Fatal Jeopardy

by Marie Force

  “I love you too. Thank you for helping me. It’s probably more than I deserve.”

  “Don’t worry about it, honey.”

  Tracy followed Sam into the hallway and hugged her. “Thank you so much for everything.”

  “It’s nothing you wouldn’t do for me.”

  “It’s way above and beyond, and we both know it.”

  “We can have this fight another time,” Sam said with a teasing smile. “Your daughter needs you, and I’ve got to get to work.” She glanced through the glass at Brooke, who was hugging Norman and staring up at the ceiling, probably trying to process everything she’d learned about what had happened the other night. “I’m going to ask Jeannie to come in and talk to her. It might help for her to talk to someone who’s been through it and survived.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea. I hate to say it, but I think this might’ve been a true wake-up call for her. I hope things will be different from here on out.”

  “You may still hit some bumps on the road, but she’s learned a valuable lesson.”

  “Let’s hope some good came of it.”

  “I’ll check in later.”

  On the way to work, Sam called Jeannie, hoping it was okay to ask this kind of favor of her colleague and friend, who had been through such a hideous ordeal. “I was wondering if you might have time to go by the hospital and speak to my niece Brooke. She’s just found out what happened to her the other night, and needless to say, she’s extremely upset. I know it’s a lot to ask—”

  “Of course I will, Sam. I’d be glad to.”

  “I hope you know I’m asking this as your friend and not your lieutenant.”

  “I do know that, and as your friend, I’ll do anything I can to help your niece through this awful time.”

  “Thank you.” Sam had been humbled more than once during the last few days by the amazing show of support from her colleagues and friends. “I could use one more favor. Can you get me an address for an Ekland family in the third ward? They have a teenage son named David who we may need to speak to at some point. Goes by Davey. If need be, you can call the principal of Wilson High to get the info. He’s been very cooperative. Let me know if you need me to shoot you his number.”

  “Got it. Will do.”

  “I’ll see you at the meeting.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Sam arrived at HQ a few minutes later, pleased to see the usual swarm of reporters down to only a hardy few braving the cold. She ignored them on her way inside.

  Gonzo appeared in the doorway to her office. “Got a second?”

  “Sure do.” Sam took off her coat and settled into her chair. “Come in.”

  “I wanted to update you on a few things. First, I got the report from the lab on the sheet Brooke was wrapped in. Most of the blood belonged to Todd Brantley. There were smudges that matched the profile for Kelsey Lewis too.”

  Sam thought about the implications of that. “So Brooke was right there with them when they were killed?”

  “It appears that way.”

  The realization of how close her niece had come to being murdered hit Sam like a fist to the gut, sucking the breath from her lungs. “How did they miss her?”

  “It’s possible the darkness saved her. Maybe there was some light filtering in from the other room and the killer could only see Todd on top of Kelsey. Or perhaps someone grabbed Brooke and got her out of there while he killed someone else. Or Brooke was already out of the room when Todd and Kelsey were killed, but someone used the sheet from the bed they were on to wrap up Brooke. We may never know exactly how it all went down.”

  All of the scenarios Gonzo outlined were plausible. “Where are we with the Mitchell kid?”

  “His lawyer just arrived. I was getting ready to go in there. Want to come?”

  With her father’s lecture about ends justifying means ringing loudly in her mind, Sam shook her head. “I want to, but if there’s any chance he’s our fourth guy with Brooke, I can’t be part of it. You can take Cruz, and I’ll watch from observation.” It killed her to take a step back, but Sam didn’t want to do anything to endanger the prosecution if he was the one guy who’d assaulted Brooke and gotten out alive. “What’s the plan?”

  “I’ve got a warrant for his DNA, so I’ll be handling that first. Lindsey is on her way to take the sample.”

  “How much you want to bet he’s going to be our fourth perp in Brooke’s rape?”

  “I’d bet the farm on it, but the proof will be in the DNA. Let’s go see what he has to say.”

  Sam watched from the one-way window that gave her a bird’s-eye view of the interrogation room where Brody sat next to a balding man. In the two hours since he’d been arrested, Brody had lost some of his initial swagger and now looked more like a scared kid.

  “I’d like to know the charges against my client,” the lawyer said.

  “We’ll get to that. I’m Detective Sergeant Gonzales. This is Detective Cruz, and this interview is being recorded. Our first order of business is a warrant for a DNA sample from your client.”

  The lawyer looked over the warrant. “For what purpose?”

  “To determine what, if any, role he might’ve played in a sexual assault that occurred at the Springer home during the party—the same assault that he failed to stop while he videotaped it and then posted the footage to the Internet.”

  Brody’s eyes widened and his mouth went slack with what might’ve been shock. “I don’t have to do that, do I?”

  “I’m afraid you do,” the lawyer said as he perused the warrant Gonzo had produced.

  “I never touched her! I watched, but I didn’t touch.”

  “Be quiet, Brody,” the lawyer said.

  “If that’s the case, then your DNA won’t be a match,” Gonzo said, thrilled by Brody’s spontaneous utterance, which could be used against him in court.

