Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?

  I’m on my way to Wilmington & Newark DE to brief families of two of the missing women.

  Oh wow. Ok… Well, I don’t have much on him that you don’t already know. He was always an enigma around here. No one was particularly close to him (that I knew of).

  Did you suspect he was unbalanced in any way?

  I had suspicions that something was “off,” but without being able to fully evaluate him, that’s all it was. Suspicions. Until he confirmed them, that is.

  This is helpful. Thank you for sharing. I’m really struggling with how he could’ve done the things he did right under the noses of all the good cops we work with.

  I’m sure that was part of the thrill for him. That he was deceiving his fellow officers with his criminal behavior while pretending to be an upstanding member of the department. We don’t think to look for criminals under our own roof. We like to think we’re all on the same side with the same goals, but we’ve seen that isn’t the case.

  It’s demoralizing.

  Yes, it is, and it’s something I’ll be addressing with the entire team as we go forward. It’s important we don’t lose sight of the overall goal while dealing with the transgressions of a very few.

  True.

  We’ll be discussing it more in small group settings in the coming weeks. I want to give people the chance to share their feelings in a positive forum, so they don’t fester.

  I appreciate you, Doc. I really do. If you’d asked me before you saved my life and my career—more than once—if I thought shrinking was for me…

  Haha. Thanks for the kind words. It’s taken a long time to earn the trust of my colleagues. A skeptical group, to say the least. I’m proud of the strides we’ve taken as a department to address the mental health challenges that come with a stressful job. Still much more work to be done.

  Thank you for doing that hard work. It’s badly needed.

  Try to enjoy the vacation.

  Will do. See you next week.

  He responded with a thumbs-up.

  With an hour still to go, she sifted through the notes in the Carter file along with the updates Freddie had emailed her. In his message, he’d written:

  Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware, with just over 70,000 residents. The Carters live in a suburb west of Wilmington called Elsmere, which has about 7,000 residents. Solidly working-class community with median home value around $184K and median rent at $1100. Bart Carter is retired from Merrill Lynch, and Theodora Carter is retired from the Elsmere School District after working for twenty-five years as a school librarian. I’ve attached a clip I found from a local paper when she retired. I took a look at their social media… Their five adult children live close by and have at least six children among them. Lots of photos of the parents with their grandchildren and a group shot of the whole family taken at a family reunion last summer. (See enclosed.) They post photos of Brittany on her birthday each year and had an age-enhanced photo of what she might look like now done two years ago (also attached). From what I can see, they’ve never stopped looking for her or hoping for a break in her case.

  That last line broke Sam’s heart. How did people live for decades without knowing what had happened to their missing child? She would go mad within days if it took that long.

  Next, she studied the additional report Freddie had sent on the Hans family. Caren and her sister, Cristen, had been raised by their late grandmother in Brookside, outside of Newark, after their parents died in an accident when the girls were very young. They both graduated from Christiana High School.

  There’s not much to be found about Caren after graduation, but Cristen graduated from the University of Delaware with a business degree and is married to Paul Reid, a firefighter in Newark. They have two young children, a boy and a girl, ages four and one (based on a recent Facebook post). She runs an online business from home, providing apparel to local teams, schools and other organizations. Caren and Paul reside in Brookside, about six blocks from the home where the sisters were raised. I went back several years on her social media and found no mention of her missing sister.

  Sam’s phone chimed with a text from Freddie. Cadaver dogs have picked up on scents in Stahl’s basement and backyard. Excavation equipment is being brought in.

  Her heart sank at that news. “Cadaver dogs have identified scents in the yard and basement at Stahl’s house,” Sam said to Vernon and Jimmy.

  She had such mixed feelings about the news. On the one hand, she wanted closure for the families of the missing women. On the other, she dreaded the fallout of this case for the department, its leadership and the rest of them.

  It made her sick to her stomach.

  “Keep doing what you do, Sam.” Vernon’s gaze met hers in the mirror for a second before he returned his attention to the road. “You’re on the side of right. You always have been and always will be. Stay focused on what you can control.”

  The words touched her deeply. That was exactly what her dad might have said under the circumstances. “Thank you, Vernon.”

  “Any time you need to hear it, you know where to find me.”

  “I do, and I’m grateful for you.”

  “Likewise.”

  They arrived at the Carters’ neat ranch house a few minutes later. Two Honda sedans were parked in the driveway, and the flag was up on the mailbox at the curb. For some reason, that little flag caught Sam’s attention as she marveled at the mundane details of life marching forward even though someone you loved was missing. After the worst thing had happened, bills still had to be paid, people needed to be fed, grass had to be cut, and life went on like nothing had changed when everything had.

  Vernon opened the back door for her.

  “Thank you, Vernon.”

  “My pleasure. I assume you don’t want us going in ahead of you.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “Had a feeling.”

  Sam left him with a warm smile and headed up the sidewalk to the front door.

  Theodora met her at the door. “Come in.”

