker so Sam could hear. “This is Detective Cruz calling about the Blanchet case.”

“I heard you were heading up this one. Everything okay with Holland?”

“I’m here,” Sam said. “Just giving young Freddie a chance to take the wheel.”

“Ah, I see. We wrapped up our work at the house this morning, and I should have a report to you soon. The one thing that stood out was a bullet hole in the molding near the kitchen ceiling that may be indicative of a struggle for the gun.”

“That would explain the gunpowder residue on the wife’s hand,” Freddie said.

“Possibly,” Haggerty said. “Everything else was fairly straightforward, as these things go.”

Meaning that four kids shot in their beds wasstraightforward. Freddie was sickened by the notion of someone surgically killing innocent kids. “Thanks for the info, LT.”

“I’ll have my full report to you shortly.”

“Sounds good.”

Freddie ended the call with Haggerty and looked to Sam for her input. “How does a reportedly loving and devoted father do that to his own children?”

“Maybe he saw it as a way to protect them from the scandal that was about to erupt,” Sam said. “Imagine being in middle school and having your father accused of ejaculating on sedated patients. It would ruin their lives as much as his.”

“For sure, and there were signs of a struggle in the kitchen. Mrs. Blanchet tried to get the gun away from whoever had it.” After a pause, Freddie said, “If I look at it from the perspective of him wanting to protect them from the salacious scandal, I can almost envision him standing over their beds and shooting them.”

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