“Come with me. I’ll also show you where the cars are.”
“That’d be great. Thanks.” Neveah dragged her suitcase along as she followed the woman into a parking garage, where the parking spaces were marked with letters and numbers.
“This one is mine. Thanks again for your help.”
“No problem. Hope you have a good time in Spokane.”
“You, too.” Neveah didn’t expect to have a good time, but she was proud of getting herself there, with a little help from some new friends.
In the rental car, she reached for her phone to put the hotel address into the GPS and found a text from Jeremy.
Holy moly, my flight to Seattle was rough. I hope yours was better than mine. I was worried about whether you were scared. Let me know how you are.
It was so nice of him to check on her. Though it was late and she was exhausted, Neveah replied to his kind text. Mine was rough, too, and I sure did miss having your hand to hold when the plane was bouncing through the sky. Thanks for checking on me.
She also texted her dad to let him know she’d landed in Spokane. He replied immediately. Duh, I always know where my baby girl is.
She kept threatening to take away his tracking capabilities, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually do it
Thank goodness for GPS, she thought as she followed the directions from the airport to the hotel and checked in. Once she was in her room, she released a deep sigh of relief that she’d made it without any catastrophes. Then she checked her email to find a note from Gonzo that included the warrants for the phones of Trisha Carver and her sister.
After she changed into her pajamas, she checked the distance from her hotel to the Carver home so she could plan for the morning. It would take about half an hour to get there at this hour, but probably longer in the morning. Then she took yet another look at Trisha Carver’s social media. She’d been waiting to see if the mom who posted about every detail of her life had mentioned her husband’s murder in DC. There hadn’t been anything the last time she’d checked, but it was there this time.
Heartbroken to announce that my sweet husband, Dale, passed away while on a business trip to Washington, DC. As many of you know, Dale has fought a valiant battle with addiction over the last few years, and while we thought we’d finally won the battle, it wasn’t to be. Please pray for my children and for me as we face the rest of our lives without our beloved husband and father. Dale, we love you so much, and we’ll miss you forever.
The post included photos of Dale and group shots of the family. The comments contained an outpouring of love and support for the family.
Neveah found it strange that Trisha didn’t say Dale had been murdered but instead had made it seem like he’d lost his battle with addiction. Why would she do that when he’d fought so hard to get clean?
She took a screenshot of the post and texted it to Sam and Gonzo, asking if they found it as bizarre as she did. Why doesn’t Trisha say he was murdered? Why is she letting people think he died of a drug overdose when he didn’t? Does this give us probable cause to arrest her? Please advise on what you think my next move should be.
Gonzo wrote back right away, agreeing that it was odd and that the wife seemed to have created a new timeline of events rather than reporting what’d actually happened
Then she received a text from Sam. I see probable cause all over the place here. Let’s issue arrest warrants for her and the sister in the morning so we’re ready if needed. We’ll also need a governor’s warrant for extradition, which can be issued by the chief judge of the DC Superior Court. Spokane has to make the arrest since it’s out of our jurisdiction. The suspects can then either waive extradition or contest it. If they contest it, there’s a hearing, and the judge has to approve the extradition, then we’d have to arrange transport, which we can arrange with the U.S. Marshals. It’s really important that we follow this procedure to the letter, so we don’t leave any opportunity for them to contest the process. We should also ask Spokane if they can dump the phones for us, so we’ll know if we have grounds for an arrest while you’re still there.
Thank you so much for that information, Lieutenant. It’s very helpful. My first move in the morning is to coordinate with Spokane police and outline our plan to them. We’ll go from there, and I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you, Neveah.
I’ll handle all the warrants, Gonzo added. I’ll get that rolling tonight so we’re ready. I imagine the Superior Court warrant will take a minute.
You imagine correctly, Sam said. Neveah, we might need you to stay out there for a couple of days to get this taken care of.
Whatever it takes, Neveah said.
You’re the best, thanks again.
While she was basking in the glow of her boss’s praise, Neveah’s phone chimed with another text from Jeremy. Sorry to hear your flight was rough, too, but hey, now you can say you’ve survived a turbulent flight all on your own, which probably wasn’t on your bucket list. Lol. I really enjoyed meeting you, and I hope you’ll text me when you get back to DC. Let’s grab dinner or a drink soon.
The message had her grinning like a fool, but he was so sweet, or at least that’s how he seemed. They were all nice at the beginning, weren’t they? For the first time in a long time, Neveah wished she was the kind of woman who had girlfriends she could tell about meeting a nice guy on a plane who took the time to check on her after they’d gone their separate ways.
But she didn’t have girlfriends because she’d spent all her time focused on the goal of ending up exactly where she was now, as a detective with the Metropolitan Police Department. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would one day work for her idol, Sam Holland, but her years of hard work and dedication had paid off when Sam had invited her to join her team in Homicide.
That had been one of the best days of her life, and every day since then had been a new adventure, even if working the murder beat could be difficult and devastating. Her dad worried endlessly that it was too much for her, especially since she’d witnessed her mother’s murder as a child, but Neveah told him she was exactly where she wanted to be, and she hoped her mother would be pleased to see her living her best life. She was fairly certain she would, because her mother’s favorite show had been Law & Order, and they’d watched it together when Neveah was far too young for such things.
Losing her at six had been the most devastating thing to ever happen, especially since she’d been the lone witness to a murder that remained unsolved twenty years later.
While she waited to hear from Gonzo, she replied to Jeremy’s text. I really enjoyed meeting you, too. Will be in touch when I get back to DC.
