Page 123 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“How so?”

Gonzo distributed printouts containing the financials for Tiffany and Bryson Thorn. “Note the twenty-five-thousand-dollar withdrawal from their joint account yesterday. I spoke to the branch closest to their house, and the manager confirmed Mrs. Thorn was there yesterday.”

“Very interesting indeed,” Sam said. “Of course, it doesn’t mean that she used the money to have her husband killed.”

“No, but I went through her social media and found a post about how excited they were to attend a party at the home of the vice president. I read through the comments other parents made about being ‘wicked jealous,’ and then ‘holy shit, he’s the president now, is the party moving to the WH?’ Tiffany said no with a sad face, adding, ‘But next year, we’ll be there!’ Imagine how pissed she must’ve been to learn her husband was the one who released the photos and ruined her chance of ever being invited to the White House.”

Sam glanced at Malone, who nodded. “That’s enough to pick her up and bring her in. Good work, Sergeant.”

“She was a real piece of work last night.” Gonzo stood and signaled for Cam to come with him. “Wouldn’t break my heart to make a case against her.”

“I’ll help look into the Ouellette kids as soon as we’re back,” Cam said as he went with Gonzo, his partner, to pick up Tiffany Thorn.

“Thank you. Jeannie, can I see you for a minute after we’re done here?”

“Sure. I’ll be in the pit.”

When the others had left the room, Sam glanced at Freddie and Captain Malone. “I never really considered it could be one of the kids.”

“You make a good argument about the crime being diabolical,” Malone said. “Hard to think of a teenager having that kind of a murder in them.”

“I look at Scotty and even Eli, and I try to picture someone their age doing what was done to Pam, and I can’t for the life of me picture a young person doing such a thing.”

“Evil resides in people of all ages,” the captain said in a world-weary tone that came from thirty years of seeing the worst of humanity.

“Yes, I suppose it does,” Sam said. “I should’ve looked in this direction sooner.”

“Could still be another dead end,” Freddie said. “Who knows?”

“Let’s go talk to Bob Tappen and the Ouellettes again,” Sam said. “We’ll start there while the others do some digging online.”

“I’m with you, LT,” Freddie said.

“Keep me posted,” Malone added.

“Will do.”

Before she left HQ, she asked Detective Jeannie McBride to join her in her office. “Shut the door, will you?”

“Everything all right?” Jeannie asked.

“Yes and no. So the chief is asking us to take a step back from the review of Stahl’s files.”

Jeannie looked as shocked as Sam had felt the night before. “Why?”

“Because we can’t handle any more bad PR, especially with the FBI report due after the first of the year. We don’t expect that to be flattering. And I guess the fact that I solved the fifteen-year-old Worthington cold case in an afternoon isn’t exactly being greeted with praise. People are outraged—and rightly so—that it took us so long to solve what should’ve been an open-and-shut case.”

“I think I’m on to something in finding Carisma Deasly.”

Sam hesitated, but only for a second. “What’ve you got?”

“A friend of the mother’s, Daniella Brown, went missing around the same time as Carisma did. Daniella had been in and out of trouble and rehab for a number of years, while the mom, LaToya Deasly, had put herself through paralegal school and had bought a townhouse for herself and her children. She’s always believed that Daniella took Carisma, but couldn’t find either of them or prove her ex-friend was involved.”

Sam released the clip holding her hair and ran her fingers through the tangled length as she tried to figure out what to do.

“I can’t stop now, LT. I just can’t. We might be able to find them. I’ve tracked down a guy Daniella was dating at that time, and he’s willing to talk to me about what he knows. I’m supposed to meet him tonight.”

“This was a direct order from the chief to stand down.”