Page 32 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“We have officers at your home to ensure the crime scene, if there is one, won’t be compromised. We’ve also requested a warrant to examine your phone.”

“Why?”

“It’s routine.”

“I have nothing to hide.”

Bob’s phone chimed with a text. “Amy is in Cambridge and is asking if she can call me before she goes up to Molly’s place.”

“Yes, have her call,” Sam said, getting up to let the boys back into the room.

Over the next ten minutes, she got to listen to Molly answer her door to her tearful Aunt Amy and Uncle Tom. She asked why they were there, and Amy said, “Your dad needs to speak to you.”

“Um, okay…”

After Amy handed the phone to Molly, she said, “Dad? What’s wrong?”

Listening to Bob tell his daughter that her mother had been found murdered was yet another horrific moment in a day full of them. Molly’s anguished screams brought everyone in the conference room to tears, including Sam.

“Who could’ve done this?” she asked between sobs.

“We don’t know, honey,” Bob said, “but Lieutenant Holland is helping us to figure that out.”

“I want to come home,” Molly said, choking on a sob.

“Yes, of course.”

“We’ll drive her,” Amy said. “We’ll leave tonight.”

After they ended the call with Amy and Molly, Sam asked for Bob’s phone, which she turned over to IT detectives for a thorough examination after he’d signed a release form permitting the investigation. When she returned to the conference room, she continued the questioning of Bob and his sons. “Have any of you noticed anything out of place or unusual in the house this week?” She’d wondered if Pam had been abducted at home or somewhere else.

“Not that I can think of,” Bob said.

“Me either,” Lucas said as Justin shook his head.

“We’re going to put you up in a hotel while Crime Scene processes your home,” Sam said.

“Why is that necessary?” Bob asked. “She hasn’t been there in four days.”

“A crime could’ve occurred there, and you might not realize it.”

He wanted to argue with her, and she couldn’t blame him. In addition to the shock of his wife’s murder, now he was being barred from his own home.

“We’ll move as quickly as we can to get you back in your home as soon as possible.”

Bob seemed to understand that there was no point in arguing.

Sam got up to arrange for a hotel. She went to speak to Lieutenant Haggerty, who was standing outside her office, overseeing the detectives sifting for evidence among the wreckage.

“Nothing yet,” he said when he saw her coming.

“I was going to ask for your help with something else. I have a possible crime scene at the M Street home of Bob and Pam Tappen.”

“Possible?”

“I’m not sure if anything happened there, and if it did, it would’ve been as long as four days ago.”

He winced. “So if there is a crime scene, it’s thoroughly compromised.”