  Sam didn’t bother showing her badge or making the usual introduction. “Thank you for seeing me.”

  “I’d say it was no problem,” she said, “but we suffer every time there’s interest in Brittany’s case, especially when nothing ever comes of it.” The woman looked like a stereotypical librarian, with short gray hair, glasses, a neat appearance and an aura of efficiency about her.

  “I’m very sorry for your suffering. I’ll do everything I can to try to get you some answers.”

  Theodora gestured to the kitchen table, where her husband was already seated.

  “We appreciate that you have good intentions,” Theodora said. “You’ll understand if we don’t get our hopes up.”

  “I understand.” Sam took a seat at the table. “I know you’ve been disappointed by members of my department for years and have no reason to believe this time will be different.”

  “Not members of your department,” Bart said. “One member. Leonard Stahl lied to and deceived us at every turn. We’re well aware of your own troubles with him and how he was convicted of trying to murder you.”

  “Yes, he was.”

  “And yet, you’re still working on cases that involve him?” Theodora asked.

  “Yes, I am, because I want to make things right—or as right as they can be—for the other people he harmed.”

  “How will you make this right?” Bart asked. “Our daughter has been missing for twelve years. What’s different now?”

  “I’m here to inform you that we’ve received credible information possibly tying former Lieutenant Stahl to Brittany’s disappearance and that of several other young women.”

  For a long time after her words landed, they stared at her in apparent shock.

  “So the man assigned to investigate her disappearance might’ve been the one who took her?” Bart asked, his every word laced with outrage.

  “We believe that might be possible. As we speak, Crime Scene detectives are at his former home and tearing apart every aspect of his life.”

  “How is it possible, in light of his crimes against someone like you, that his life hasn’t been torn apart before now?” Bart’s face had gotten very red, and a vein in his forehead pulsed.

  Theodora placed her hand on top of his. “Take it easy, Bart. Remember your heart.”

  “I don’t care about my heart, Teddy. Did you hear what she said?”

  “I heard her.”

  “This is an outrage!” Bart sputtered. “All this time, we’ve been waiting to hear something, anything, about what happened to our daughter, and it was him? The whole time? Why didn’t anyone else take over the investigation after he was arrested? Why does no one care that our daughter was abducted and probably murdered after withstanding God knows what level of torture?”

  It’d been a while since anyone had screamed at Sam like that, not that she didn’t feel it was warranted. Still, the outburst unnerved her.

  Bart got up so quickly, his chair toppled over.

  Sam and Theodora both startled at the crashing sound.

  He kicked the chair aside and went out the back door.

  “I’m sorry,” Theodora said.

  “Don’t be. He has every right to feel the way he does. It is an outrage. I want you to know… And this is not an excuse for the inexcusable. I swear it isn’t. But there’re so many cases… It’s not possible for us to keep up with everything we have going on currently as well as the cold cases that should get more attention than they do. I’m very sorry that your daughter’s case hasn’t received the attention it deserves. I vow to you that I’ll stay involved until you have answers. However long that may take.”

  “I accepted a long time ago that she’s probably dead and that we may never know the truth of what happened to her.” Theodora spoke softly, but with conviction. “I had to accept it to keep moving forward. I couldn’t dwell in that sadness and anger for the rest of my life. It was killing me. Bart, though… He refuses to accept anything until he knows for sure. He continues to hope…” She shook her head. “It’s ruined our lives, Lieutenant. It’s ruined our marriage. It’s ruined everything.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Sam was on the verge of tears listening to Theodora’s heartbreak. “I wish I could go back in time and change what’s happened. I would if I could. We’ve been working to right a lot of wrongs where Stahl was concerned. The magnitude of his crimes is only now becoming clear to us. I don’t say that as an excuse, because there isn’t one.”

  “It helps me to see that a good police officer like you is sick over this.”

  “I am,” Sam said. “We all are. It’s inconceivable to us that we worked next to a man who was capable of the things we already know he’s done. That it keeps getting worse…”

  “It means a lot to me that you came here today. That you told us the truth, even though it caused you tremendous pain and probably significant humiliation to do so. You certainly didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes, I did. And I mean it when I tell you I’m going to stay on this case for as long as it takes, until we get you some answers.”

  “I say this with all due respect to you and the other good officers you work with, but answers aren’t going to change anything for us now. Our daughter will still be gone, and our lives will forever be shattered because of how we lost her.”

  “I understand.”

  “I hope you never truly understand this pain, Lieutenant. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

  Sam swallowed the huge lump that suddenly appeared in her throat at the thought of one of her precious children going missing, let alone falling victim to a monster like Stahl. “Thank you for seeing me.” She glanced at the door through which Bart had escaped. “If you’ll tell him thank you for me, I’ll see myself out.”

  “I’ll tell him.”

  “We’ll be in touch.”

  Theodora nodded, her posture and expression one of grim acceptance that answers might be forthcoming and that her fragile pact with grief might be upended.

  Sam exited the house and took deep breaths of the cool air as she went down the sidewalk to where Vernon held the door for her.

