Page 45 of The Drowned Woman
“Was that Luka?” Leah nodded to the phone.
“No. That was Sanchez—he’s all set with the remote monitoring of Saliba’s electronics.”
“So you’re sure it was Cliff? That he killed Trudy?” The stronger the case was against Cliff—or better yet, the faster they found him—the less damage done to Luka’s career, Leah hoped.
“He was on scene, actually called 911. He knew about Walt, how easy it would be to trigger his emotions. Hell, he even installed the damn childproof locks, knew to open the door to get Walt out onto the landing. Who else could it have been?”
“But why send the note to Dom? And let Luka know that he also killed Cherise?”
“He wanted to buy time, forcing us to waste time chasing leads in another state. I mean the whole thing with the courier and signed note and telling Dom to bring it here in person. That kind of thing never happens in real life, is straight out of Hollywood. Vogel obviously never dreamed that we’d catch on to him so quickly—I’ll bet he shit his pants when we came back with the warrant to search the whole building.”
“I don’t know. It all seems so—”
“Like I said, this isn’t the movies. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, the killer is right there, in plain sight. But for Vogel to be an actual serial killer?” She bounced on her heels. “Now, that’s wild.”
“Not if the killer has you in his sights.”
“Luka.” Harper sobered. “You’re right. We need to watch out for the boss. Can you imagine? Losing someone you loved—” She stopped, but didn’t appear chagrined, even though Leah of all people knew exactly what that kind of loss entailed. “Luka still uses a coffee mug she gave him, you know. All these years later. Bad enough the love of your life kills herself, but then to learn she was murdered?”
“They can’t punish him or hold it against him, can they? I mean, I know they have to look into his life back then, but he had nothing to do with her death.”
“People talk, they’ll always look at him different.” She glanced over the railing down to where Trudy’s body had landed. “You know, when we got here this morning, Krichek was letting me act as lead, thought it was a simple accidental death. I was so excited. But now, with the boss involved, with someone he loved a victim…” She raised her hands and shrugged. “I’m not sure what to think or how to feel.”
“Yeah, I know…” Leah was familiar with the unique mixture of adrenaline and dread that accompanied every major case into the ER. It was a strange tightrope to walk: balancing the thrill of saving a life with the overwhelming knowledge that these were real people—people with families, with loved ones, with hopes and dreams and prayers—and their lives rested in her hands.
They reached the elevator and hit the call button. “Will you let me know—” Leah started but wasn’t certain how to finish. She didn’t have the right to pry into Luka’s career problems, but she also wanted to be there for him if he needed anything.
Harper shifted her feet. “Any internal investigation will be confidential.”
“So there’s nothing we can do to help Luka?” Leah hated the idea of standing by, doing nothing. It went against every fiber of her being.
“Didn’t say that, doc.” Harper’s posture straightened as if she’d decided to take a chance on Leah, despite Leah being a civilian. Or more likely, she simply wasn’t about to turn down anyone who could help Luka. “I’ll call you if I think of anything.”
“Thanks, Harper.”
Twenty-Six
Luka reached Ahearn’s office just as the commander was leaving for the night. At first, Ahearn was irate—he’d been heading out to a black tie charity event, was already in his tux—but as soon as Luka painted the broad strokes of the turn of events, he’d grown quiet, sat back down in his desk chair and gestured for Luka to take a seat. “Tell me everything, from the beginning.”
Ahearn listened attentively, asking a few questions—often the same questions Luka also wanted answers to—and jotting the occasional note. It reminded Luka that the commander was also a detective once.
Luka finished his recitation of the facts. He hadn’t included his theories or suspicions—the situation was complicated enough already. It didn’t matter that Luka had nothing to do with Cherise’s death. Until they were able to prove that, the mere suspicion would allow defense attorneys to question Luka’s integrity—which could be twisted to create reasonable doubt in a jury’s mind. Chaos involving Luka in his web of deceit could lead to every case Luka had been a part of being reexamined and picked apart by rapacious attorneys. All the good he’d done since Cherise’s death could be unraveled, guilty men walking free again.
“The press will have a field day with this,” was Ahearn’s first conclusion, defaulting to his role of administrator. “You can be damn sure Chaos will alert them, chum the waters to create a feeding frenzy. We have no choice but to investigate every avenue—including re-opening your fiancée’s case. I’ll put in a call to the Lewisburg PD as soon as we’re done here.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
Ahearn’s forehead creased, his gaze sharp as he scrutinized Luka. “I’m not sure you do. In this scenario you’re the chum and the press and public are going to eat you alive. There’s nothing the press loves more than a crooked cop to crucify. You prepared for that, Detective Sergeant? Because we can’t be seen as favoring one of our own—at least not to the public. But please know, off the record, you have the department’s full support.”
“Thank you, sir.” Luka couldn’t help but wonder if learning doublespeak was mandatory once you reached his rank.
“There’s nothing to thank me for. There’s no way in hell I’m letting some pissant coward who throws little old ladies off balconies use a tragedy from one of my people’s past to derail an investigation. This guy is not getting away with it, I promise you that.”
It was a promise they both knew Ahearn couldn’t keep, but still, Luka appreciated the sentiment.
The commander took a breath, tapped his pen against the notes he’d taken. “You said Saliba refused to hand over her electronics.”
“Best I could do was get her to allow our cyber squad to monitor her computer remotely. We need a warrant to do more.”
