Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

T wo hours after the video aired, JT was behind the wheel of his SUV, driving Lex and Gemma south to Raptor’s Virginia compound. Christmas had been put on hold because the detectives handling the investigation into the homicide had agreed to interview Lex with her attorney in Raptor’s conference room.

“I feel guilty about disrupting everyone’s holiday,” Lex said as JT navigated the winding, snowy road down the mountain.

Light snow flurries dusted the windshield. In the backseat, Gemma talked to Panny in a singsong voice, content during this drive because her mom was in the vehicle and not some complete stranger who had zero experience with toddlers.

“I’ll see to it everyone involved gets a massive holiday bonus from me.”

JT had an on-call contract with Raptor to provide security for T&D’s more dangerous contracts around the world. They no longer worked in Iraq, but they did have construction projects in other conflict zones. He’d have Keith invoice him personally for the holiday bonuses.

“I’m sure my attorney is going to add a hefty fee.”

“Worth every penny. We can celebrate Christmas later tonight. Your place or mine?”

“It’s hard to believe that’s possible. Five days ago, I thought I might spend the rest of my life in prison or be killed by a cop bent on revenge.”

JT took her hand and squeezed, then let her go as the road curved and he needed both hands on the wheel in these conditions.

“We’d have found a way to prove your innocence, but damn, that video is huge.”

He’d called Lee while they packed. Lee had confirmed that he’d located the video before the cops, because the couple who lived in the farmhouse were out of town for the holidays. Lee had identified the signal and combed tax records to find the homeowners. He then paid for the public record dossier for the couple. When that failed to provide a phone number, he found them on social media and messaged them.

It turned out the couple had a camera on the mailbox because of stolen mail, plus more cameras along their long driveway and another at the house, because they’d suffered break-ins when they’d gone out of town in the past. They hadn’t known about the incident in front of their driveaway until Lee reached out, but a quick check of their feed on their computer had revealed they’d caught the incident. They’d sent Lee the video at the same time they provided it to the police.

Lee had also encouraged them to release the video to the local news affiliate to expedite the verification process—and ensure the cops didn’t bury the evidence of one of their own assaulting a woman he’d pulled over.

Shortly after the video’s release, statements that other women had reached out to Maryland State Police within hours of his murder, claiming he’d pulled them over and assaulted them too, began to pour in on the broadcaster’s tip line. MSP had never relayed those complaints in their briefings on the hunt for Alexandra.

Now the department spokesperson was claiming it was because they didn’t report on ongoing investigations, which might be true, but it would have significantly changed the narrative regarding the hunt for Alexandra Vargas in her favor.

It remained to be revealed whether or not complaints had named Officer Corey Williams for abuse of power prior to Monday, December twenty-first, or if the reported assaults had never identified the officer involved. If the guy had been reported by name, and he’d been allowed to continue with MSP without charges or investigation, MSP would be facing significant lawsuits.

Just thinking about it had JT’s fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

A lawsuit wouldn’t change the trauma Lex had been through. Or that Gemma could have been used as a pawn and disappeared into foster care.

Still, they knew Lex hadn’t been targeted at random. It had to be connected to Kendall, Brent, and Russ.

Someone had killed Williams for a reason.

A lexandra held Gemma on her hip with her right arm while JT held her left hand in a tight grip as she stepped into the conference room. Her breath caught when she spotted Erica, Lee, and their daughter, Grace.

Gemma started kicking and wriggling at the sight of her bestie. “Gase! Gase!”

Alexandra set down her squirming daughter, who shot like a rocket around the table to see her friend and introduce her to her new T-Rex buddy.

The girls hugged and giggled, and Alexandra’s eyes burned. She let go of JT and hugged Erica, full-on tears spilling down her cheeks. “Thank you for taking care of Gemma.”

Erica held her in a fierce grip. “Of course. I was so terrified when you didn’t call, and then I saw the news—I— I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Alexandra didn’t have a choice when it came to not wearing makeup—she didn’t have any with her—but now she was glad for the lack of mascara, which would be running down her face.

Erica’s grip relaxed, and Alexandra would have pulled away, but then her arms tightened again and she whispered in her ear, “Don’t think I didn’t notice your hand in JT’s. For what it’s worth, he’s changed over the last few years. He might finally be worthy of you and Gemma.”

