"I hope you get your money back, because they didn't get the job done," I said. "Oh sure, they tried to bleach the panties. A small syringe filled with bleach was injected into the bag at the seam. Hard to spot at first. But it's amazing how sensitive modern PCR testing is. Most of the DNA was degraded, but the FDLE lab in Miami was able to identify a unique sequence." I tried not to sound too smug about it when I said, "Have any guesses about who that DNA might belong to?”
It was all bullshit. But Ian didn't know that.
There was another long silence. "I wouldn't begin to have a guess."
"You’ve got a sister, Abigail, right? I guess she's into genealogy, ancestry, that kind of stuff. She submitted DNA to one of those sites to get a full genetic profile.”
The speaker crackled as he disconnected.
I was surprised he listened that long.
JD and I shared a look, sure that was the end of the conversation. But a figure approached the door a moment later. Ian stood on the other side of the door for a moment, then pulled it open after some debate. “What’s my sister got to do with any of this?”
He knew where this was going.
“That site went into bankruptcy, sold its entire genetic library to a third-party data broker, which provides data to state and federal agencies. We were able to get a familial match.”
By that time, the color had drained from Ian's face. His eyes twitched as he thought about it. "If that were true, you'd be here with a warrant, and I'd be in handcuffs."
"How do you know I don't have a warrant in my back pocket?” I stared him down for a long moment. "The noose is tightening. Do you want to be the one hanging from it?”
Ian said nothing, still thinking this whole thing through.
"Holden freaked out,” I said. “He killed Wesley, he killed Cameron, he killed Landon. I know you think you two are close, but the minute he gets a sense that you're going to turn on him, all bets are off.” I paused. "As it stands, you're going to jail. There's no way around it. Holden is going to get off scot-free. Now, if you come to your senses and agree to testify, I'm sure we can work out something favorable.”
After another long pause, Ian asked, “Hypothetically speaking—and this is in no way an admission—what doesfavorablemean?”
“I can talk to the state’s attorney. In a situation like this, you plead to voluntary manslaughter in the Sarah Sweet case. 5-10,possibly a suspended sentence. Depends on whether you can deliver Holden.”
59
At a proffer session with the state’s attorney, Ian spilled the beans.
We sat around the oak table in the conference room in cushy leather chairs.
Nothing Ian said during the session could be used against him. He took the deal for voluntary manslaughter, five years, a suspended sentence. He was getting off light. Maybe too light. But he was our only connection to Holden. He'd be disbarred and would need to find another way to make a living, but that was the least of his worries at this point.
According to Ian, everything went down just as Wesley had said.
"Wes was freaking out," Ian said. "Unraveling. Couldn’t live with the guilt anymore. Said he was gonna come clean and wanted us all to do the same. That just couldn’t happen. Holden paid him a visit, gave him the drugs, and it was just too much for Wesley to resist," Ian said, his eyes filling.
"Were you present when that happened?"
The tears spilled over, and he nodded.
"I need a verbal answer," the state's attorney said.
"Yes.”
"Were you aware of Holden's plans to murder Cameron and Landon?”
"They were all starting to crack. We’d all built lives for ourselves. Nobody wanted to see that go down the drain. Once things started unfolding, both Cameron and Landon expressed concern. Holden didn't have to say anything. I knew what he was thinking. I knew what he was going to do. We never talked about it directly. Maybe I lied to myself and said it was a coincidence. But I knew Holden was responsible for their deaths."
"You’re going to call Holden right now,” I said. “I need you to get him to incriminate himself."
"He is going to know something's up if I'm too obvious about it.”
"So don't be obvious about it.”
