Sam swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
Freddie nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Get on it.” Farnsworth turned and left the room.
Sam sat staring at the wall, unseeing, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of this.
“Sam.”
She looked up at her partner.
“What’re you thinking?”
“I don’t know what to think. This is so...” She shook her head. “It’s beyond my ability to comprehend.”
“Mine too. If it’s too much, the rest of us can see to the chief’s orders. You don’t have to be here. Anyone would understand.”
“I’d go crazy at home waiting to hear what was happening.” Sam forced herself to stand, to get her shit together, to find her legendary mojo, to do what needed to be done. If justice for her father led to one of his closest friends, then so be it. At least then they’d know. She opened the conference room door. “Everyone in here. Now.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
FBI SPECIAL AGENT in Charge Avery Hill, head of the Criminal Investigations division, was in his office when his assistant told him Joe Farnsworth was on the phone.
Avery picked up the call on the first ring. “Good morning, Chief.”
“I need you at HQ immediately.”
To call this request from the chief of the Metro PD unusual was putting it mildly. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll let you know when you get here. Can you come right now?”
“I’m on my way.”
The line went dead. Holy crap. Whatever was happening, it had to be huge for Farnsworth himself to call in the FBI. And it was most likely internal. What other reason would the chief have for making that call?
“I’m going to Metro PD HQ,” Avery told his assistant. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be. Text me if you need me.” He was already through the door and in the corridor before he finished speaking. Moving quickly, he got lucky with the traffic and arrived at HQ fifteen minutes after receiving Farnsworth’s call.
The chief himself was waiting for him in the lobby and gestured for Avery to follow him to his office.
Avery nodded at Helen, the chief’s admin, who watched them go by with wide eyes that fed Avery’s curiosity. He’d never seen Helen with wide eyes before.
“Close the door.”
Avery closed the door.
“We’ve arrested Deputy Chief Conklin.” Before Avery could absorb that bombshell, a knock sounded. “Come in.”
U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester and Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller entered the room.
Avery nodded to them both.
“Thank you for coming.” Farnsworth seemed cool and composed when he had to be completely undone on the inside. “I was just informing Agent Hill that we’ve arrested Deputy Chief Conklin.”
Avery gave the chief credit for holding it together, for doing the job, for taking charge of a potentially explosive situation.
Neither Forrester nor Miller seemed as stunned by this news as Avery was.
“So you were able to connect him to Skip Holland’s shooting?”
What? Holy shit!
“We have a first responder coming in now who will attest to the fact that Conklin was at the scene on G Street that day. Lieutenant Kevin Viera, a paramedic, gave Conklin the messenger bag that Skip carried to and from work and asked him to return it to Skip’s family. That never happened. Lieutenant Holland has been trying to track down the bag, which is what led her to Viera and the other first responders who were there. Two days ago, Conklin looked me and Captain Malone in the eyes and told us that after receiving the call about Skip’s shooting, he went right to the GW ER, which we now know was not true. At this juncture, I’m turning the investigation of Deputy Chief Conklin’s actions pertaining to the shooting of Deputy Chief Skip Holland over to Agent Hill and the FBI. I have a team gathering internal information pertaining to Conklin from six months prior to the shooting and will turn that evidence over to Agent Hill the moment it is compiled.”
Farnsworth glanced at Hill. “I believe we’re looking at a matter of hours, maybe less, before word gets out that our deputy chief has been arrested.”
Avery nodded. “Understood.”
Another knock sounded at the door. Helen ducked her head in. “Lieutenant Viera is here for you, sir.”
“Show him in.” Farnsworth pocketed his cell phone and came around the desk. “I’ll relocate for the time being so you can use this office.”
Forrester shook hands with Farnsworth. “You’re doing the right thing here, Joe.”
Farnsworth nodded and left the room.
Avery glanced at Forrester and Miller, who seemed equally stunned by what was happening.
Viera came into the office, stopping short at the sight of an FBI agent and U.S. Attorneys. “Um, I thought I was talking to Lieutenant Holland?”