Erica’s endorsement was probably the only one that could matter to Alexandra at this point. She’d only known JT through the worst times and was not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Alexandra pulled back and met her gaze. “You never said a word.”

“At first I thought it might be performative, hoping to influence me to influence you. But he never tried to use my relationship with you. And then, when Gemma needed him, he stepped up without hesitation. If you could have seen the look of terror on his face the first time he laid eyes on her…”

“You know I can hear you, right?” JT said.

Erica grinned. She swiped at her tears as she released Alexandra and turned to JT, pulling him into her fierce grip. “You’ve always known how I felt. It’s been a pleasure to see you become the man Lee always told me you were.”

JT laughed. It was deep and rich and affectionate. “I will never be worthy of Lee’s respect, but I’m deeply proud to have earned yours.”

Erica’s voice dropped to a stage whisper. “Don’t fuck it up, because she can do way better than you.”

He met Alexandra’s gaze over Erica’s shoulder. “I’ve known that from the day we met.”

Alexandra turned to Lee and received a hug from him. From the beginning, he’d felt like the brother she’d always wanted, right down to moving her into his condo when her living situation with Kendall turned ugly.

As he held her, he whispered in her ear, “Is the hard drive in the diaper bag like I asked?”

She gave a slight nod.

He released her and scooped up his daughter. “Erica, why don’t you grab Gemma and we’ll watch the kids in the living quarters common area while Alexandra and JT confer with her attorney?” He picked up the diaper bag from where JT had set it on the table and headed through the door.

Erica smiled as she settled Gemma on her hip and followed Lee out the door.

Alexandra suppressed her own smile. Lee always had a narrow focus when he had a computer puzzle to solve, and she knew he was eager to copy the hard disk before she handed it over to the Maryland State Police.

No one wanted to take a chance that the drive would get lost or destroyed once it left her possession. After all, evidence against Russ Spaulding had gone missing sixteen years ago, allowing him to escape prosecution.

In this instance, the hard disk had been used as a weapon. The police had no reason to look at the files.

Lee promised to do his best to leave the blood evidence intact while he copied the contents of the drive.

Alexandra shook hands with her attorney, Anna Davidson, whom she’d spoken with on the phone before leaving the cabin this morning, officially hiring the woman so she could make arrangements for this interview with Maryland State Police investigators, and was introduced to Anna’s assistant, Raul Peredes.

Next JT reintroduced her to Raptor CEO Keith Hatcher, who’d been instrumental in finding Alexandra a defense attorney and who’d coordinated all elements of Raptor’s investigation since JT called him on the evening of the twenty-third.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. I— I’m so sorry for disrupting your holiday.”

Keith smiled. “JT’s an honorary member of the Raptor family. So is Lee. Which makes you family too.” He glanced toward the door. “And here’s another cousin.”

Alexandra turned as former US Attorney General Curt Dominick entered the room.

Once again, her eyes pricked with tears. She hadn’t seen Curt since Erica and Lee’s wedding over three and a half years ago, but still, he was here on Christmas Day, for her.

He gave her a hug and said, “I just wanted to let you know Mara and I are here. Keith invited everyone to move our Christmas dinner celebration here, since we were all going to be at Erica and Lee’s anyway. Alec and Isabel will be arriving shortly.”

She turned back to Keith. “I’m…speechless. Thank you.”

“We’ve got your back,” Keith said. “And it made sense to combine our holiday celebrations. Trina and I were hosting a dinner for the live-in operatives today. Now it will be a little larger and a little later, but a lot more fun. We’ll all be in the common room when you’re finished here. JT knows where it is.”

Alone with JT and her legal counsel, Alexandra dropped into a seat at the table, overwhelmed with emotion.

“It was kind of Raptor to offer their offices for us to meet,” Anna said as she and Raul settled in the seats across the table.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to meet on Christmas.”

“My kids are with their dad this year, so it wasn’t an issue for me.” She nodded to her assistant. “And Raul assures me he’s thrilled with the holiday bonus.”

The man grinned. “Gonna upgrade my girlfriend’s gift—February trip to Kauai—to first class.”

