The union had assisted her with legal counsel, and a rep had been present. Angie, as the Subject Officer, and who thus faced jeopardy in the investigation, had had the option of invoking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which included the right to silence. But she knew the other officers being questioned as witnesses did not have that right. And while she might have overkilled Addams, she did not believe what she did was criminal. It was a risk she was prepared to take in order to be officially cleared.
The investigators had shown her diagrams, crime scene photos, shell casings—she’d apparently emptied her magazine into Addams’s face, neck, chest while he’d been lying prone on his back. The rage evident in those images—the overkill—it frightened her. She had a wild beast inside her, and it had taken over her mind, and she didn’t know if she could ever trust herself in a similar situation again.
Vedder had taken possession of her service weapon and had relieved her of active duty, pending a separate internal MVPD review. And Angie did not have a good feeling about that outcome. He’d called her in, working late as usual, to ask how she was doing.
“You handling okay?” Vedder said, compassion in his eyes. He’d always been good to her. He’d been the one to go to bat for her in a hostile environment when she’d first joined his sex crimes unit. She owed him, and she wasn’t holding this against him now.
“I suppose. How’re things going with forensics and the Addams house?” she said. “Anything on all those hair trophies?”
He rubbed his chin, as if considering how much he should—or could—tell her now. “So far we’ve matched hair samples to Merry Winston, Allison Fernyhough, and Sally Ritter. We’re working with Interpol and going back to possible assaults in ports around the Med where Addams crewed.”
“So you think Drummond was his first homicide?”
“That’s the working theory—that the others were all sexual assaults, until he was afforded the opportunity to experiment with mutilating Hocking’s body.”
“And his mother?”
“O’Hagan’s postmortem report is pending, but preliminary indication is that she likely died a natural death, and because Addams was fixated on her, he kept her. The investigation around Beulah Addams is obviously going to take time, but she probably abused him as a kid.”
“Punished him for sexual arousal.”
“That’s Grablowski’s take.”
“The scrubbing mitts?”
He nodded. “She likely used those on her son. And it was both arousing and painful—”
“And thus grew his sick paraphilic map.”
“As Grablowski would put it. Her death could have been a trigger, in conjunction with having to deal with Hocking’s body, that set him off.”
“Soshewas the real monster.”
“She certainly helped breed and raise one. Nature–nurture and all that, it seems. Forensics also found a male skeleton beneath the concrete flooring in the basement, possibly Spencer Addams’s father. Forensics and postmortem results on that are also still pending.”
“The mother maybe killed the father?”
He gave a half shrug. “Again—it’s the working hypothesis.”
“So, missing student Annelise Janssen is no part of this?”
“So far. Her case remains open. But she’s a blonde—doesn’t fit the victim profile. Nothing ties her to this.”
“What about theAmanda Rose, Bacchanalian Club, Madame Vee, the johns, the other girls—”
“An interagency task force including agencies from abroad is being formed to handle the ongoing details of that investigation. It’s going to be a long haul. Could be years before parts of the case start going before the courts.”
“Winston’s case?”
“We found crystal meth cut with fentanyl in Damián Yorick’s apartment. Techs also found his prints in Winston’s home—on the window, on the table. Kitchen counter. Yorick will be charged, and he’s not alone. He’d have to have received that photo of Winston from theAmanda Rosesecurity guys. There’s indication of a conspiracy to silence Winston.”
“And her deep throat recording? And Buziak—I hear he’s not back yet. What do Fitz and internal have on him?”
Vedder hesitated and broke eye contact for a moment. When he met her gaze again, he said, “That’s all still under investigation, Angie. I’m not at liberty to discuss details at this point.”
She stared at him, a cool feeling of isolation beginning to encircle her. She was being cut out. She was persona non grata on the force right now. She nodded and came to her feet.
“Thanks for what you did share, Vedder.” She made for the door.
