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“I don’t know. My head isn’t clear right now. I’ll let you know on Monday.”
Baz smiled. “See you then.”
San Diego, California
Saturday, April 9, 8:45 p.m.
Sam was watching TV with his parents, Siggy lightly snoring on his lap. It was one of the true-crime shows to which his mother had become addicted. His father, too, despite Bill’s protests to the contrary.
Sam would rather be alone, but they seemed to need him close by. It wasn’t like his life had been in danger today, but after having a son who was such a Boy Scout—as Laura had so helpfully pointed out—having him arrested had been a shock.
Join the club.
He could still feel the bite of the handcuffs, the panic of having his arms restrained. The cold suspicion in McKittrick’s eyes. At first, at least. After she’d returned from finding Colton’s body, she’d been much warmer.
Colton’s body. Visualizing it hanging from a rope made Sam ill. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told McKittrick that he was surprised that Colton had killed himself. The man had seemed the type to run, to continue lying his way out of every situation.
And to continue killing young women.
Colton would never be able to do that again, and for that Sam was grateful.
“Sam?”
Sam blinked, focusing on his mother, who looked worried. “Sorry, Mom. What?”
She pointed to his phone. “You have a call.”
He dropped his gaze to the lamp table on which his cell phone buzzed. It was Joel. “Hey,” he said after hitting accept. “What’s up?”
“SDPD’s doing a press conference in a few minutes. They’re going to announce that Colton Driscoll was a killer and is now dead. Thought you might want to watch. It’s likely going to be on all the major affiliates.”
Sam’s gut twisted painfully. “Are they going to mention me?”
Bill muted the TV, he and Ann turning in unison to stare at Sam, the worry they’d been trying to hide now plain on their faces.
“No,” Joel said. “My boss is going to be there with Navarro—he’s McKittrick’s lieutenant. The mayor’s also going to be there, so it’ll be a big deal. They’re going to keep it short. They still have some open questions to answer.”
“Then why are they doing this now?”
“A reporter caught wind of the investigation and grilled one of the victims’ parents for information. They talked to her.”
“The parents of the girl found in the park?”
“Yeah. The reporter followed them home from the morgue after they’d ID’d their daughter’s body. She took advantage of their fragile state of mind.”
“That’s...” Sam searched for a word bad enough. “Evil.”
“It is. So SDPD had to get ahead of the coverage. My boss is texting me, so I have to go now. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks.” Sam ended the call and exhaled. “Dad, can you change the channel to the news? Any of the major ones will do.”
His father complied, his hand trembling slightly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing to do with me.” Hopefully. “But there’s going to be a press conference.”
Ann’s swallow was audible, her hold on Bill’s hand visibly tightening.
The TV screen showed a large conference room in which at least forty people sat in folding chairs. A lectern stood on a raised platform at the front of the room.