  His brows furrowed with concern. “You okay?”

  “That was brutal,” Sam said softly. “Absolutely brutal.”

  When she was settled in the back seat, he stood there for a minute after handing her a bottle of cold water. “Anything I can do?”

  She shook her head as she took a sip of water. “Let’s get this next thing over with.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The Reid family lived on a cul-de-sac where kids rode their bikes under the watchful supervision of parents, who stood in a group in one of the driveways.

  When the Secret Service SUV pulled onto the street, everything came to a halt.

  Children moved their bikes to the side of the road, and the parents stared as the vehicle came to a stop outside the Reids’ home. The bricks had been painted white, and wooden accents gave it a fresh, modern look. Matching window boxes stood ready for spring blooms.

  A woman with shoulder-length hair, brown skin and a trim frame broke away from the other parents. She was waiting for Sam on the sidewalk when she emerged from the SUV.

  “I’m Cristen Reid.”

  Sam shook her hand. “Thank you for seeing me.”

  She nodded and led the way toward the house.

  Sam glanced over her shoulder to find the other adults staring at her as she followed Cristen into an immaculate, nicely designed home.

  “Your home is lovely.”

  “Thank you. Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m fine.”

  They sat together at the kitchen table.

  Sam assumed the neighbors were watching Cristen’s kids or they were with their father.

  “I’ve come to update you on a major development in your sister’s case.”

  “What development?”

  “We’ve received credible information that the officer who investigated her case may be responsible for her disappearance. We’re actively investigating these new leads and hope to have more information to share before much longer.”

  Looking stunned, Cristen sat back in her seat, her gaze fixed on framed black-and-white photos of her family. “Is there anything else?”

  “No, just that.”

  “Okay, you’ve told me. You can go now.”

  “I want to extend our apologies—”

  “Please.” Her heated gaze shifted back to Sam. “Save it. There’s nothing you can say that would make this right.”

  Sam stood and headed for the door. “Thank you for seeing me,” she said as she exited the house less than five minutes after she entered.

  The people across the street did the staring thing again as she made her way to the SUV. “Let’s get back to the beach, Vernon.”

  “You got it.”

  After he closed the door, Sam glanced toward the house, where Cristen was in the doorway glaring at the SUV.

  Her phone rang, and she took the call from Malone.

  “How’d you make out with the Carters and Hans’s sister?”

  “They’re very, very angry, and with good reason.”

  His deep sigh said it all. “You heard about the cadaver dogs?”

  “I did. How soon will we know anything?”

  “It’ll take a while to recover the bodies and have them tested. A couple of weeks, probably.”

  “I hated having to tell those poor people about this.”

  “Everyone is getting the same response you did as they update the other families.”

  “I fear this is going to make all our previous scandals look minor.”

  “I fear you’re right about that.” He took a beat before he continued. “I go over it and over it in my mind. What was I doing when he was on this lawless rampage?”

  “You were running around doing the job while he cut every corner and operated as a lawless criminal in plain sight.”

  “Joe and I have lost a lot of sleep over this. Trying to figure out how he pulled it off.”

  “Do you think he had help other than Gibbons?” Sam referred to the former IT lieutenant who’d recently been charged with aiding some of Stahl’s criminal activity. It’d turned out that Stahl had somehow found out that Gibbons had been carrying on an extramarital affair with one of his subordinates. Stahl had threatened to expose him, which had led to Gibbons hiding some of Stahl’s dirty work in the IT annals.

  Gibbons now faced charges.

  “I suppose it’s possible,” Malone said. “But listen. None of this is your problem this week. We appreciate you updating the families in Delaware. Now go enjoy the rest of your vacation.”

  “Keep me posted. I want to know what’s going on.”

  “I will.”

  Sam closed her phone, put her head back against the seat, closed her eyes and tried to decompress. She didn’t blame either family for their anger toward her, the department, Stahl and police in general. They all had good reason to feel the way they did. She hadn’t been surprised to hear that everyone charged with delivering this news to the families had received the same reception.

  It was just another reason to hate Stahl for the many, many things he’d done that the rest of them were now trying to make right while knowing that some things could never be made right.

  Lulled by the movement of the car, Sam dozed off and was thrust back into Marissa Springer’s basement, where Stahl had wrapped her in razor wire and threatened to set her on fire. She could feel the sharp wire cutting into her flesh as he splashed gasoline on her and lit matches to torment her.

  She couldn’t move out of the fear of being sliced to pieces, which gave him great pleasure. His beady little eyes glimmered from the thrill of having her right where he wanted her. All she could think about was Nick and Scotty and how much she loved them and wanted to go home to them.

  She’d closed her eyes and focused on their faces, the beautiful, perfect faces of the two people she loved the most. She’d also thought of her dad and sisters, her nieces and nephews and the squad of friends and colleagues who were like family. But it was Nick and Scotty who’d carried her through the ordeal, her thoughts of them soothing her during the most excruciating hours of her life.