Lieutenant Jess Messina switched off the tape recorder.
“Thank you, Mrs. Stark,” Jess said. “It was important that you started from the beginning, from when you first saw Aidan Callahan, and your details could not be clearer. You’ve been very brave. Your testimony will be the key to convicting this man of your husband’s murder. I know that was a lot, and I don’t want to burden you more than I have to tonight.”
Caroline Stark hadn’t cried a single tear in the three hours she’d spent in the interview room. But her hollow eyes and pale, clammy skin revealed a woman exhausted and in shock. Caroline was dealing not only with grief and trauma but with overwhelming guilt. A man she’d had a brief fling with had stalked her, stalked her family, broken into her house, held her prisoner, and slaughtered her husband in cold blood right before her eyes. Despite all that, some folks were going to blame Caroline for what happened. Blame the victim—too often, it was still like that. Jess didn’t blame her; she admired her. To her mind, Caroline Stark was a rare truth-teller. How many witnesses were as honest about their own sins as she’d been? Not many. That should count for something. Not to mention that even if you considered Caroline’s fling with Aidan Callahan a sin, she’d already been punished beyond imagining.
“I can keep going. We don’t have to stop,” Caroline said.
“You gave me a lot of information already,” Jess said. “We now have on record that Aidan Callahan stalked you and your family leading up to the murder of your husband. That’s extremely helpful testimony. When you discuss a trauma, you relive it, and that’s very debilitating. You’ll need your strength in the days ahead. I don’t want to ask too much of you now.”
“All right. Thank you for understanding, Lieutenant.”
“I do understand. You can count on me. I’ll be working this case all the way through the trial—if there is one. With the very detailed statement you gave, hopefully he’ll plead guilty, and you won’t have to go through a trial.”
Jess was State Police BCI, brought in to assist the locals with major investigations they couldn’t handle on their own. Normally, they worked side by side, but this case was different. The locals were tainted, because the suspect was the chief’s kid brother. Jess had the file on Aidan Callahan’s prior conviction, and it looked like the chief put his thumb on the scale for his brother on that one, too. That was not going to happen again, not on her watch.
“I want you to know, we’re working every angle on this case,” Jess said. “We’ve got people out searching the area where Aidan Callahan was arrested. We’ve got his truck. They’re searching that. The forensics team will be going to your house to collect physical evidence. I’ll need you to sign a form authorizing that.”
“My house? Is that necessary? I already told you what happened. I’m an eyewitness. But my house—I want to get it cleaned and repaired right away.”
“I understand, but it is necessary. We need corroborating evidence for your witness statement. What we get from the murder scene will bolster our case. Fingerprints, fibers, strands of hair, blood spatters, bullet casings, you name it. We want this case to stick. We don’t want Callahan getting out.”
Caroline went white as a ghost. “He could get out? But he’d come after me. My daughter, my sister. They’re not safe.”
“I don’t think he’ll get out. Callahan’s in the holding cell right now, and they’ll be transferring him to the state prison tonight, where he’ll stay until he’s brought to court. We’re getting ready to file formal charges. Once the charges are filed, he gets a bail hearing. The more evidence we have, the more likely he gets remanded to custody instead of getting bail. That’s why we needed to go through this lengthy interview tonight, and it’s why I need you to sign this search form. Please, it’s important.”
Jess placed the form in front of Caroline, who seemed almost put out as she scrawled her name. Who could blame the poor woman? Her nerves must be shattered at this point.
“Thank you,” Jess said. “And so you know, we’re following up on other search locations as well. The murder weapon hasn’t been found. Neither has—”
“You didn’t find the gun? Did you look in his truck?”
“The truck’s been towed to the lab. The lab is closed because of the storm. As soon as they reopen, our case is top priority.”
“Can’t someone go look inside the truck?” Caroline asked.
“There’s a lot of blood in the truck,” Jess said, as gently as possible. “That blood is evidence. They didn’t want to disturb it, so when they didn’t see a gun sitting in the open, they stopped searching.”
“But if they would just look, I’m sure they could find it right away.”
“The crime scene team is taking over because they have special training. It does mean a brief delay, but it’s the best thing for the case. We need the blood, Mrs. Stark, because we haven’t been able, we haven’t—”
Jess looked down at the table, unsure how best to phrase this. But there was no right way.
“Jason. Jason hasn’t been found. That’s what you mean.”
