“Thank you. This way.”
She led Sam to the same room where she’d met Court and Jordy the first time she’d been there. Like then, they sat close to each other, hands tightly grasped.
Sam ached for them as Janelle told them she was there.
When they looked up at her, they barely resembled the people they’d been only a couple of days ago.
Court broke down.
Sam went to sit beside her, putting her arms around the grieving mother. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt my little girl,” Court said between sobs. “She’s… she’s my whole world. What do I do now? No one can tell me what to do.”
“I don’t have the answers you need, but I want you to know I’ll be right here by your side through this entire process.”
Though she was fully focused on Court, Sam saw Freddie wiping tears from his face as he stood in the doorway.
“It means a lot to us that you stopped by,” Jordy said.
“I so wish we’d been able to bring about a different outcome. Everyone who worked on this case is devastated by the loss of Luna. We’ve all come to love her as we tried to find her.”
“We appreciate what everyone did for her and for us,” he said. “Please let them know.”
“I will. When the time is right, I’ll tell you more about the grief group we run at MPD headquarters for victims of violent crime.”
He nodded to let her know he’d heard her.
“I won’t take any more of your time, but you have my number, and if you’d like, I can keep you informed about developments in the case.”
“We’d like to know that,” he said as Court nodded.
“I’ll take care of that personally. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.”
“Thank you again for coming by.”
Sam hugged them both before she got up to leave.
“Lieutenant.”
She turned back to face Court.
“They… they made her suffer before they killed her. Make sure they pay for that.”
“I will. I promise.”
Sam hooked her arm through Freddie’s and let him lead her to the door since she was blinded by tears. No matter how many years she spent in the Homicide division, the senselessness of murder never got easier to comprehend. That people could be so cruel to each other, that one person could steal another’s life… She’d never become accustomed to how often that happened.
And when a child was murdered…
Nothing was worse than that.
* * *
Outside, Freddie wrapped her up in a tight hug. Normally, Sam would tell him she was fine, but she wasn’t. Not this time. That beautiful child hadn’t deserved to die this way, and when she thought of the many opportunities there’d been to put the Mayfields away for life, she became enraged on behalf of Luna and her parents, as well as Ethan, Tomas and their families.
The boys had thankfully survived, but would have to live with the horror and trauma of this incident for the rest of their lives.
After a few minutes, she pulled back from Freddie, wiped her face and tried to get herself together while he did the same.
