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He hugged her back. And for the first time since she heard that Tommy Granger had been murdered, Jenna felt that everything might be okay.
Except there was one not-so-small detail that Jenna had not told Lance. She feared that what she knew, what Tommy Granger had confided in her, was the reason she was in danger now. She didn’t want to put that on her friend.
She wished that she didn’t know the truth, but you can’tunknow something that important.
FRIDAY
Thirty-Three
Regan had stayed up until the early hours to put together all the information she had, then went to bed before dawn. After only a couple hours sleep, a shower, and strong coffee, she stepped into Tommy’s library at eight and looked at the wall she had created so she could visually assess everything she knew.
She knew a lot—and still, nothing made sense. She had also made several logical deductions but didn’t have proof.
But the biggest outlier—the one thing that frustrated her because Grantmusthave the answers and he wasn’t talking—was what did the Potomac Bank robbery have to do with Chase’s murder?
She went back to the safe deposit boxes that Michael Hannigan had broken into. A cursory look into them hadn’t yielded anything of interest; now she needed to go deeper.
But before Regan could really dive into it, Charlie phoned.
“The FBI has arrested Roger Valera for Tommy’s murder.”
She frowned, remembering the name. “Valera? He’s in prison. He has to be—he was given twenty to life.”
Valera had threatened Tommy years ago in court. Tommy had been part of a special US Marshals task force at the time investigating child trafficking. It was a difficult assignment, and most deputies rotated in for no more than a two-year stint. Valera had been found with more than one thousand kiddie porn videos on his computer. Three of the children in the videos had been recovered, thank God, based on digital geotagging. Tommy’s testimony and the FBI cybercrime experts had helped put Valera away for a minimum of twenty years.
Clearly, that hadn’t happened.
Charlie sighed. “Valera was granted early release—don’t ask me how, who, why, I don’t know. But he was set loose two weeks ago. The FBI followed up on a tip that led to his arrest. He wasn’t supposed to leave the state of Pennsylvania, but they located him in Richmond. They couldn’t find the rifle he used to shoot Tommy, but they have newspaper clippings, internet search history, and GPS on his vehicle—which puts Valera in Tommy’s neighborhood a week before his murder. They’re still putting together details, but they’re positive it’s him.”
Valera had threatened Tommy in court and accused him of planting the videos that were found on his computer—including, not incidentally, videos of Valera himself with minors. The court didn’t buy it.
“It can’t be Valera,” said Regan.
“I’m passing on the information. O’Dare just called me, said she’d send over the documentation. They’re positive they have the right person.”
“They’re wrong.”
“Tommy’s investigation into Chase’s murder could simply be a coincidence.”
“You do not believe that any more than I do,” Regan said irritably. “Grant is missing, his girlfriend is dead, I was followed—and I guarantee you that it was not Roger Valera who followed me. He’s a convenient scapegoat.”
“Regan—”
“GPS on his vehicle? What about on Monday morning, the day Tommy was killed? Does he have sharpshooter skills? Because to make that shot, the guy would have to be way above average.”
“You can come in and read the file when I get it.”
“O’Dare has her head up her ass if she can’t see the whole picture here!” She was angry and raised her voice—something she rarely, if ever, did.
Charlie didn’t speak. She rubbed her eyes. “Charlie,” she said after a moment, “we need the rifle and proof Valera could make the shot. Proof he was even in Reston on Monday morning. This seems too easy. Who called in this tip? Anonymous? Isn’tthatconvenient.”
“I’ll admit, it seemed to fall into place a bit too neatly,” Charlie said cautiously, “but it is also true that Tommy made a lot of enemies. Mostly bad guys, but when Tommy had a bone, he didn’t care whose hand he bit in the pursuit of justice.”
Charlie was right about Tommy—but Valera? Regan couldn’t see it.Especiallyin light of everything else going on surrounding Tommy.
“Keep me in the loop,” she said.
“What are you planning to do?” Charlie asked suspiciously.
