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“You can come to work with me.”
“Um, as appealing an offer as that is…”
Nick lost it laughing, which pleased her greatly. Keeping things light for him where she could was her most important job as first lady.
“How about I visit you at some point?”
He gave her a squeeze. “I’ll look forward to ‘some point’ all day.”
Freddie assembledthe squad in the conference room. He was so nervous that he’d been unable to eat that morning, which anyone who knew him would find unbelievable. But he’d never been put in charge of a case before, and he wanted to make Sam and the other brass proud of him.
On the way into work, he’d heard the news about the Joint Chiefs and had been flabbergasted and distressed for his friend, the president, who must be reeling from the treachery. Freddie wished there was something he could do for Nick, but right now, he needed to keep his focus on the case. He’d call Sam after his shift to update her and see how they were doing. Yesterday had been one hell of a day for all of them.
Deputy Chief Jeannie McBride and Captain Malone joined the group.
“I’ve asked Dr. McNamara and Lieutenant Archelotta to brief us,” Freddie said. “They’ll be here shortly. In the meantime, let’s go over what Detective Carlucci accomplished overnight.”
“Can we talk about the headlines this morning first?” O’Brien asked. “What the actual fuck with the Joint Chiefs? Has anyone talked to Sam?”
“Not yet,” Freddie said. “I’m sure they’ve got their hands full with that, and we have six bodies in the morgue that require our attention today.” That was something Sam would say. He wanted to keep the focus where it belonged, like she would’ve done. “Back to what Carlucci uncovered.”
“She ran the family’s financials and found they were running low on money,” Detective O’Brien said. “Most of their accounts had balances below fifty dollars, except for the primary joint checking account, which had three hundred. The balances were much lower than usual. Carlucci went back about six months and found their average balance then was between fifteen and twenty thousand.”
“So cutting back on his medical practice had caused immediate financial pain,” Freddie said. “Were there any unusual expenditures over the last few months?”
“Not that she saw,” O’Brien said. “Just the usual sort of household expenses, some transfers here and there to other accounts, some jointly held and others belonging to one or the other of them. Routine stuff.”
“Carlucci also did a deep dive on the parents’ social media as well as that of the oldest daughter, Eloise,” Green said. “She couldn’t find active accounts for the younger kids. The father didn’t have much of a social presence except through the practice, which posted frequently with photos of new babies that received a lot of likes and comments. The mom posted about her kids mostly and a few memes here and there about stuff she found funny. She posted press coverage of Eloise’s meets and a few articles about her as an Olympic hopeful.
“Eloise posted about gymnastics competitions. There were quite a few posts of her with medals, and Carlucci noted an unusually high number of people clicking the angry response to those photos. Dani made a list of the people who gave the angry-face response. She found that most of them were gymnasts of the same age or their parents.”
“So the parents of other gymnasts were giving Eloise the angry emoji?” Jeannie asked. “That’s screwed up.”
“It’s bad enough the other competitors were dissing her,” Malone said. “But the parents…”
“I think, after we talk to the father’s other partner in the practice, we start there,” Freddie said. “Do you all agree?”
“I do,” Green said as the others nodded in agreement.
“Gonzo? You’re good with this plan?”
“It’s your investigation, Detective Cruz. You’re the boss.”
If they’d been alone, Freddie would’ve told his friend to cut the crap, but since they weren’t, he split the gymnasts’ parents’ names between himself and Gonzo as well as Green, O’Brien and Charles. “Let me know if anything pops.”
“Will do,” Green said as he headed out with the more junior detectives.
“Let me know if I can help,” Jeannie said.
“Same,” Malone said. “Crime Scene is still at the house. I’ll let you know if they find anything useful.”
Lindsey McNamara came in with a cup of coffee in hand. “Sorry I’m late. We just finished the last of the autopsies. I emailed the report to Sam.”
“She’s out for a bit,” Freddie said. “Can you forward it to me?”
“Is everything okay?” Lindsey asked.
“Yes,” Freddie said.