  A knock on the door preceded Lindsey into the room.

  “This is Dr. McNamara, and she’ll be taking the sample.”

  Brody looked like he might piss his pants in fear as Lindsey went over the procedure involved with swabbing his inner cheek.

  Once she had the sample, Lindsey left the room.

  “You understand that by failing to intervene on behalf of the girl being assaulted you’ll be charged with sexual assault, which is a felony,” Gonzo said. “In addition, you’re looking at charges of video voyeurism, which became a cyber-porn charge when you posted the video and pictures online.”

  Brody grew visibly paler as Gonzo rattled off the charges.

  “There were three men visible on the video, but we have proof that four men assaulted her,” Gonzo continued. “The three that were shown on the video are dead. We’re looking for the fourth man. If you weren’t involved in the sexual assault, we’re willing to entertain lesser charges if you provide us with information that will lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of the fourth man who assaulted her, as well as anything you know about the person or persons who might’ve murdered the nine young people at the Springers’ home.”

  Brody looked to his lawyer for guidance. “What does all that mean?”

  “It means,” the lawyer said grimly, “they’re willing to consider lesser charges for you if you tell them who the fourth man was and if you help them to figure out who the killer was. Keep in mind, you’d have to testify against them.”

  Brody blanched. “I’m not doing that. You can’t make me tell on the friends I’ve got left.”

  “You’re a material witness to at least one felony,” Gonzo reminded him. “And you’re looking at felony charges of your own for failing to provide aid to a girl who was clearly unable to resist her attackers. Your video is all the proof we need to put you away for a long time, especially if we can prove it was taken with y
our phone. Was it taken with your phone, Brody?”

  The boy broke down at that juncture. “We were just having fun with her. I don’t get how that’s a crime.”

  “Brody,” the lawyer said in a tone thick with warning. “Shut up.”

  “No! We didn’t do anything wrong. She wanted it.”

  Even from a distance, Sam could see the muscle pulsing with tension in Freddie’s jaw as he held back the retort she knew he was dying to make to that audacious statement.

  “I can assure you,” Gonzo said calmly, “she did not want it, and because she was unable to say so, what you all did to her is a crime. Now, you can either protect yourself or your friends, but you can’t have it both ways.”

  Brody buried his face in his hands, shaking his head over and over. “I don’t get how I can be charged with rape when I never touched her.”

  “Let me tell you how. Say you and I get a big idea to rob a gas station. You drive me there and wait in the car while I go in and do the deed. Say I get trigger-happy while I’m inside the store and the clerk ends up dead. You’re as responsible for that clerk’s death as I am, even though you were in the car when it happened. He was murdered during a felony that you took part in. Same thing here. The young woman was raped during a felony sexual assault that you took part in by videotaping it and failing to intervene on her behalf.” Clearly losing patience with the kid, Gonzo concluded with, “You all got drunk and stoned and did stupid shit that you were doubly stupid enough to videotape. Any remaining questions?”

  “We didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” Brody said softly as it seemed to settle in on him that his carefree life as a teenager had ended.

  “And yet nine kids are dead and another is lying in ICU after being gang-raped,” Gonzo said. “It’s safe to say people got hurt. The question that remains is, what’re you going to do to make this right?”

  “I’d like some time to consult with my client,” the lawyer said.

  Gonzo and Freddie stood and left the room.

  Sam switched off the intercom to the interrogation room and went out to talk to them in the hallway.

  “What a freaking idiot,” Gonzo said. “How do kids grow up to be this stupid?”

  “It’s in the genes,” Malone said when he joined them. He handed a piece of paper to Gonzo. “Your hunch was spot-on, Lieutenant. His mother has a record of drug possession and dealing.”

  “Apple, meet tree,” Freddie said. “I couldn’t believe when he said they were just having fun with her, and no one got hurt.”

  “I could tell you were trying not to punch his lights out,” Sam said.

  “When I think of Brooke in that hospital bed... It was all I could do not to punch him.”

  “Hopefully, he’ll do the right thing,” Gonzo said, glancing at the closed door to the interrogation room. “The lawyer gets it, even if Brody doesn’t.”

  “For once, a lawyer might actually come in handy,” Cruz said.

  Jeannie McBride came down the corridor. “Lieutenant Holland? There’s someone here asking for you.”

  “Who is it?”

  Jeannie consulted her notebook. “A couple named Jeff and Pauline Barnes and their son, Tyler.”

  “Go ahead, LT,” Gonzo said. “We’ve got this.”

  While Sam desperately wanted to hear the next phase of the Mitchell interview, she also wanted to know what the visitors had to say.

  Sam walked away, wondering if Brody Mitchell was their fourth man or if the fourth guy was someone they didn’t even know about yet. She went out to the lobby, where the Barnes family sat huddled on the small arrangement of sofas outside the dispatch area. “Mr. and Mrs. Barnes?”

  The parents stood quickly. The father all but dragged the son to his feet.

  “I’m Lieutenant Holland. You asked to see me?”

