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Alan Stone began putting the case file together the next morning. He didn’t want anything to do with the murder investigation; it hit too close to home. The people who would be in the lineup of suspects included his friend, Dan Chua. They had gone to college together, studying criminal justice. After graduation, Dan had gone on to law school. They’d had their share of ups and downs in their relationship. But Dan was no slouch. He’d realize he was a suspect just because he’d dated the victim.
“Here’s the autopsy report,” fellow detective Samantha Cordis said, handing Alan a manila file folder. “Ballistics is behind a week, but the bullet was nine-millimeter. The DNA collected at the autopsy is going to be pushed back another week, at least. They are swamped.”
“Thank you.” He took the file, dismissing her.
“You okay, buddy?” she asked, lingering at the door. “You look a little pale.”
“Yeah, just up all night because of this.”
“You love death investigations. What’s going on?”
“I need a vacation,” he answered.
“You and everyone else.”
He watched her walk away. Beyond caring whose feelings he hurt or if he acted ungrateful, he was just over it. Over death, especially this one.
His cell phone rang. Shelly. Closing his eyes, he debated not answering, but then he’d have to come up with an excuse.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“You tell me, Alan.”
“I had to go to the post.”
“I know that. How was it?”
“I’m sorry. I’m exhausted. It was about what you’d expect. She’d been in the water for hours. A bullet wound to the skull. Right between the eyes.”
“Wow. The other bodies found on the beach were all strangulations, weren’t they?”
“The Gilgo Beach murders? Yeah. This is the first gunshot wound in a while. I gotta go.”
The door opened again, and the chief walked through.Oh, God.He hung up without saying goodbye.
“You got lucky, Alan. Henry will work on the cold case unit. Get a list of suspects together and start interviewing. You know what needs to be done, and yet here you are, sitting at your desk like you’ve got all the time in the world. In the meantime, the victim’s parents are talking to every news agency who will listen.”
“Yes, sir,” Alan said, taking Henry’s advice again. “Are you sure you won’t let Henry tag along?”
“Not yet. Take a uniform.”
“I’m not sure the Porters will talk to me. A friend dated their daughter, and there is a lot of animosity over it.”
“If it comes to that, then Henry can go alone. But get busy, Stone. You’re stalling, and I don’t like it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Alan made a list of people to interview, starting with Lily’s parents, and he definitely wasn’t going to do that. Dan. Then Lisa Maddox. Lily had initially approached Alan about suspected incest; Lisa and Ryan were half-siblings. When Lily found out about it, she’d been disgusted—her word—and the breakup with Dan Chua was linked to this information.
Alan was going to have to reveal that contact, and it would cast suspicion on people he cared about, opening a can of worms for Lisa and Ryan Maddox.
Sitting across from Dan’s desk at his law office, Alan broke the news about Lily’s death to a shocked Dan.
“I can’t believe it,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “I heard a body washed up on our stretch of beach but not who it was. I was just out there yesterday morning with Pam. Thank God she didn’t wash up then. What happened?”
“Laura Long and her pathologist boyfriend happened to be walking on the beach last night, and they found her.”
“Wow, what a coincidence.”
