Page 122 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

Satisfied that she’d handled things with Jaycee as well as she could, she returned to the pit to get to work.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“It’s now been more than twenty-four since Pam Tappen was found bound and gagged in her minivan, which was three full days after she left her M Street home to attend a conference in Baltimore.” Sam gestured to the photos that were taken of Pam in the van that were now on the murder board. “Our review of her phone and computer show nothing out of the ordinary on the day she presumably went missing, which we’re assuming was last Friday. Dr. McNamara has put her time of death around six p.m. on Sunday.”

Sam paused to let that information sit with her detectives to imagine what two days bound and gagged in a freezing minivan would’ve been like for their victim.

“Pam’s company provided conference support for a wide variety of clients. We’ve learned it wasn’t uncommon for Pam to be out of touch with her husband and children when she was working at a show. We spoke to the company she was due to support in Baltimore and learned she was a no-show. Their efforts to reach her beginning on Friday were unsuccessful. The CEO of the company was furious with Pam until she learned she’d been murdered.”

“What’s your theory on how the murderer contacted or waylaid her?” Green asked.

“I think she might’ve been approached either outside of her home or somewhere along the road on the way out of her neighborhood.”

“Archie has checked all our cameras in a one-mile radius surrounding her home, and nothing popped,” Freddie said.

“We need to expand our radius beyond a mile.” Sam felt a buzz for the first time since this baffling case began. “Imagine she’s driving along her expected route on the way to the highway north to Baltimore. She sees someone she knows, who flags her down. Naturally, she pulls over. I think that’s how it happened, except I can’t figure out who among the people she knew wanted her dead. We’ve uncovered an affair she was having with the father of one of her sons’ AAU football teammates. Both spouses were legitimately shocked to hear of the affair. Bob Tappen said that as far as he knew, Pam didn’t even like Mark Ouellette. Bob was stunned to hear that not only was she having an affair, but that she was having it with him of all people. Josie Ouellette was equally shocked.”

“What about the kids?” Gonzo asked. “What did they know, and when did they know it?”

“The Tappen kids were unaware,” Freddie said. “We witnessed their reactions at hearing the news, and they were revolted.”

“What about the Ouellette kids?” Malone asked.

“We haven’t spoken with them yet,” Sam said. “But you’re right. Maybe one of them found out and decided to eliminate the threat to their family. I just have a hard time picturing a teenager doing what was done to Pam. There was an almost diabolical element to it. The killer not only wanted her to die. They wanted her to suffer first.”

“It’s a stretch to picture a kid doing that, but it’s not impossible,” Malone said. “I’d take a close look at all the kids. I remember being in high school, and one of my classmates found out her dad was having an affair with another kid’s mother, and she was so angry. So, so angry that her dad would do that to her. She took it very personally.”

“That’s interesting,” Sam said.

“I agree with the captain,” Jeannie McBride said. “Kids are so caught up in what their friends think of them that something like this would be hugely embarrassing, especially if everyone at school found out about it. Or even one person found out about it and said something to one of them.”

“I hear what you all are saying, but I keep coming back to the torturous way in which Pam died,” Sam said.

“What if it was one of the kids, and he or she didn’t intend for Pam to die?” Freddie said.

“What was their goal, then?” Sam asked.

“To make her suffer a little, but not to kill her.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. This felt almost professional to me.”

“Have we examined that possibility?” Malone asked. “That it was a professional hit?”

“Again, it goes to motive,” Sam said. “The only people we know of who had motive to want her dead would’ve been the spouses of the people doing the cheating—and not for nothing, they’re probably the only ones who could’ve afforded a professional hit. Neither of them even knew about it.”

“What about the guy?” Jeannie asked. “Ouellette? What if Pam had become a liability to him, and he needed to get her out of his life?”

“I suppose that’s possible, although he wept when we told him how she’d been murdered.”

“Doesn’t mean he didn’t hire it done,” Freddie said.

“True. Cam, will you look into his financials and see what you can find on his four children? Let me know what we find in the kids’ social media.”

“Will do,” Jeannie said as Cameron nodded.

“This helped,” Sam said. “It gave me some threads to pull. Now, where are we with the Thorn murder, Gonzo?”

“I think his wife was involved,” Gonzo said emphatically.