  “I’m Jeff Barnes. This is my wife, Pauline, and our son, Tyler. He has something he needs to tell you.”

  “Come in.” Since the conference room was being used as their command center, complete with gruesome photos of the murder victims, Sam led them to one of the empty interrogation rooms. “Have a seat.” She arranged the chairs on all four sides of the table to keep things friendly and non-confrontational. “Do you mind if I record our conversation?”

  “He doesn’t mind,” Jeff Barnes said on his son’s behalf. Pauline looked like she might break down at any second as she stared at her sulky son.

  “Tyler?” Sam said. “Do you mind?”

  He shook his head.

  Sam turned on the recording device and recited the date and time. “Lieutenant Holland speaking with Jeff and Pauline Barnes and their son, Tyler. How old are you, Tyler?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Tell her what you told us,” Jeff said to his son, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. The tension between the three of them was palpable.

  “I was at the party at Hugo Springer’s house,” Tyler said as his eyes filled with tears. “Hugo, Michael, Todd and Kevin were friends of mine. Close friends.”

  “I’m sorry for the loss of your friends.”

  Tyler nodded and wiped a tear from his cheek.

  “Can you tell me about the party? What time did you get there?”

  “It was after nine. Hugo and Michael had been at it for a while by then, and they were pretty lit.”

  “I want to say for the record that my son was prohibited from attending that party, but he snuck out of our house and went anyway,” Jeff said.

  Tyler seemed to shrink under the rage coming from his father.

  “Mr. Barnes, I understand you’re upset, and with good reason, but if you could please let me talk to Tyler and refrain from commenting for the time being I’d appreciate it.”

  Tyler seemed shocked that she’d spoken that way to his father and glanced at Jeff to gauge his reaction.

  Thankfully, Jeff bit back whatever he had planned to say when he caught the frosty glare she directed his way. His rage wasn’t going to make Tyler any more forthcoming, but because he was a minor, she couldn’t kick his parents out of the room. After all, they’d come forward willingly, and she wanted to treat them as respectfully as possible.

  “You got there at nine,” Sam said. “Can you tell me how many other people were there then?”

  “Had to be more than thirty.”

  “You said Hugo and Michael had a bit of a head start. Do you know what they had taken or drank?”

  “Hugo had scored a stash of Molly, a case of vodka and some beer.”

  “Do you know where he got it?”

  Tyler glanced at his mother, who nodded in encouragement. “I think he took it from his brother, Billy.”

  That was the second time Billy Springer’s name had come up in the investigation, and Sam made a note of it. “You say he took it. So he did it without Billy’s permission?”

  “I don’t really know.”

  “Was Billy at the party?”

  “I didn’t see him there.”

  “What else did you see?”

  Tyler exhaled and looked down at his fingers, which were drumming nervously on the table. “There was a girl...”

  Sam swallowed back the urge to yell at him to hurry up and say it. “What girl?”

  “She was pretty. Dark hair and pale skin. She hooked up with Brantley, and then he came out and told us we could have a go with her if we wanted to. He said she wouldn’t care.”

  Pauline wept silently as her son spoke.

  Sam cleared her throat of the bile that surged upward. “Did you take him up on the offer?”

  Tyler shook his head. “Some of the other guys did, but I didn’t.”

  She released a deep breath she hadn’t known she was holding until it became apparent that Tyler probably wasn’t t
he fourth man. “Can you tell me who went in there?”

  “Most of the guys went. Hugo, Michael, Brody and some other guys I didn’t know. I think they went to school with Hugo.”

  Sam was dismayed to realize so many young men had been in the room when Brooke was attacked, and no one tried to stop it. “Did anyone speak up and say that maybe it wasn’t a good idea for all of them to go in there?”

  “I had some words about it with Brantley. I told him it wasn’t cool to offer her up that way. He told me to shut up and mind my own business. He said I was a pussy because I didn’t want to do her. I told him I didn’t want his sloppy seconds, and he punched me in the chest. I hate that the last thing I said to him was that he was a douchebag.” He swiped at new tears. “He was my friend even if he could be a douchebag at times.”

  “While you were there, did you take anything or drink anything?”

  He glanced nervously at his dad. “I took some Molly, but I didn’t drink anything. I don’t like vodka or beer.”

  “And what time did you leave?”

  “I think it was around ten-thirty or so. Some other people were leaving, so I went with them to get a ride home.”

  “Besides the nine victims, can you tell me who else was still there when you left?”

  “The chick who’d been with Brantley. I don’t remember her name. Her friend who had a weird name. Started with an H.”

  “Hoda?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. Some other guys were still there too. I don’t know who they were.”

  “This has been really helpful, Tyler. I appreciate you coming forward.”

  “That’s it?” Tyler asked, wide-eyed and incredulous. “I’m not in trouble?”

  “I assume you’re in trouble with your parents, but you won’t be charged with a crime, if that’s what you mean.”

  Jeff and Pauline sagged with relief.

  “I’d recommend you stay away from situations where there’s underage drinking and drugs present,” Sam said. “Nothing good ever comes from that.”