Other than that, we’ve got jack. What’re you hearing from Crime Scene on the search for a murder weapon?”
“Nothing yet. I’m hearing we’re looking for a Garden Weasel or some such thing?”
“Yep.”
“Ouch.”
“Right?”
“What’s your theory?” Malone asked.
“Heat of the moment. Someone confronted her in the garage, they argued, it got heated, the perp reached for the first thing he or she could find and swung for the neck, scoring a direct hit.”
“If they took the thing with them, we might never find it.”
“I know, and there’s also the very good possibility that if we do find it, we won’t get squat from it, because we’re probably looking at a first-timer with no prints in the system, rather than a career criminal.”
“True.”
“Let me tell you, Cap. This woman had it coming. Her scheme was so brazen as to be impossible to comprehend.”
“I read about it in the paper yesterday.”
“No one in her life was immune. Her own siblings, cousins and closest friends… It’s unreal. It’d be like me scamming you guys, my sisters, Shelby.”
“I’m not giving you my money,” Freddie said. “It’s enough that I’ve already turned over my soul to you.”
“Do you see what I mean about young Freddie?” Sam asked the captain.
He replied with wheezing laughter.
“It’s not funny!” Sam said.
“Yes, it is,” Freddie and the captain said together.
Freddie shot her a smug look.
“I can end this call with the push of one button.”
“She has no idea which button,” Freddie said, “so that’s an empty threat.”
It was a relief, in a way, to be getting back to some semblance of normalcy after the shock of her father’s death and the compounding shock of Conklin’s culpability. The levity was a welcome respite from the pervasive grief that’d touched everyone who’d loved Skip Holland, including Freddie Cruz and Jake Malone. “Remember the good old days when he was afraid of me?”
“I do,” Malone said, “and I think I like this better.”
“Me too,” Freddie said. “She’s taking me on a nooner with her husband. I shouldn’t be subjected to these things.”
“Uh… I don’t know how to reply to that.”
“Nick and I are going to have a chat with the reporter who asked if we’re going to have kids ‘of our own.’”
“Oh damn. Really?”
“Yep.”
“Does she know you’re coming?”
“Nope.”
“I’ll take video,” Freddie said, “so we can all enjoy it.”
“Do I need to warn you to tread carefully so we don’t attract more negative publicity?” Malone asked.
“Nick will be with her to keep her under control,” Freddie said.
“That’s true,” Malone said, chuckling.
“If you two are quite finished, there’s something else I wanted to tell you, Cap,” Sam said. “Lenore Worthington came to see me this morning.”
“I heard that. What’s up there?”
“She heard we closed Dad’s cold case and asked if I’d be willing to take reopen her son Calvin’s case.”
“How’d you leave it with her?”
“That I’d run it up the flagpole. You’re the flagpole.”
“I’ll pull the files and take a look.”
“Thanks, Cap. I don’t want to leave her hanging. I told her I’d get back to her.”
“Understood. I remember that case. Stayed with me for a long time. We never had so much as a lead or a thread to pull, as you would say.”
“I’d love to dig into it after we close McLeod. If we close McLeod. Are we required to give despicable people the same level of effort we give innocent victims?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“There oughta be a law that says horrible people don’t get investigations when someone does the world a favor and ends them,” Sam said.
“Of course you didn’t actually say that out loud,” Malone replied.
“Of course I didn’t. But let it be said for the record, I’d much rather be taking a fresh look at Calvin Worthington’s murder than hearing about all the ways Ginny McLeod deserved a rototiller to the neck.”
“Duly noted,” Malone said. “I’ll check with Haggerty and the lab to see if they have anything helpful.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Will do. Enjoy the nooner. That reporter won’t know what hit her.”
“That’s the plan. Later, Cap.” She pressed a button to end the call and gave Freddie a smug look. “Check me out. Pressing buttons and getting it done.”
“Um, you put the hazards on.”
“I did not!”
He cracked up. “Made you look.”
“Oh my God. You’re a pain in the ass today.”
“I do what I can for the people.”
“That’s my line, and it’s trademarked, which means you’re not allowed to use it without my permission. Did you find the McLeods’ daughter at Catholic?”
“Duh, yes. Took me all of two seconds.”
“Now you’re just being cocky.”
“If the truth