“As the case in question pertains to her father, we’ll be conducting the interview.” Avery extended his hand. “I’m Agent Hill, and this is U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester and Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller.”
Viera shook hands with them. “What the hell is going on?”
“Have a seat and we’ll tell you.” Hill gestured to the conference room table on the other side of Farnsworth’s office.
Hill sat at the head of the table. “Take us through what happened on G Street the day Skip Holland was shot.”
“We received multiple 911 calls about an officer shot in the neck and responded within three minutes of the shooting. When we arrived, a man was providing aide to Deputy Chief Holland by keeping pressure on the wound. I believe that man’s actions saved Chief Holland’s life.”
Avery took notes as Viera recited the info. “Did you catch his name?”
“I did, but I don’t recall it off the top of my head. He was an older guy who worked at GAO.”
“What happened then?”
“We took over and attempted to stabilize Chief Holland so he could be transported. That took about ten to twelve minutes. After the ambulance left with him, we were clearing the scene and I picked up a brown leather messenger bag that was lying in the street, checked inside, saw Skip Holland’s name and handed it over to then-Captain Conklin to make sure it got back to Skip’s family.”
“And you’re sure it was Conklin?”
“Positive. I’d worked with him before, so I knew him.” He glanced from Avery to Forrester and back to Avery. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”
“Deputy Chief Conklin has been arrested for lying about the events of that day.”
Viera’s eyes bugged. “Whoa.”
“We’re going to need you to make a formal statement to the facts you’ve given us here.”
“Okay.”
Avery spent the next two hours recording every detail that Viera could recall, and when they’d nailed down the statement, he asked Viera to sign it.
The paramedic scrawled his signature across the bottom of the page. “What now?”
“Go about your business and don’t talk about any of this with anyone. We’ll be in touch.”
* * *
SAM’S TEAM, AIDED by Lieutenant Archelotta from IT, never left the conference room for the rest of their shift, sifting through years-old reports, phone records and investigatory notes after an emergency search warrant was obtained to give them access to the contents of the deputy chief’s office.
Per Malone’s orders, Sam had remained in her own office throughout the afternoon, told to stay away from the goings-on in the conference room. She’d watched as officers arrived at regular intervals with boxes and other items that were delivered to her detectives. Sitting on the sidelines made her crazy, but she understood why she couldn’t be in there, even if she didn’t like it.
She’d been reviewing reports submitted by her team, including the one about Patrick Connolly’s homicide, the details making her profoundly sad once again for the wife and family the talented young agent had left behind.
At four o’clock, she turned off her computer, gathered her keys and phone and headed out, encountering Lindsey McNamara coming out of the morgue. “Step into my office.”
Sam followed her through the automatic doors that led to the frigid morgue.
“What the hell is going on around here today? Everyone is buzzing about Conklin being arrested.”
“I’m not allowed to know anything about it.”
Lindsey gasped. “Because it involves your father’s case?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Lindsey’s expression went flat with shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Sam shrugged.
“Was he the shooter?”
Sam shrugged again.
“Holy crap. This is going to be huge.”
Sam nodded. “I’m on my way out. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, of course. Sam... Are you okay? You have to be reeling—in more ways than one.”
“I’m okay.” She’d said those words a hundred times in the last few days and would keep saying them for as long as people asked how she was. “I’ll check in tomorrow.”
“I’m here if I can do anything for you—anything at all.”
“Appreciate it.”
As she stepped out into blustery late-afternoon chill, she thought about how blessed she was to have such great friends. Their love and support had been tremendous since her dad passed away, and they’d have her back no matter what happened with Conklin and the investigation.
Sam got into her car and started to head home but then decided to make a stop on the way. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing in front of the building where Patrick Connolly had lived with his wife, Veronica, but something had brought her there. She put the car into Park and shut off the engine. For a long time, she stared at the vestibule, wondering whether she should do this. In the end, compelled by a need she couldn’t exactly explain, she got out of the car and pushed the button next to the name Connolly on the keypad.