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Guilliam called Evan a moment later. “That photo of the woman is somebody we’re looking out for at the hospital?”

“It’s Steve’s mother, Cristal,” Evan explained. “She’s been working at the hospital very recently, after working for decades at the old folks’ home where Richard had once been.”

“Christ, it makes you wonder how the base is screening who they hire into the hospital these days.”

“I think the staffing shortage is so bad that nobody even cares who they’ve hired. As long as they show up for work and do the job, they’re good to go.”

“Sad situation,” Guilliam muttered.

“Also I sent you Steven’s photo. Plus, we’re looking for a photo of the grandchild, who is probably Steve’s son. At least we think it is a boy.”

“Grandson? Another one?”

“Yeah, you don’t know about this one.” Evan quickly filled him in on Steve possibly having an illegitimate child of his own. That child would be in his late teens now, with no relationship with his father either.

“Crap.” Guilliam snorted.

“I know, and we don’t yet know if this is a continuation of the same issue we have with protecting Mason or if he’s completely out of it.”

“Does Steve’s mother even know of this potential grandchild?” Guilliam asked.

“Steve claims that his mother isn’t allowed a relationship with any supposed child of his, and Steve made that very clear early on to her.”

“Great, so she’s got a son who likes to play games, who bosses her around and gives her orders, just like Steve’s father—who may or may not have forced himself on her. Chances are, Cristal won’t talk either.”

“The old man told us how she’s simple and uneducated, and he was totally disgusted as he said it.”

“Jeez,” Guilliam muttered.

“She was an aide or an orderly or whatever at the old folks’ home and had been for decades. It’s hardly her fault that was the level of education she got, considering the level of poverty she faced.”

“She did raise the boy on her own, no thanks to Richard, so Steve and Richard both shouldn’t be quite so mocking.”

“Yeah, Richard’s just that kind of guy,” Evan noted. “And Steve, the son, isn’t much different. You and I didn’t meet Steve earlier when we joined Jasper’s team because Steve had been off on medical leave, so not an active part of the original investigative team.”

“Do we know what that medical leave was for?” Guilliam asked.

“The file was suspiciously silent on the matter, but we were able to find out that he’s got it down as stress and PTSD from some of his cases.”

“Crap, something that nobody will touch or will make an issue of. You should talk to Sam and Morgan about it. They both worked with Steve, so they might have more insight than we do on him. Morgan might be looking for a way to be helpful, considering he’s in jail and in some hot water.”

“Yeah, we’ve got that on our schedule,” Evan said.

Guilliam added, “We’re also still trying to get a hold of the old man’s last living daughter, who’s not his blood. Anyway she was getting cancer treatments out of state and is due back soon.”

“I’m sure she’ll absolutely love that conversation,” Evan muttered, with a sigh.

“Probably not. The only potential good thing from our perspective is, if something is going on, and if she and her sister aren’t Richard’s children by blood, then it’s possible she might want to get some things off her chest, before things continue down this nasty path.”

“Right, but that’s a long shot too.”

“I know. Anyway I’ll keep you posted.” Then Guilliam was gone.

With that, Evan turned to Jasper, smiled and shared, “Both Sam and Morgan are available to question further about Steve.”

“Good, let’s go,” Jasper agreed. “The sooner we talk to them, and we get a hold of the mother, we’ll at least have whatever information is available.”

“You think the mother has anything to do with this?”

“Either mother, you mean?”

“I don’t see it in this case, but we’ve certainly seen female killers before.”

“I know, and it always blows me away when we get them. It’s just the opposite of what we expect.”

“I know, and, because of that, it’s almost like the females get away with murder.” On that note, they turned and made their way back to the office.

When they walked in, Sam sat there, shaking his head. Evan introduced himself.

“What? You will become a new investigator too?” Sam asked with a sneer.

“I’m here to help work the case and won’t be on this team. I’ve already got too many irons in the fire as it is. However, Tesla and Mason are my friends.”

“That’s nice, but you’re not privy to any of this shit,” Sam snapped, with his typical bad attitude. “So you don’t get to ask me anything.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just sit here and wait while Jasper does. It’s not as if you’re not involved, considering it has to do with your coworker.”

“What coworker? I’m not saying shit about Morgan, if that’s what you’re after.”

Jasper pulled a chair around and sat facing him. “Sam, I know you are pissed at the way things went down early on, but your shitty damn attitude didn’t help any. So, what do you know about the illness that’s had Steve off on medical leave?”

“Nothing. I mean, he could be a little bit erratic at times. I wondered a time or two if he was using. I tried to talk to him about it once, to hook him up with some help, but he told me that he wasn’t, that it was some prescription drugs the doctor had put him on but nothing too horrific. What can I say though?”

“In case you don’t know, he’s already confessed to being involved in a lot of this regarding the sniper shooting of Mason. Steve requested and was granted medical leave for PTSD. He was using that to maintain access to all the cases that he needed to, while working the other side of this investigation, and to stay out of the inevitable awkward situations that working on the investigative team would have put him in.”

Sam just stared at him, and he shook his head. “That’s just BS.”

“Oh, it’s BS all right,” Jasper agreed, “but Steve’s already locked up and confessed to a good share of it, since we caught him red-handed.”

“Damn,” Sam muttered, scrubbing his face. “I suppose that’s what got everybody all riled up in the first place.”