“That’s right. I’m sorry. Callahan lawyered up. He wouldn’t say what he did with the body. Based on your statement, I think we should be looking in the cave you mentioned, which is on the same beach where Callahan was arrested. Right now, it’s not accessible due to storm surge. I promise we’ll get inside it as soon as humanly possible. We want to find Jason before the evidence is literally washed away. And I know you want to bring him home.”
Caroline’s eyes were large, dark blue, and haunted. She was a beautiful woman, though how that would play in court under the circumstances, Jess couldn’t be sure. A jury might hold it against her.
“He’ll end up at the bottom of the ocean. It’s cold there. So cold,” Caroline said, and looked away.
“I didn’t mean to suggest that. We don’t know where he is, but wherever he is, we’ll find him. I promise.”
Caroline took a Kleenex from the box on the table and pressed it to her eyes.
“Mrs. Stark,” Jess said. “I’m going to check if your sister came to pick you up yet. Apparently, there’s some pretty bad flooding, but hopefully she was able to make it. In the meantime, can I get you something to eat or drink? Oh, and—would you like me to put you in touch with a grief counselor?”
“I couldn’t possibly eat, and I don’t need a counselor. Lieutenant, if you want to help me, please, keep Aidan in jail. After what he did, I’ll never feel safe if he’s out.”
“You are safe. Mrs. Stark, your safety is our top priority. You have my word. Aidan Callahan won’t get anywhere near you.”
Mike Castro knocked on the door of the interview room.
“Your sister’s here, ma’am. She’s waiting in the lobby.”
“Let me walk you out,” Jess said. “I’d like to get Lynn’s contact information and set up an interview about that incident where Callahan tried to run her off the road.”
Jess and Caroline stepped into the hallway, which was much noisier and more crowded than it had been when the interview began hours earlier. The station house now appeared to be functioning as the town’s emergency storm ops center. Firefighters and EMTs mingled with the cops. Several men wearing waders ran back and forth carrying equipment. Everybody looked tired and grim, and some of them were drenched. Jess looked at them and wondered whether her search warrants and labs tests would get the attention they deserved. Working a homicide case in the middle of a natural disaster was not going to be easy.
Jess took Caroline’s arm and steered her through the crowd. As they reached the end of the hall, a door to their right swung open. An officer stepped out, leading a prisoner in a blue jumpsuit and manacles. Before anyone could react, he’d lunged forward, evading the officer’s grip, and grabbed Caroline fiercely with his manacled hands.
“Tell me,” he said, his eyes wild, his mouth working furiously. “I have to know. Did I kill Jason? Or did you? Did you kill him, Caroline?”
The officer threw his arms around Callahan’s waist and wrestled him to the ground. But Callahan’s grip on Caroline was so powerful that she went down with them, screaming.
“Get him off her!” Jess said, falling to her knees beside them.
She reached over and tried to pry the prisoner’s hands from her witness’s clothing. But Callahan refused to let go. It was like he had superhuman strength. In the middle of the scrum, he seemed almost calm, looking directly into Caroline’s eyes.
“I love you. Please, help me. Don’t leave me here,” he said.
A second officer and then a third piled on. One of them pulled out a Taser and applied it to Callahan’s side. Jess heard a rapid clicking sound and gagged at the burning smell. Callahan convulsed and then slumped to the side, his hands finally releasing Caroline’s clothing. As the officers picked up his limp body and carted him away, Jess reached out to help Caroline to her feet.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
Caroline wouldn’t meet Jess’s eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
She straightened her clothes, looking shaken. Her eyes were glazed. The poor woman.
“You said you would keep me safe,” she said.
Jess’s heart sank. Caroline was right. Jess had failed. The locals had failed. They’d failed in their first duty. They hadn’t protected her.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t believe they let that happen. I’m going to take this case completely away from the local PD. They’re incompetent.”
“You said I wouldn’t have to see him. That he was locked up, that he could never get to me.”
“This is inexcusable. I can’t apologize enough. All I can do is promise that it won’t happen again.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you anymore. If the police won’t protect me, I’ll have to protect myself,” she said, and turned her back on Jess.
Jess followed her to the lobby, buzzing around her like a fly, apologizing profusely. A blond woman who was sitting in the visitor area jumped up and came toward them. She held out her arms to Caroline, who walked right past them.
“Get me out of here,” Caroline said to her sister.
The star witness marched out of the police station and didn’t look back. Jess had the feeling she might never see her again.