Skin cells under fingernails — no match
Cold case
Photo
A gust of wind blew the papers off the table. On the flip side of one, Pierce had written “Archived Newspaper Photos” and underlined it three times. She stared at his familiar handwriting. How’d I miss this?
Spurred by that new clue, she logged into a website giving her access to vintage newspapers, but that search yielded nothing.
Then, she thought about the story Mrs. Murphy had shared about Rose getting involved with married men and how “Mr. Virginia” had his sights set on the White House. Had Rose worked for a political candidate? Carly searched the Internet for Virginia campaigns from four decades ago.
There were several local political races that year, but the one that stole her attention was the race for U.S. Senator.
“Oh, God.”
George Internado, then a prosecutor for the Richmond D.A.’s office, was one of a slew of candidates running for the U.S. Senate. After digging deeper, she found that the primaries had spit out three candidates—a democrat, a republican, and an independent. Internado was the frontrunner.
She found a focus piece on Internado and stared at the accompanying photo. A young, slim man with a full head of hair smiled at the crowd. The thirty-year-old candidate lived in Richmond with his wife and young family. Since graduating from law school, he’d put in long hours as a hard-nosed prosecutor in the D.A.’s office.
“My job,” he was quoted as saying, “is to make Virginia the strongest, safest, most law-abiding state in the union.
I’m a candidate of the people. Their concerns, fears, and dreams are mine. My platform is built on strong family
values because family comes first. As our popular slogan states, ‘Virginia is for Lovers’.”
“Hmm. Was Rose Aurora your lover, Georgy-boy?”
Based on the story, George Internado appeared to be a saint, but Carly wasn’t buying the load of crap he was selling. Still, her search yielded another big fat zero.
Frustrated by her lack of progress, she redirected her attention to Internado’s foremost opponent. Helen McDay was a strong-minded woman fighting for a seat in a male-dominated U.S. Senate. Though more experienced, she didn’t appear to possess Internado’s charisma.
Carly eyed a photo of Helen McDay surrounded by staff at her campaign headquarters. A young, pretty woman with bright blonde hair and a baby bump stood beside her. Carly skimmed the names until she found the one that matched.
Rose Aurora.
Acid churned in her stomach.
Was Rose Aurora feeding Internado information on his opponent like he’d asked of Ashton? Had he played with that young woman’s heart simply to gain a competitive advantage?
Fueled by her find, Carly located the vintage newspaper article from the day following the senate election. Internado’s face was splashed on the front page.
Internado Takes Virginia by Storm
Landslide Win for Former Prosecutor
“Hey, babe.” Ashton’s booming voice startled her. He set down grocery bags, sat beside her, and kissed her hello. “You smell like home.”
Her heart bloomed as she threaded her arms around him and kissed him back.
“Have you been at it this entire time?”
“Yeah.” She eyed his watch. Nearly four hours had passed. “Everything go okay?”
“All good.” He glanced at the computer screen. “What are you working on?”
“One of my cases.”
“Getting anywhere?”