Alexandra could see why that would be worth giving up a few hours on Christmas.

Before they began, Anna reiterated the legalities of her retainer and attorney/client privilege. Once that was done, JT kissed her cheek and left the room. If this went to trial, he would certainly be called to testify and anything she said in front of him was not protected by privilege.

Once the three of them were alone with the door closed, Alexandra gave her full account of the events Monday night, including the reason behind her decision to flee.

“There was no working phone at Kendall’s house, so I couldn’t call 9-1-1.”

“But you could have used the police radio.”

“I felt that would put me in danger from the police.”

“You aren’t wrong there, but that will be a sticking point. Really, that video is a godsend.”

“If I had known there would be a recording, I would have used the police radio or tried harder to find a phone so I could make arrangements to safely turn myself in immediately.”

From there, they discussed the officer’s role in events that took place sixteen years ago. Anna took notes on a legal pad while Raul was on his computer, marking locations on maps and looking up dates and case numbers.

There was a knock on the door, and JT poked his head in. “Lex, Lee found the hard drive in the diaper bag.” He held up the drive, which was in the gallon-sized slider-topped bag she’d placed it in the night before last.

She rose and crossed to the door. They’d agreed not to lie and pretend it had been a mistake. They just wouldn’t elaborate. “Thank you.”

JT pressed a kiss to her lips as he handed her the bag with the drive, then he left, closing the door tight.

The slight smile on both Anna’s and Raul’s faces said they knew the drive being in the diaper bag was no accident but wouldn’t make an issue of it. It wasn’t about chain of custody when it came to this piece of evidence. The blood and video were verification enough.

“What’s on the hard drive?” Anna asked.

“I’m not certain. A few days before her suicide, Kendall said she had my old computer—from when we lived together—but the motherboard was fried. She’d planned to attempt to rescue the files for me, but had accepted she’d never get around to it. She said if I didn’t want the computer, she was going to recycle it, so I grabbed the drive when I was at her house sorting belongings with her sister. I assume it has old photos. Dissertation research. Stuff like that.”

“You have those files elsewhere?”

She shrugged. “Maybe? It was so long ago, and I’ve had crashes with data loss since then, so there could be files I don’t have copies of, but I didn’t have a SATA cable at JT’s cabin.”

“I would imagine a place like Raptor would have everything you’d need to access the files.”

“Yes. I imagine so. Would that be a problem?”

“I don’t see one. It’s obviously the same hard disk you had that night, unless that’s someone else’s blood.”

“And hair. It ripped out a few strands of his hair.”

“Even more DNA, then,” Raul said.

“Why did you keep the drive when you ran?” Anna asked.

“I just reacted. It was in my hand. I shoved it in my coat pocket when I hid in the shrubs. I didn’t really think about it.”

Raul nodded. “That checks out. It’s on the video.” He pointed to the screen, and Anna nodded.

Alexandra was glad he didn’t turn the computer around so she could see the screen. She assumed Lee had provided her legal team with the uncut version, including the gunshot, and she didn’t want to see the full video.

At some point, she’d need to watch it—possibly even today with the detective observing her every emotion—but she’d be happy to avoid that as long as possible.

Another knock at the door came. This time, it was Keith informing them that the police were here.

Anna met Alexandra’s gaze. “I’m ready. Are you?”

She braced herself as she nodded.

“Good. I want you to move to this side of the table. Don’t answer any questions without my approval, and you’ll do fine.”

She moved as instructed, taking a deep breath as she settled into the seat. “Should I have kissed my daughter when she left the room?”

Anna’s voice softened. “I can’t make any promises, but with that video, you’re in a very good position. And the fact that there have been several complaints filed against Officer Williams that went uninvestigated means you might have a case against the MSP. I have a feeling they’re more interested in you as a witness now, but they need to clear you of complicity.”

Alexandra knew better than most the mathematics behind the concept of it being impossible to prove a negative. The only way to prove she wasn’t complicit would be to identify the shooter and their motive.

Which, of course, she was desperate to do. She wouldn’t feel safe until she had answers. But her innocence would not be proven until someone else’s guilt was confirmed.

Two plain-clothed officers entered the room, and the interview began.