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“Can we go home now?” Gia asked hopefully.
“Nope,” Freddie said. “You’re going to be our guests for quite some time, actually.”
Sam could tell that he was taking pleasure in telling them that, which was fine by her. He’d earned the right to feel pleased by the case they’d put together.
“What do you mean?” Pascal asked. “We have rights.”
“Yes, you do,” Freddie said, “and we will see to it that every one of them is protected. But you should know that we have video that shows you killing Liliana and talking about how you killed the others. Remember that conversation in the Blanchets’ kitchen? When you told Liliana her family was dead?”
Sam enjoyed watching both of them go pale and speechless when the impact of Freddie’s words registered. “Modern technology,” Sam said. “You gotta love it.”
“Or hate it, in this case,” Freddie said.
“True,” Sam said. “You should show them the video.”
“I’d love to.”
Seconds after Freddie pressed Play, Pascal broke into a sweat. “Where did that come from?”
“You’ll find out at trial,” Freddie said.
“We need to go home to our kids,” Gia said with a hysterical edge to her voice.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen any time soon,” Freddie said.
Sam made eye contact with Gia and made sure she didn’t blink. “The thing I’ll never understand is how anyone could be so upset about middle school gymnastics competitions that they’d kill six people.”
“It’s all so petty,” Freddie added. “Their daughter was a better gymnast than yours, so you decided to try to tear her down every which way you could with a disgusting online attack full of racist overtones. It must’ve infuriated you when you failed to drive Eloise out of the competitions. She just kept showing up and winning gold medals fair and square.”
“Lacey was amilliontimes better than her,” Gia said on a snarl. “Shedeservedto win. She put in the work foryears.”
“And then Liliana had the nerve to state the truth about you two in front of the other parents, and oh boy, that made you mad,” Sam said.
Gia was about to snap back at her when Pascal pulled at her arm. “Don’t say anything else that they can use against us.”
“You should know that we couldn’t believe that something as harmless as competition among gymnasts could’ve led to mass murder,” Freddie said. “We looked everywhere else for a motive, but the evidence doesn’t lie. And now your children will be raised by others, all because you couldn’t stand to see a more talented Black girl winning against your child. We’ll see you in court.”
They turned and walked away.
“Damn, that was fun,” Freddie said.
“The most fun I’ve had on the job in quite a while.”
As they entered the pit, Lindsey was arriving from the other hallway. “Jackpot on the hunch about possible health issues with Marcel, Detective.” Lindsey led them to the conference room, where she placed several printouts on the table.
“This is the MRI result that shows Marcel Blanchet had a slow-growing tumor in the frontal lobe that could account for the personality changes reported by several witnesses. The bullet completely missed it, so the tumor is intact on the MRI. According to the American Brain Tumor Association, a number of common psychiatric symptoms can be experienced by brain tumor patients, including behavior that includes physical abuse, aggression, anger, impulsivity and disinhibition, which includes acting without forethought to consequences.”
“Wow,” Freddie said. “That explains so much.”
“Profound personality change is another one,” Lindsey said, “as are violent attacks. Great call, Detective. I’m sure his loved ones will be comforted to hear that the inappropriate things he did were most likely the result of the tumor.”
“Yes,” he said. “They will.”
“Great job, Freddie,” Sam said.
“Thanks. It’s good to have an explanation for the unexplainable.”
“You should call his mother and his partners in the practice to update them,” Sam said.