“It sure didn’t add to the confidence level.”

“No, no, it wouldn’t,” he said, with a sigh, “and I presume you’re taking over the team when this is over?”

“I already took over, as you well know,” Jasper confirmed, with half a smile.

“Yeah, I heard that earlier,” Sam admitted, “but I was hoping it wouldn’t be permanent.”

“It is permanent,” Jasper stated. “By the way, I was offered the job before I ever got here.”

Sam stared at him in surprise.

Jasper nodded. “When Mason was shot, I stepped in on a temporary basis,” he explained, “to see who and what I wanted to work with.” Sam winced. Jasper smirked, then nodded. “Now, if you want references and the chance to move on to other jobs, you’ll be as open with us about the involvement of anybody else in this mess who we can possibly find.”

Sam went red in the face at first, but then all the color drained away.

“If you won’t be cooperative on all measures,” Jasper added, starting again, “you can take a hike and go find a job on your own, but you sure as hell won’t be returning to this office for a reference.”

Sam just stared at him, then snorted. “So, I guess that’s your not so subtle way of saying I don’t have a job anymore.”

“Yeah, it sure is,” Jasper declared, “not that you expected any differently. I can’t imagine the brass would even allow it, not after the indiscretions your colleagues made.”

“I was hoping I was cleared.”

“Understood, but, at this point, it’s not me making that decision. Apparently the brass have decided that your friendship with Steve and Morgan has you looking compromised at a level that they aren’t willing to accept.”

“Crap.” Sam groaned. “Yet, if the situations were reversed, I would have probably done the same. However, I don’t and never did know about their involvement in Mason’s case. I’ve been good friends with both of them at different times.”

Jasper asked, “Since we’ve already got Steve locked up, and he’s talked, what do you think? Is he capable of this?”

He frowned and then nodded. “He’s definitely capable,” Sam conceded. “There’s always been that edge to him. It made him a good investigator.”

“It also made him a little more susceptible to blackmail,” Jasper noted, looking over at Sam. “I’m sure he will use all kinds of excuses in the upcoming trials, but you’ve got to realize he’s involved in a lot of this.”

“That’s just unbelievable,” Sam muttered, sitting back.

“So, give me your history with Steve, everything that you’re willing to share about your relationship, about him, about his family, about his mother.”

“His mother? I didn’t think he had a mother.”

Jasper looked from Sam to Evan and back again. “He has a mother, and he has an illegitimate child.”

Sam stared at him, shaking his head. “If that’s the case, I apparently don’t know shit about Steve.”

“That’s what we were afraid of. He’s basically been keeping a quiet little personal life here versus anything anybody would recognize.”

“I would have sworn that his mother was dead. And, in the domestic department, he’d had a long-term relationship, but he broke it off when she cheated on him. So he wouldn’t get into that again.”

“What if she didn’t cheat on him?” Jasper asked. “Would he have been the kind to step up and to give her child support, without being forced by the courts?”

Sam winced at that. “Not sure he would have, although he was pretty vocal about being an only child raised in poverty most of his life. I thought his mother was long gone.”

“Steve may well have intentionally given you that impression, but, not only is she not dead, currently she’s packed up everything at her house and has gone missing.”

Sam stiffened at that.

Jasper nodded. “So, I don’t know whether Steve told her to get out, she finally got wind of what was going on, she knew from the beginning, or she has another plan.”

Staring at Sam, Evan spoke up. “We’re obviously looking for her now.”

Sam frowned and turned to Jasper. “Steve would have had access to everything here on the Mason case.”

“Precisely. He had access, utilized that access, gave out information, and used his access to confidential files to blackmail people into doing what he thought they needed to do.”

“Ah, crap, you’re talking about Drew now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I sure am, and likely Morgan too, although I don’t know for sure about the rest who were bribed. It will take some time to sort through it all because so many of the players are dead. We might not ever know.”

Sam frowned. “I obviously didn’t know Steve all that well.… I know that sounds terrible because we worked with the guy, but he wasn’t all that easy to get to know. Steve was the kind of guy where you never knew where you stood with him, but he was good at his job, so it didn’t matter.”

“ Good at his job apparently wasn’t good enough,” Jasper murmured. “So, you have nothing to help us find out where his mother might have gone?”

“No, I don’t have anything to suggest,” Sam replied. “I know that sounds like I’m not cooperating, but, damn it, none of this makes any sense. Obviously Steve’s not the guy we thought he was, but I’m not hiding anything here,” Sam claimed.

And, with that, Evan got a call, and he stepped out of the office to take it. It was Tesla.

“I have an address for Steve’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Good. Where is she at?”

“She works at a bank, where apparently everybody loves her.”

“Okay, I’ll stop in and have a talk with a few people.”

“She’s not at work today,” Tesla noted, “and hasn’t been for a couple days.”

“ Uh-oh ,” Evan muttered. “Any idea where she is?”

“I do have a home address coming through from the manager. I’ll send it to you as soon as I get it. Ooh, I’ve got a text.” He waited, and she told him, “It’s coming your way now.”

And, with that address in hand, he walked back into the office and motioned at Jasper, who came right over. “We’ve got a home address for the ex-girlfriend, and she hasn’t been at work for the last few days.” Jasper stared at him, and Evan nodded. “I suggest we go make a house call.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding. I’ll drive.”